Quality Control and Stripped Screws

E

Erik Norseman

Joined
Jun 9, 2017
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78
Full disclosure: I can sometimes be a bit of an idiot... but I keep seeming to strip benchmade screws on my 940-2. I have taken down a bunch of other knives before, spyderco, zt, CRKT, some no names, and have stripped way more benchmade screws than anywhere else.

Have I just had bad luck with my hardware, or is it maybe something about benchmade? I know my torx bit set isn't particularly good, I suppose that could be part of it? It still seems like benchmade hardware gives me a lot more trouble than any other to date.

Ultimately I just don't want more stripped screws and am willing to admit that I am not a pro at taking down knives and am really just curious about other people's experiences. What can I do better?

On an another note: I also have trouble with blade centering on benchmades. It isn't so bad that it affects performance or anything, but benchmades just seem a bit finicky to me. It isn't simple for me to get smooth action with no blade play and my 940-2 just seems hard to tune compared to some other brands in the same price range. I have only delt with this one benchmade, so I recognize that isn't exactly a wealth of experience.
Nonetheless, am I alone in feeling this way about benchmade, or do others also feel this way too?
I'm not trying to rip on benchmade. Far from it, I'm a big fan. It just feels like I want to like them more than I actually do, and I'm wondering if anyone can speak to some of these experiences.
 
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They generally use locktite on their screws, so they can take a good amount of force to initially break them loose. I've got one of the Benchmade torx wrench tools and haven't stripped any out with it yet.

As far as centering goes, it's usually as simple as this... https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1wNjWTmrQh0TXFqU2x6ajhWMjg ...just open the blade and pry it over. You'll need to pry toward the side that the blade was favoring, which sounds backwards, but since the blade rotates 180 degrees when you open it, you have to go in the opposite direction of what it needed in the closed position. Sometimes you need to loosen up some of the screws, sometimes you don't. It's best to keep the pivot screw tight though, that way other parts shift into alignment with the pivot. A couple other tips if you're still having trouble getting it centered...loosen the screws and press the blade against a table or something and tighten all the screws while keeping pressure applied against the blade. Or you can clamp the blade in a vise (with something relatively soft between the vise jaws and the blade of course) and pry on it that way. No need to bear down too hard, you just need to torque it over once or twice to get the liners to shift a little bit.

Here's a more thorough explanation from @ChazzyP
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/centering-a-benchmade-blade.1495117/#post-17203341
 
Thanks for your reply. Yeah, I just got my 940-2 back from a warranty claim and they lathered the knife in loctite. So much so that it flowed out all over the scales around the pivot and some more excess around body screws. I think that is definitely part of why I had so much trouble with the screws. I will make sure I use a hair dryer before doing any work on BMs in the future. I also think I'll look into some better tox bits.

On centering: although I'm not crazy about bending my knife like that, it actually worked great! Thanks!
 
Any suggestions on how to remove my now stripped screw? I'll call Benchmade and ask them, but what can I try in the mean time? At this point this knife has been away for service way way longer than I've had it in pocket xD

I don't think I have a dremel head small enough to cut into the recessed screw without damaging the G10. I could try to somehow gluing my bit into the hole, but I have no idea if that works or what glue/cement/epoxy I'd use.

I did find this video, which suggests hammering the screw out -- as a last resort. He reasons that the screws' threads would fail well before the threads in the liner do, as the liner is much harder than the screw. He did it and it seems to work. Any other suggestions before I try banging my knife around?
 
pro tip. if you cannot remove a screw easily, DONT TRY ANY MORE. do NOT force any screws. if you have to force them, they most certainly have locktite or are stripped.

stop what you are doing and grab a heat gun, soldering iron, hair drier etc. you can even boil water and let it sit in there for a bit. spyderco even recommends a shock method. around 600 degrees is when red locktite loosens up.

in any case, use one of those methods, else you will absolutely strip a screw.
 
Mo2 said:
pro tip. if you cannot remove a screw easily, DONT TRY ANY MORE. do NOT force any screws. if you have to force them, they most certainly have locktite or are stripped.

stop what you are doing and grab a heat gun, soldering iron, hair drier etc. you can even boil water and let it sit in there for a bit. spyderco even recommends a shock method. around 600 degrees is when red locktite loosens up.

in any case, use one of those methods, else you will absolutely strip a screw.
Click to expand...

I know... I'm a fool sometimes.
Thanks for the reminder! I'll learn soon enough.
 
Heat is the cryptonite of LockTite. Good torx keys are a must.

With regards to your experience with the 940-2, it mirrors my own...except for the stripped screws. ;)
 
I also read somewhere that a cheap dollar store soldering iron will work also. Just heat the screw head a few seconds at a time until the driver will remove the screw.
 
colin.p said:
I also read somewhere that a cheap dollar store soldering iron will work also. Just heat the screw head a few seconds at a time until the driver will remove the screw.
Click to expand...
a cheap one never works for me. If it works for you great but I'd recommend something a little better. Mine came in a kit and doesn't do anything for any of the knives I had. So results may very.
 
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