Small amount of bladeplay... non-safe or just annoying

S

Slowstarter

Joined
Mar 21, 2006
Messages
552
I have a small amount of bladeplay on my Mini Grip (556 Axis lock). Not much but but you can feel it (not see it). Will this affect the saftey of the lock or is it ok and just annoying?
I know I can fix it with glue or teflon tape but I want to know if bladeplay affects the security of the Axis lock. Cheers!
 
Should not affect use, but probably only requires a slight tightening of the pivot. You are talking about using glue and tape for the pivot screw, correct?
 
I have no tolerance for blade play at all. ;)

If a folder has more than zero blade play it goes back or in the trash.
 
I would try tightening the pivot a little, as Cutter17 suggests. However, if that does not fix it, or if you can only eliminate the blade play by tightening the pivot so much that it affects easy deployment, I am with Ankerson; send it back. Benchmade has a great and well-deserved reputation for quality and for good customer service. If it does not come out of the box right, or correctable with minimum user adjustment, send it back. They will make it right for you.
 
Slowstarter said:
I have a small amount of bladeplay on my Mini Grip (556 Axis lock). Not much but but you can feel it (not see it). Will this affect the saftey of the lock or is it ok and just annoying?
I know I can fix it with glue or teflon tape but I want to know if bladeplay affects the security of the Axis lock. Cheers!
Click to expand...

To answer your question, it does not affect the security of the lock.
 
locktite works well, I've heard of using clear nail polish, but not glue.

BM has a great CS department.
 
Ankerson said:
I have no tolerance for blade play at all. ;)

If a folder has more than zero blade play it goes back or in the trash.
Click to expand...

I would have to disagree. My RW framelocked Super CQC7 has moved almost completely to the other side of the tang and has a tad of (1mm @ 4") up down play, but is rock solid.
 
My BM 551 Grip has a little noticeable play and it has not affected the security of the lock at all, and I use it almost everyday.
 
My BM 551BK Grip has given me fits with play since I got it. I'm a righty so the non-logo side is all scratched from rubbing the handle when it deploys.

I can hear it hiss as it rubs the grip. When I adjust it tight enough to keep the blade centered and off the handle (and then blue lock-tite it) it's a bear to deploy. I have to use normal motion and a lot of wrist snap to get it to open.

I called BM and they said to return it. I haven't done it yet, I bought it new in box on an eBay auction (no scratches - really new) but I don't know if they'll honor it because I don't think it was from an BM "authorized dealer."

Does anyone know about that scenario?
 
Thanks orthogonal1,

I believe I will. I'm really tired of trying to adjust it constantly. Sloppy is fast but the blade wobbles rt. to lft. and is annoying. ;)
 
I have a mini and a full sized and both of them had some play. I made an adjustment on the mini pivot and that seemed to take care of it. I finally got some blue lock tite after the full sized. That seems to have resolved the issue. I also recently got a 940 that had the same problem that the adjustment fixed.

This is just a personal bitch of mine but you would think that a company could go the extra step and assure that their knives are tight before they send them out. Still, I'm happy with all the knives but it really burns me up to have to fix a new knife.
 
Ankerson said:
I have no tolerance for blade play at all. ;)

If a folder has more than zero blade play it goes back or in the trash.
Click to expand...

Good luck finding a folder that doesn't play. I've never seen a folder that haven't had atleast little play, but that's production folders.
 
I've seen countless knives for work that were mailed to me from end line users here on the forums and a high percentage of their EDC knives exhibit some blade play either laterally or vertically. Many of them exhibit both types of play. Based on what I've seen I'd have to say consensus is that the general public can tolerate some movement either way. I mean its apparent to me they do from what I've seen.

As to the question of whether it means the lock is unreliable or not well, I would say each one is probably different. Some movement can affect lock behavior on certain types of locks. On others its of no consequence. Many liner locks and lock backs exhibit a small smack back and forth action with vertical bi directional forces applied to the blade. Lock backs can also exhibit some rocker arm movement up and down when force is applied like in a cutting straight down type job. Generally speaking this is fine and probably won't affect the lock performance but the 'clicking' from the up and down movement can be annoying to some.

The exception for when to be cautious of movement is when steady force or steadily increasing force is applied to the spine of the blade and the lock starts to lift up for a lock back or slide to release on a liner lock, frame lock, axis lock or ball lock type mechanism. Any time you have steady force that equals steady movement with the lock this movement can be a problem if the stress gets to the breaking point where something has to give. This is especially the case for your fingers in particular if the lock defeats from the stress. Fortunately these type defeats are a rarer occurrence than simple movement of the blade from some slapping back and forth where the lock stays put regardless of all the annoying noise it makes. The difference is that if force is applied and its the blade moving but the lock stays put you are fine. If the blade moves and the lock moves too be cautious of it.

STR
 
A.L. said:
Good luck finding a folder that doesn't play. I've never seen a folder that haven't had atleast little play, but that's production folders.
Click to expand...

Yeah OK....

Lets see here are mine with ZERO play.

3 Strider SmF's

ZT 0301

CS Hatamoto
CS Black Talon
CS Recon 1
CS Gunsite
CS Gunsite II
 
Keeping what I said above in mind a folder with zero play can still have a lock that moves under load whereas a folder that exhibits that tapping back and forth that is annoying can take the same steady load and not move at all. Again the difference is that the lock moves from stress on one but not on the other.

In other words lock movement is more of a concern than any minor blade movement. When the lock moves it can be trouble. Thats what to be concerned about. How does the lock behave under stress? The blade rotates. We know that can move. The lock isn't supposed to . Focus there.

STR
 
STR said:
Keeping what I said above in mind a folder with zero play can still have a lock that moves under load whereas a folder that exhibits that tapping back and forth that is annoying can take the same steady load and not move at all. Again the difference is that the lock moves from stress on one but not on the other.

In other words lock movement is more of a concern than any minor blade movement. When the lock moves it can be trouble. Thats what to be concerned about. How does the lock behave under stress? The blade rotates. We know that can move. The lock isn't supposed to . Focus there.

STR
Click to expand...

They all have been rock solid for me sofar.

I still prefer fixed blades though. :)
 
I have a very difficult time accepting blade play, but not for performance reasons - it's aesthetic.

Some people can't wear black socks with running shoes. Some can't eat an entree with a salad fork.

Choose your battles.
 
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