Need a Custom Pivot Barrel/Standoff...Or, How to Cut One Down and Keep it Square

M

mhutch

Joined
Mar 1, 2015
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88
Hey folks,
I have a Benchmade 707 Sequel (folding knife) that I have some custom scales for. The knife in its stock form uses a plastic spacer (unthreaded) and one of the scales has captive nuts (right nomenclature?) in it that two screws go into, screwed in from the other scale. These custom scales have flat-bottom holes for 2-56 Torx screws. There is a screw that comes in from each scale and they both go into a threaded pivot barrel. I need to make some new pivot barrels (or are they standoffs? I'm not sure what the difference is) that are thinner in diameter because right now the blade is touching one of the pivot barrels when closed. Problem is, those pivot barrels need to be 3mm long, 1/8" in diameter or smaller, and threaded for 2-56 screws. That specific length seems to be impossible to find so I either need to find someone who can cut/grind a couple pivot barrels down for me or I'll do it myself if I can find a way.

I've tried to think of ways to do this but I can't come up with a reliable way to keep the ends of the pivot barrels square while cutting them or grinding them down. I thought about using a small grinding stone in my drill press but given the size of the pivot barrels it would just be very difficult to be precise enough to ensure that the ground end is square.

Any ideas? Or should I just suck it up and find someone who can produce this part for me?

Thanks!
 
Does this design have a stop pin standoff as well? If so then maybe check to see if you can buy a slightly larger one to raise the blade off the handle standoff that it’s hitting, assuming that the tip would still be inside the handle.
 
Cutting something that is already threaded square shouldnt be too crazy.

These are 1/8" OD, 2-56 threaded pivot barrels. Dont see why you can't use them as spacers/standoff.

They are .5" long.

All you really need to do is grind one end. The other is already square. Keeping something this small in diameter square shouldnt be too hard. Since they are 1/8" OD you could even easilly make a little device to sand it square: Drill a 1/8" hole in a piece of metal, use a 1/8" drillbit as a "push" pin and put this pivot barrel in the hole once its cut close. Rub against sandpaper and you should sand it pretty square as long as the hole is square to the metal. Same concept as a bushing lapper for slipjoints.

I personally think you could cut and square a 1/8" pivot good enough to use as a standoff yourself with just some patience and elbow grease.

https://www.knifekits.com/vcom/125-pivot-barrels-bht-screws-p-471.html
 
What David said just cut it and make a simple lap by drilling a hole and sandpaper on something flat.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. Never heard of a bushing lap/pivot lap/whatever-you-want-to-call-it but that sounds like a solid plan that is definitely within my skill level.
 
fishface5 said:
Why not just file a groove in the barrel that is too thick so the blade won't touch? Or am I misunderstanding the issue?
Click to expand...

No misunderstanding. That is actually a solution I saw in an older post from years ago I found in my searches. Apparently blades touching standoffs or spacers is an issue with this particular model. There's a chance I'll have to use the solution you suggest even with a thinner pivot barrel but I want to see if I can avoid it first.
 
imill3567 said:
Does this design have a stop pin standoff as well? If so then maybe check to see if you can buy a slightly larger one to raise the blade off the handle standoff that it’s hitting, assuming that the tip would still be inside the handle.
Click to expand...

It uses the Benchmade Axis lock so that won't work here.
 
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