screw type pivot pins as stop pins?

Matt Shade

Matt Shade

Joined
Nov 24, 1999
Messages
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Anyone know how hard the adjustable pivot pins are that most supply houses carry? I'm talking about the kind that are threaded clear through and are held in by a screw on each side.
Seems like they would be pretty convenient to use as stop pins since they wouldn't have to be press fit, are stainless, and seem to be fairly hard.I keep thinking that I read somewhere that they're made of 416SS and wouldn't be hard enough. Has anyone tried this?
 
Matt,
I use the screw type pin for my blade stop. It's 303ss.
The pin is just a handle bolt type and I use them for pivot and stop pins.
Oldgrinder
www.blademan.org
 
Matt, any of the pivot pins being sold can be used. The way they are made with accuracy and the material used is ideal.
 
Matt,

Your best bet is to use a pin that is hardened. I tried the pivots you mentioned as stop pins and found that they just don't hold up under heavy use. For a light duty folder they might be OK but under heavy use they will deform which will cause your lock-up to get a little sloppy.

I use hardened 416 dowel pins from MSC.
 
Ditto what Barry said.
Think about it, you have a hardened steel blade stopping aginst a softer metal, which will deform first. I use a hardened stop pin also on all my folders regardless of size.
Also something else to ponder, this is common physics. The larger the stop pin the better, why? More mass for one, but more importantly the larger the dia. the less likely of the sstop pin hole in your Ti liner oblonging after long/hard use.
In laymans terms: Theres this fine example of a female dressed in a short skirt and high heels walking on a tile floor, behind her walks this dude(eyes popping out & drool down his chin)wearing a pair of size 12 work boots. Which is exerting more force onto the floor? If you said high heels you would be correct. More force is consentrated with the smaller mass,larger mass,less force.


Patrick R. Nihiser
Knifemaker
 
One of the best things we learned at the Tom Anderson Folder-in was press fitting those stainless dowel pins into the lock side of the folder and snug fitting the face side. I used to use the double ended pins that you describe and found them to be a real pain. For one thing, the screws end up so short that they are very difficult to manipulate for the 200 times that the folder has to come apart while making. Contrast that to a one time press fitting then flush grinding on the lock side and voila. It's always there and not falling on the floor. They also have the nice effect of really locking the sandwich together tightly. Darrel uses something like seven pins on his Krait for accurate fitting.
 
If I remember correctly the stop pin on an axis lock rolls so it wears evenly, how about using a larger pin slid over a smaller pin so it wears evenly? Just make sure the pin has some force on it when you cut out the lock or you will be a little short.
 
The greater the surface area between the back of the blade and the stop pin the harder it will be to deform the pin. I used to file in the stop pins. Now I drill and ream to match the pins. No problems with the pins distorting.;)
View
 
I didn't think they would be hard enough. I've done the press fit before and it was fine, I just thought of this and it seemed like a possibility. I just wasn't sure of how hard they were.
What I really like though is making a combination spine/stop out of the same material as the blade,so they can be the same RC and meet at a flat spot.
I haven't finished any folders yet, but I've made a couple as sort of prototypes to figure out how I want to do things. The only trouble with using the spine as the stop is its hard to fit it all into the handle without making it really wide. I'll eventually work it out...I hope ;)
Thanks for the help.
 
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