Sprint Millie smoothness issue

flatface77

flatface77

Joined
Oct 3, 2007
Messages
987
My M390 Millie has a lot of friction through it's entire path of motion. I've just lubed it & loosened the pivot to where there's slight blade play & the tip nearly touches the liner. Still the same. I can open it to any mid-point & shake it up & down without it closing. I can see that nothing but the ball in the liner tab & the washers are touching the blade tang. All I can think of is that it has too much pressure from the liner. Millies are generally smooth folders from what I gather. Any experience with this? Should I send it in?
 
I'd wash it thoroughly with soapy water first. Clean out all the oil, lube, grease, grit, dirt, lint, etc. Once it's dried out (use canned air/keyboard duster), see if the blade smoothes out. I've had great success doing this in the past with various knives. Is the blade centered? Pivot tightened? Body screws tight?
 
Done. All screws tight. It's still stiff whether the pivot is loosened or tightened until the tip centers. Just noticed something. I can press the liner lock tab all the way down into the liner & still get that friction when I move the blade. Maybe the ball isn't meeting it's groove on the tang or something.

Edit: Is there supposed to be a groove for the ball detent? I'm not seeing one. Just a mark where the ball rubs the tang. The only pic I found is inconclusive:

http://www.spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?38196-Another-Mutilated-Orange-Military
 
Last edited:
There's no path in the tang from the factory. The ball wears it in when breaking in, it takes longer on more wear resistant steels. Here if the action isn't smooth with the liner fully depressed, friction from the ball isn't your problem. Have you tried wd40 in the pivot area before washing? Spray the area liberally, then move the blade back and forth re spray etc until you feel an improvement then wash, dry and lube.

If this doesn't work you either have a very stubborn piece of grit stuck in your washers or a burr somewhere ( it happens).

In either case it's nothing that can't be easily solved with the proper Torx drivers some patience and some fine sandpaper and flitz. If you don't feel confident send it in.
 
I own a few Militarys and none oF them have a groove in the blade for the detent ball. What is shown in the picture in the link is a path cut through the grit and grime by the detent ball. I'm looking at both of my M390 Militarys and they are both fairly smooth. If it bugs you enough, I'd send it in.
 
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