Need help on a problem with new BM930 Kulgera

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Brian6244

Joined
Aug 25, 2004
Messages
537
The knife arrived yesterday via overnight UPS. I am extremely pleased with the design, but I have a major (to me) problem with the particular knife that I received. The knife arrived extremely difficult to open and close, for a BM AXIS knife. I own or have owned the mini Ritter grip, the full-size Ritter grip, a couple of 943s, and an AFCK. Every one of them would open and close extremely smoothly. This knife is similar to a slipjoint with or a lockback with a strong spring. If I loosen the pivot even the tiniest bit, the blade opens and closes very smoothly (like my other AXIS knives), but there is a lot of blade play when closed. So much blade play in fact that when the knife is closed and you wave your hand back and forth, the blade bangs back and forth against scales such that you can actually hear it hitting them.

So what are my options?
* Call Benchmade's customer service?
* Return it to the vendor and request an exchange?
* Take it apart, clean it, put some CRK grease on it, put it back together and see if that fixes it?
* Something else?

Thanks for your input. If it can be repaired by me, that is my preference (because it puts it back in my pocket sooner). I had a similar issue once with a Sebenza and it was simply the result of one of the washers not being properly aligned when I put it back together after a cleaning. I had it fixed in about 2 minutes. I am wondering if this could be something similar. A malformed washer, dirt/dust in the pivot, etc.

Or are all Kulgeras like this? Maybe they are just different from all the other AXIS knives that I have owned and I didn't do my homework before purchasing?

Thank you for you input.
 
I have a Kulgera. It is my favorite small edc. My Kulgera is adjusted so it is very easy to thumb flick or wrist snap open. But, I did spend a few minutes adjusting it to just the right tension. Amazing how small the difference is between too tight and too loose. I hope this helps.
 
It wasn't a 930, but I got a 940 that had a very similar problem. Even when I made tiny adjustments to the pivot tightness so that it was as good as possible (see the previous posters' comments) -- relatively little blade play and acceptably smooth opening, but still nowhere near as solid or smooth as all my other BMs -- the pivot wouldn't stay tight, and it would return to having a ton of blade play after a dozen or so openings and closings.

I ended up just returning that 940 to the vendor. Seems like that's a good option for something that's pretty clearly defective out of the box, and it likely offers a quicker turnaround than a warranty claim. And unlike taking the knife apart and attempting to fix it, it doesn't come with the risk of voiding the warranty and being stuck with a $130+ paperweight if you aren't able to fix it. (BM, as you probably know, has a policy that disassembling the knife voids the warranty.)
 
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The pivot on my kulgera is very finicky. It's either way too loose or way too tight. Finding the sweet spot was very hard but i got it eventually. Just keep adjusting it with a torx driver and you will get it where you like it.
 
...and when you finally find the sweet spot, make it stay with Loch Tite or (wich I prefer) teflon tape.
 
Slowstarter said:
...and when you finally find the sweet spot, make it stay with Loch Tite or (wich I prefer) teflon tape.
Click to expand...

Yup, same issue with my 960. Loose as a goose or tight as a clam with just minor adjustments to the pivot screw. :D

Applied a drop of blue loc-tite onto the screw before finding the "sweet spot" and then i let it sit overnight. Good so far! ;)

In all honesty though, if you can live without the Kulgera for a few weeks I would just call Benchmade and hopefully send it back so they can fix it. I was just too impatient to do that.
 
Return it to the vendor and request an exchange if you just got it - ask vendor to open the replacement and check for smooth operation.

I always ask online vendors this and they do - only takes them a minute and I respond with glowing emails or reviews if they have it set up like that.

Some vendors will say "it's a Benchmade warranty issue." If you used a credit card just say "no, it's going to be a chargeback issue the minute I hang up." This always works.

That all said. Take the pivot screw out and flush it out with rubbing alcohol, including screw. Blow it out with compressed air an or a blow dryer a little. Then thread a q-tip in the female side of the pivot and be sure it's squeaky clean. Dry the pivot screw too.

Re-thread pivot screw in about 75% and flush whole pivot out with a splash of alcohol. Use a dry rag or paper towel and dry it, follow with blow dryer or air again. I run the pivot screw in and out a few times and then finally set it.

After all of the cleaning and flushing out of possible debris your find a much larger sweet spot to use. You should be able to find a spot you like and use Teflon tape or a drop of blue lok-tite to hold your pivot in the exact spot you find for smooth operation.

Just my $.02 Good luck! :)
 
Yeah, so not much I can say that hasn't been repeated... I think it's something particular with the Kulgera as mine is very sensitive as well. What I do is I tighten it up until there's no blade play, then just a little at a time I move the screw down until the action feels right.

Some Benchmade bluelube helped with this significantly. I've thought about taking some LocTite to it, but personally I think that if you're just careful about it it's really not that hard to take care of, and if the knife is well lubed then it shouldn't really come back loose all that quickly.
 
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