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Para 3 Blade play

F

FrannaM

Joined
Jan 29, 2020
Messages
369
Guys I need help from the experts. I have a para 3 prob 2 months old. It had slight play side to side when new. I have read that this normal for the compression lock to have slight play. Others claim theirs have none. The play can't be felt when holding the blade close to the pivot and also zero vertical play.

When I disassemble and re-assemble it has no play for about a day or 2 and then back to square one with slight play. I have never had a knife that is as complicated as this one. I am OCD and hate blade play, but if this is normal for the para 3 then maybe I can learn to live with it. What irritates me is the fact that it develops play after a while. I have used loctite, but does not help. Even when tightening the pivot without drop shut it still develops play after a while. I am so used to knives (example ZT0550) you tighten the pivot till the desired tightness and loctite and thats it.

I don't feel that it's a lemon. The fit and finish is perfect, lockup perfect, centering perfect everything perfect other than the fact that it always develops side to side play. I have probably disassembled and re-assembled 15 times but happens every time.

Any tips will be greatly appreciated. The other weird thing is that when the blade is halfway open there is no play up until the point just before the lockbar engages then you can feel blade play.
 
I've had three Para3's and an impractical number of PM2's. I think I have had two with blade play (both PM2's). One I fixed with fiddling around with disassembly and manipulating the tension on the screws/pivot screw. The other I sold it having never figured out what the key was. Both were VERY slight in play (likely only noticed by someone who's too particular about lock up), but it was there.
 
Just out of curiosity, did it have blade play before you disassembled it? Or did it shoot up afterwards?
 
Both had it when I got them. But like I said: in both cases it was very slight. One completely resolved after reassembly. The other didn't get any worse, but never went away completely.
 
I find that the Para 3 has "better" overall consistency with lockup/action due to the floating stop pin construction.

If your getting blade play (changes ) after dialing in your action, And the knife has no manufacturing issues, There's only two conditions to cause this IMHO. The liners are not "square "(sometimes standoffs/lanyard tube arn't seated ) or the pivot is loosening with use, Even though you used thread locker! If the liners/ tube are flush with no burrs , I'd add a little extra thread lock after "setting" desired action and let it sit for 12 hours! Good luck and hope it works out with the knife!
 
DA170 said:
I find that the Para 3 has "better" overall consistency with lockup/action due to the floating stop pin construction.

If your getting blade play (changes ) after dialing in your action, And the knife has no manufacturing issues, There's only two conditions to cause this IMHO. The liners are not "square "(sometimes standoffs/lanyard tube arn't seated ) or the pivot is loosening with use, Even though you used thread locker! If the liners/ tube are flush with no burrs , I'd add a little extra thread lock after "setting" desired action and let it sit for 12 hours! Good luck and hope it works out with the knife!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the informative response. Every time I disassemble clean, lubricate and re-assemble I have zero play for about a day or two and then back to blade play. I just can't see how the pivot screws loosen, because if I try and loosen the screws it takes a considerable amount of force. I even have a pattern I use when tightening the screws I have found works best. I think the problem lies in the design of the pivot system. It's not like a normal pivot that when you tighten the pivot screw it pulls the scales, liners, washers and blade all together. If the pivot pin is slightly longer than the thickness of the blade you will never be able to eliminate blade play no matter how tight you tighten the screws. I always make sure everything is seated and clean when re-assembling.
 
hhmoore said:
Just out of curiosity, did it have blade play before you disassembled it? Or did it shoot up afterwards?
Click to expand...
Not sure if your comment was directed at me, but had hint of play before disassembly and after. I take extra care when assembling this knife.
 
I’ve owned many para 3s (most of which I wish I still had), and quite a few came with some play. Only a few were good enough for me not to mess with, and I’m particular! Most of the time it’s as simple as tightening the pivot. Never had one that I couldn’t adjust out or developed play after a few days. Something to try: After you locktite the pivot and adjust it to zero play, let it sit for a full day to let the locktite fully cure. Good luck!
 
Last edited:
blades&wrenches said:
I’ve owned many para 3s (most of which I wish I still had), and quite a few came with some play. Only a few were good enough for me not to mess with, and I’m particular! Most of the time it’s as simple as tightening the pivot. Never had one that I couldn’t adjust out or developed play after a few days. Something to try: After you locktite the pivot and adjust it to zero play, let it sit for a full day to let the locktite fully cure. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will do a last disassembly, thoroughly clean, lube, locktite and re-assemble. If the play persists then I will decide to live with it or sell. Even with the blade play I'can't keep this thing out of my pocket. It is just such a good user and slicer.
 
Just wanted to give some feedback for those who are interested. I disassembled the knife, lanyard tube and all and cleaned everything. I then took the liner with the round pivot hole and placed the washer on top. I then took 2000 grit sand paper and punched a 5mm (exact size of the diameter of the pivot pin going through the washer and liner) hole in the paper. I then placed the sand paper with 5mm hole on top of the washer. So now it was liner, washer and sandpaper with 5mm hole. I then inserted the pivot pin through the hole and screwed in the pivot screw on the side facing upwards. Then took my torx driver and started rotating the pin. This resulted sanding down the shoulder of the pin to make it shorter (part that goes through the blade tang) and insures everything stays square. Did that and switched the pin around (did each side 3 times). Cleaned lubed and re-assembled the knife. Opened and closed many times (did not even put loctite on the pivot screws for in case I had to disassemble the knife again) There is not even a hint of play even when I grab the very tip of the blade. This thing is solid.

Hope everyone understood my crazy method and explanation.
 
Hi, sorry if I am out of TOS on the forum but this is the most recent thread about para 3 blade play.

I tried almost any solutions I could find of BF and the spyderco forum, except polishing washers (I live in Europe and I can't get any replacement washers, I searched for them...).

Yesterday, I found the actual cause of the permanent lateral blade play I was living with for 6 months. I had to tighten the pivot so hard that the knife couldn't open one handed to supress blade play.

On the different threads I read, people said to tighten the body screws. In my case, i had to relieve some (a lot?) of tension by unscrewing these body screws. Now it's not drop shutty but I can open and close the knife nicely and the blade play is gone.
So, if nothing works, you might want to relieve a bit of tension from the body screws and try to tune it accordingly before the last resort (sending it back or polishing the washers/bushing,etc).
 
About 5 years later here. Para 3's tend to have blade play from the factory. It also tends to get a bit worse the more you "check" for blade play. I used loctite and blade play would go right away. But the day I wanted to open it back up I couldn't get it open easy and I had a couple real stripped screws. Be careful with the thread locker but it will fix the problem putting it on the pivot screws.
:)
 
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