Orange Dodo Sprint - ball-bearing lock plunger "catches"

[Michael_Aos]

I've been through a LOT of knives, but I don't recall ever having had a Spyderco until recently. I ordered a Sage 3 (C123GBL) in 2011 and it arrived the same day my wife surprised me with a Para-Military2 (C81G2) as an anniversary present. The PM2 has been my regular EDC for just over a year. I'm extremely pleased with it.

I've carried the Sage 3 once or twice and handled it a little.

That's the extent of my experience with Spyderco knives.

I just purchased an Orange Dodo Sprint for my wife.

I'm left-handed, but I have no trouble one-handed opening / closing the Dodo right-handed.

Using my left-hand though, the spring -- or the plunger on the spring -- seems to "catch" on something after moving 1/8" or so. I think it might be catching on the steel liner around the lock. It makes it extremely difficult to depress the the ball-bearing enough to disengage the lock.

Is this a common issue with these?
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[zeus36]

I'm also left-handed and really like the ball-lock!
I got one of the original Dodos years ago and did do some file work on the liner in the lock area to smooth it out. ( I also removed one of the springs too, as it was over-kill for me.)
My D'Allara ball lock however, did not have this condition.
There were some posts with pictures to disassemble the Dodo and I used these to pull mine apart and check the fit of the lock pieces without the springs interfering with the ball and plunger. Just did a little "edge relief" to stop the ball from sticking in the grooves.

 

[RevDevil]

Michael,

Are you pressing on the lock ball or are you pinching it? In my experience, it requires you to pinch the bearing on both sides and slide away from the blade. I guess I just got a little confused by your wording.

 

[Beyond You]

Mine catches sometimes, "orange one" i found that if its stuck, move the spring/plunger to the side of the ball a little bit and itll fix it, its catching on something.

 

[Cotherion]

The plunger's edge is hitting the scale. You can see if you analyze the plunger for marks of this. To solve this I ground away the edge of the plunger. Not the edge where the plunger touches ball bearing but the other end.