Umnumzaan Ceramic ball prupose?

joeyza

joeyza

Joined
Feb 27, 2013
Messages
916
Was just wondering whats the actual purpose of having the ceramic ball on the lock bar? Is it solely to prevent the lock bar from traveling over too much as the hardness of the ceramic ball won't allow that or is there some other benefit to it as well?
 
I thought we already went over this?
It's not an over-travel stop at all.

It serves as both the lock interface, meaning that the ball is what actually touches the blade tang to keep the knife open, as well as the ball detent.

Does that make sense? :)
 
The purpose of using ceramic is the high level of hardness means slow wear. The ball is just positioned in such a way that it serves as the detent and the lock face. These are two areas that get a lot of friction and are the first to wear out usually. So the purpose is longer detent and lock face life. :thumbup:
 
Ernie1980 said:
The purpose of using ceramic is the high level of hardness means slow wear. The ball is just positioned in such a way that it serves as the detent and the lock face. These are two areas that get a lot of friction and are the first to wear out usually. So the purpose is longer detent and lock face life. :thumbup:
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Exactly. Does occur to me though that since it places all of the lockup surface on the blade tang at one specific point, it would accelerate the wear on the blade tang (which is much slower wearing than titanium, the original wear/tear "weakest link"). Sort of like "lifetime brake pads" offered at some brake and muffler shops that are so hard the rotors wear instead of the pads.
 
The Umnumzaan has already been around for 6 years and I haven't seen reports of wear. Though I guess 6 years isn't that long in the lifetime of a CRK.
 
mongomondo said:
The Umnumzaan has already been around for 6 years and I haven't seen reports of wear. Though I guess 6 years isn't that long in the lifetime of a CRK.
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Agreed, I was speaking in theoretical terms. I do think it "moves" the wear from fairly long-ish term to extremely long term. I just wish an option existed to have the ceramic ball lockup with a bushing pivot. I'd be all over that.
 
Strigamort said:
It's not an over-travel stop at all.
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I think you misunderstood his question, it think he was talking about the lock bar wearing over too much and the advantages of a harder ceramic interface. I'm pretty sure he understands it's not an over-travel stop.
 
slurptoss said:
Does anyone know if there are examples of the ceramic ball wearing away the blade tang?
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this is an interesting question, I'm wondering about that too now?? I know it would take forever but it makes sense since the ceramic ball is hard that it would eventually create a small groove in the metal or something like that, is that possible?
 
joeyza said:
this is an interesting question, I'm wondering about that too now?? I know it would take forever but it makes sense since the ceramic ball is hard that it would eventually create a small groove in the metal or something like that, is that possible?
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My guess is on a microscopic level that's likely the case, but the nature of the spherically shaped lockup is that the lockbar would move ever-so-slightly further "into the groove". I really do think its a solid lockup system.
 
I've used one for a very long time now as my main edc, its solid!
Yes it makes a very slight groove in the face of the tang, polishes the groove as it goes so it stays smooth. It hasn't affected the lock up on mine in the least bit, nor has it moved any closer to the non lock bar side of the knife.
It's been close to three years as my go to knife and there's no telling what the future would bring, but, if my time with it is any indication I'm sure it'd outlast any reasonable expectation of lifespan for a pocket knife; to be honest, I think it'll be going strong long enough that if it ever did fail I'd be happy with the money spent on it and the value derived from the longevity of the product- and would of course buy another if still available ( already bought 2 more ;D ).

Use it without worry, I can't remember ever reading a thread about how bad or poorly an Umnum was either new or after use.
 
slurptoss said:
I think you misunderstood his question, it think he was talking about the lock bar wearing over too much and the advantages of a harder ceramic interface. I'm pretty sure he understands it's not an over-travel stop.
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Haha I think you're right!

Sorry Joey. The way I read your question had me wondering, but after re-reading it it makes a lot more sense. :o :D
 
joeyza said:
Was just wondering whats the actual purpose of having the ceramic ball on the lock bar? Is it solely to prevent the lock bar from traveling over too much as the hardness of the ceramic ball won't allow that or is there some other benefit to it as well?
Click to expand...

Some of your questions have been answered. If you are interested in understanding liner and framelock design principles and see pictures of the ceramic ball etc have a look at this link.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1088973-Lock-up-problems?highlight=lock+face
 
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