True Upgrade for Omega Spring

Sibyrnes said:
"monkeys"? What manufacturers do you know that will ship you free parts to do your own warranty repairs?
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Kershaw will happily send you just about enough parts to build your own spare knife (at no charge). They know that springs are a consumable item, and cover them under warranty. I've also managed to get parts, including their version of omega springs, from SOG.

A company that refuses to send customers replacement parts, isn't worth buying knives from. FYI, BM is know to send springs to foreign customers on request, it is only US buyers that get screwed by their customer disservice department. I would be happy to PAY BM to mail me some springs so I could fix my knives myself, without waiting a month, or having irreplaceable knives lost in the mail, but they just won't do it. F 'em.
 
I would agree that the Achilles heel of the Axis lock is the omega springs, obviously. That said, I probably prefer the simpler spring on the BM over something like what you find on the Spyderdo Manix.

I would say that the most aggravating issue with the Omega springs are, as has been mentioned, the hassle of sending the whole knife back for something someone with a torque set and basic mechanical knowledge could change out within minutes.

The perceived fragility of them is a non-issue if I can procure a few on hand for repair. I look at it something along the line of recoil spring life in a semi automatic pistol. I don't really care if the spring should last 3500 rounds or 10,000 rounds before needing to be changed as long as I can get the spring and have it ahead of time to change it regularly or from a prophylactic view where I pop in fresh springs before going into a situation where failure would be worse than just "bad".

Thst said, I will most likely pick up a set of aftermarkets just to keep on hand. The Axis lock is a pretty durable and adaptable lock in a bad situation. If you found yourself in a survival situation and you snapped a spring, you'd still have one limping along...probably longer than you would survive. Even at that, a simple twig jammed behind the crossbar will lock it up well enough.

I would say that there are few folding knives that can have a lock failure and still remain 50% functional for some time before needing to resort to "chimp tool" level of fixes to press them into further service. Still, it would be nice to have all that redundancy with a more universally "reliable" spring.

I'm very new to the Axis lock. I only have two Benchmades that sport it: An Adamas Auto that is about a month old and a Mini that I bought because I enjoyed the full size so much but wanted a lighter EDC tank.

The Auto is what it is. It opens how it opens. I'm not sure how long the Omegas will last acting as the trigger for the knife, but I'm sure they will hold up just fine. The knife has a safety that can lock the blade open if the Omegas fail. However, I generally thumb open the Mini and quietly drop it shut. I really don't like relying on stop bars to completely hault the momentum. I'm hoping to get several years out of both, but I may put together a little repair kit of some off the shelf springs and a small driver. Then I can fix it if I NEED to, or just send it in and wait for them to do the repair. I'm on the fence about picking up a fixed blade Adamas just so I have a 100% back up for any spring issues 😉
 
Reswob said:
Kershaw will happily send you just about enough parts to build your own spare knife (at no charge). They know that springs are a consumable item, and cover them under warranty. I've also managed to get parts, including their version of omega springs, from SOG.

A company that refuses to send customers replacement parts, isn't worth buying knives from. FYI, BM is know to send springs to foreign customers on request, it is only US buyers that get screwed by their customer disservice department. I would be happy to PAY BM to mail me some springs so I could fix my knives myself, without waiting a month, or having irreplaceable knives lost in the mail, but they just won't do it. F 'em.
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Well thank you for the info on Kershaw - I didn't know that.

I also didn't know that Benchmade has "monkeys" working for them.
 
Nadim Kanafani said:
I am curious if someone can provide more detail about where on the spring the failure point usually is. Is it randomly distributed or are there common points of failure people have found.
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Not sure about others but here is where mine broke.
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DemazWu.jpeg
 
I'm certain that's how they all break since that's probably the point of the most tension.
 
Reswob said:
Kershaw will happily send you just about enough parts to build your own spare knife (at no charge). They know that springs are a consumable item, and cover them under warranty. I've also managed to get parts, including their version of omega springs, from SOG.

A company that refuses to send customers replacement parts, isn't worth buying knives from. FYI, BM is know to send springs to foreign customers on request, it is only US buyers that get screwed by their customer disservice department. I would be happy to PAY BM to mail me some springs so I could fix my knives myself, without waiting a month, or having irreplaceable knives lost in the mail, but they just won't do it. F 'em.
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You must really hate most knife companies
 
I imagine the main reason Benchmade doesn't send out springs to domestic customers, is that they don't want to risk the customer taking their knife apart, not be able to get it back together, put it together wrong causing some other issue, or lose parts and have to send it back in anyway. Best to just have the actual people that build them take care of it and skip the other problems.

Not everyone that buys these knives is mechanically inclined, and even if they are, the knives with Axis locks can be a bit tricky to reassemble. I've done it a bunch now, and it still gives me some aggravation from time to time.
 
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Shamurai said:
Anyone out there know of a true upgrade - with some sort of solid reason why it's an upgrade or empirical evidence to back it up?
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Shamuri, Interesting experiment idea -
I think a repurposed slightly thicker piano wire, well known specs and quality controlled, might be an upgrade, though Wilson knows springs which is why Hogue uses them, but none of mine have ever broke... if and when one does I will email Wilson or breakout piano wires and carefully shape. Also, I wonder if my Adamas springs would fit 940... it is the biggest Benchmade makes.
I have toyed with the idea of putting a pair inside grips, easy enough, but as I said...
 
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scottc3 said:
Shamuri, Interesting experiment idea -
I think a repurposed slightly thicker piano wire, well known specs and quality controlled, might be an upgrade, though Wilson knows springs which is why Hogue uses them, but none of mine have ever broke... if and when one does I will email Wilson or breakout piano wires and carefully shape. Also, I wonder if my Adamas springs would fit 940... it is the biggest Benchmade makes.
I have toyed with the idea of putting a pair inside grips, easy enough, but as I said...
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The 940 uses the "small" Omega spring, same as in the Mini Griptilians and Bugout/Mini Bugout/Bailout sized knives. The other Omega spring size would be the "standard" as used in Griptilian and Rift sized knives. Don't have an Adamas, but my largest Benchmade are the Contego and Triage which have the same "standard" size springs as the Griptilians but in a thicker gauge wire. So, Benchmade does use thicker gauge Omega springs for their heavy duty knives, which may point to some evidence of an upgrade.
 
I wanted to put in my 2 cents here, because I've gone down the Omega spring breaking rabbit hole, and left my dying body on the battlefield.
First off, I had a stock Bugout spring break after only a couple months of a little fidgeting.
I purchased Pacific Sons springs off Etsy and they felt much stiffer, thicker, and stronger. They lasted about twice as long, then one spring broke, same spot.
I acquired a new Bugout, then ordered spring steel music wire in .025 inch, and made omega springs out of it. These were WAY stiffer but still usable (painful at first, but you build callous). They lasted about as long as the Pacific Sons, before one also broke.

To address those who say it's climate, I was living in dry, North Dakota for 2 out of 3 breaks (almost all indoor), and more humid Washington for the other.
To address those who say pulling both sides of the lockbar prevents breaking, it doesn't. I always pull both sides.
To be fair, I do fidget a lot, and that's definitely why. But I still don't like my knife breaking after a couple months, just from opening it too many times.

I wish I didn't like the bugout so much, but I just can't give up on it. Nothing else quite hits the spot! So
I'm done trying music wire/spring wire, If three different types all break, I'm ready to try something else. I have flat spring stock designed for locksmithing. It will need to be made narrower to work, but flat springs are inherently stronger, so maybe an Omega spring made with flat spring wire wouldn't break. If I find one that lasts more than a year, I will be sure to announce it to the world (maybe I'll get rich of it).
 
Can you find room in there for some coil springs?
Benchmade has used them before...IMG_09062022_104822.jpg
 
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Þráinn Njálsson said:
I wanted to put in my 2 cents here
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Your report, great anecdotal info, makes me think your omega spring problem is either or both of 2 things happening, and using it as a fidget toy is not a big part of the problem. Your scales are rubbing springs when actuated, or springs are not captured at each end, so that springs bend in their arc in one plane but several or visa versa. Could be frame is bent, or just pivot hole is canted? You can send it back to BMC with your report, and let them make Bugout work as it was designed.
 
Bob Denman said:
Can you find room in there for some coil springs?
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I skipped that saga, thanks for reminding me. I ordered 5 different sizes of coil springs from D. R. Templeman Co, with different density of coils per inch, and different gage wire.

This is hard to explain without pictures, but I filed two pairs of small notches in the rings/colors on either side of the pivot bar, so that the coils could fit into them, then fitted the springs between that and the rear notch in the liner intended for the omega springs.

One of the five spring types technically functioned, but had major issues. For one, without any kind of guide rod, the coil spring can be pushed out of alignment and folded onto itself, which renders the knife inop. This can happen just by pushing on the side, behind the lockbar. For two, the spring fully compressed before the lockbar could be moved all the way back. So it hit a wall which I could barely force it past, even just to close the blade.
Overall, this set-up was very unreliable, and still didn't allow for full movement of the lockbar. A way better setup for the Axis lock is the version on the Benchmade Anthem. This uses a guide rod and coil spring and should be how every axis lock is made. But converting a bugout to this would be virtually impossible because the blade sits too deep in the handle, there's simply no room. Without cutting the liners and scales, I don't believe coil springs can be added to a Bugout
 
scottc3 said:
Your report, great anecdotal info, makes me think your omega spring problem is either or both of 2 things happening, and using it as a fidget toy is not a big part of the problem. Your scales are rubbing springs when actuated, or springs are not captured at each end, so that springs bend in their arc in one plane but several or visa versa. Could be frame is bent, or just pivot hole is canted? You can send it back to BMC with your report, and let them make Bugout work as it was designed.
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I don't think it's a problem with my specific Bugouts, because it was two completely different knives. I really don't think the springs are rubbing, in part because the springs always break at the center/bottom of the curve, indicating it's just the stress of bending. Maybe the arc isn't on one plane or something, but if that's the case, I bet the tolerances of the knife don't allow for that. I just kinda doubt it's a unique problem with these knives.
As far as sending them to Benchmade, I am sure they would replace the springs with some stock springs. Maybe they would even replace the knife. But that won't fix the issue. I really just think the omega spring design, with that wire, can not handle that many reps. I suspect others who don't have issues have not flipped it as much (I have issues). But that's just what it seems like to me.
 
Bob Denman said:
Have you taken a peek at Spyderco's ball-bearing lock? (Manix 2)
A simplified version of the Anthem.
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Yes! If only the Bugout had a ball-bearing lock, we'd be in business! I just really like the Bugout design (once you swap the scales) it's got an X factor to it. I really don't recommend it to others, but for some reason I really like the look and feel. It's just those darn omega springs
 
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