Tight Pin Fit on Used Sebenza

[bvo85]

Anyone have an issue with tight fitting pins in a sebenza frame? I picked up a used one outside of BF, and the pins were tight. I didn't want to risk using any kind of abrasive, but I figured it was safe to use hand pressure to insert and remove the pins, a few dozens times per hole, and it's significantly smoother now. I figure it was off by 1/100th of an inch and since titanium is softer than steel, the action of inserting and removing helps ream it out a bit.

I've never experienced this before on a sebenza. Anyone else see this?

 

[bhyde]

I have had pins that were tight..er..That's not the right word..difficult to align is better.
The clearance from the body of the fastener to the hole in the titanium scale is very very small...On the order of .0002in
I'm sure you could find someone to ream out .01 (1/100)..in the grand scheme of things, that is a pretty large number and probably will leave you feeling less than satisfied.
You should send in the knife- Reamers don't work so well if you don't have enough material to remove (.0002in or 1/5000in) - it will have to be lapped out or the pins replaced.

 

[orixa]

I had this with one of mine....it's a matter of alignment and tight fitting, what I did was put it in the freezer after disassembly, go about my business for an hour or so, and when it comes to assembly, heat up the scales with a hairdryer and the (frozen) pins drop right in.

A proper cleaning with new knives help too, you wouldn't believe how gritty and dirty factories are.

 

[bvo85]

I had this with one of mine....it's a matter of alignment and tight fitting, what I did was put it in the freezer after disassembly, go about my business for an hour or so, and when it comes to assembly, heat up the scales with a hairdryer and the (frozen) pins drop right in.

Is this something that you did each and every time you re-assembled, or was it a one-time thing and somehow this expanded the holes just enough that from that point forward, it was proper tolerances?

 

[JB in SC]

I'd sent it in.

 

[orixa]

Is this something that you did each and every time you re-assembled, or was it a one-time thing and somehow this expanded the holes just enough that from that point forward, it was proper tolerances?

Is this something that you did each and every time you re-assembled, or was it a one-time thing and somehow this expanded the holes just enough that from that point forward, it was proper tolerances?

I did it for a few times, then I guess one day I didn't bother but the tightness disappeared...go figure....maybe I accidentally switched the screws or something, I dunno..

 

[bvo85]

I did it for a few times, then I guess one day I didn't bother but the tightness disappeared...go figure....maybe I accidentally switched the screws or something, I dunno..

I did try swapping the pins in different holes but it didn't effect it. However, I just took the pins in and out several dozen times over 20 minutes and it seemed to smooth out nicely! I assume the stainless steel pins wore down a ten-thousandth of an inch of material out of the titanium handle that might have been slightly undersized. And now it's works as expected!