Why won't Benchmade sell omega springs?

FlaMtnBkr

FlaMtnBkr

Joined
Oct 20, 2004
Messages
4,704
I have quite a few Benchmades with the AXIS lock as it is by far my favorite lock. I recently had an omega spring break on my Rift and now need a replacement.

I took the knife apart and made a spring out of wire and the knife now works. Kinda. The spring I made is not quite as strong as the Benchmade spring so the AXIS bar is not pushed forward evenly. One side is slightly forward of the other so that when closed there is a little play.

I could live with it but I am anal and it bothers me. So why won't Benchmade sell me some spare springs? If I want to void my warranty and take the knife apart I should be able to. I even told them that I have taken the knife apart voiding the warranty, and they still told me it is a warranty issue and I have to send it in.

It is not hard to take the scale off the knife and leave the liners alone to hold the knife together. This allows easy replacement of the omega spring and I would be willing to bet a 10 year old could do it. Ok I am a little flustered and rambling now so I will wrap this up with SELL ME SOME DANG OMEGA SPRINGS BENCHMADE!!!

I am thinking about having some springs made for me. I wonder if I would be able to sell them as I am sure I would have to have quite a few made.

Sorry for the long post.

Ryan
 
That's a little disappointing. When I broke a Kershaw torsion bar, they sent me a couple of new ones for free (and a Torx tool). I'd expect the same service from all quality knife companies.

Phillip
 
BM considers a disassembled knife to be void of warrenty. Why? I don't know.

They probably won't send you one because they want you to send the knife. Sending springs out, even though they are charging for them, will encourage people to attempt repairs themself. In all honesty that is a bad idea. The factory has people that do this day in and day out and can do it right, whereas the common end user is going to botch it badly. We knife knuts are the exception though. :D

Spyderco and Kershaw will both send replacement parts, although sometimes they will charge for them.
 
I have a hard time believing that anyone could botch a spring replacement. At least anyone willing to try.

Knives are simple, and it would be nearly impossible to flat out break any of the parts. Time and persistence would get it back together properly, (and if the person fails, they could just send it in and an employee could do it in a minute).

I don't own any BMs, but every other knife I own has been fully disassembled at least once. It's part of the fun of getting a new knife.

Phillip
 
Don't know, but BM may encourage sending in the broken ones so they can determine the cause of failures and use the information to improve reliability.
 
I would be more than happy to send them the broken spring. I have had some problems with shipping a few times recently and don't really want to send the knife and risk losing it in the mail. By the time I get it insured and tracking add on thats about $10 bucks plus I think they want you to send them $5 more to cover shipping back.

They say on their website that they will sell non-warranty parts such as blades and handles, so why won't they sell the silly springs? Even telling them that I have taken apart the knife and voided the warranty didn't get anything but a 'you have to send it in' response.

And it's not like their knives are permanently sealed, so they can't possibly think it is a trade secret.

I've now got about 5 knives that need to be sent out for warranty work and a few of them are my favorites. Very frustrating.
 
Might wanna try Knifekits.com not sure if they have that spring but they might .
 
What do the springs look like?
Most knife springs/bars etc are made out of music wire.
It might be easy to duplicate one with the proper materials.

As for them not sending any parts, that's just BM. Always been like that.
Spyderco will sometimes repair/replace parts for free, I believe.
Kershaw has never charged for parts, for anything. (There may be some circumstance I haven't seen, but not yet)
In fact, I recently asked for 2 spare clips and screw sets for a Leek and they
just mailed them to me, that was it.

mike
 
firebert said:
I have a hard time believing that anyone could botch a spring replacement.
Click to expand...

Yes, but then there will be that one moron that does, then cuts himself and gets a 50 million dollar settlement from a jury of people only slightly dumber than him.
 
jiggyfly16 said:
that's why I stay away from axis locks in general......murphy's law and all that.
Click to expand...

AXIS locks are way too good to stay away from. I'm sure the failure rate is very low but everything has to fail to some degree. It is more Benchmade's policies that are the problem and if another company had the AXIS lock I would probably not buy any BMs because of them.

I might just make two springs and replace the non-broken one as well to hopefully match spring tensions.
 
I am almost certain I have seen aftermarket springs for sale before but can't remember where you might try a search on the forum
 
pvicenzi said:
Don't know, but BM may encourage sending in the broken ones so they can determine the cause of failures and use the information to improve reliability.
Click to expand...

Its not a flaw, its just the way the lock works. People open and close their knife tens to hundreds of times a day. Eventually the spring is worn and breaks. Imagine a piece of soft metal hundreds of times. Eventually the metal will break in half at the bend point, same thing for the Omega spring.
 
I suspect it is some sort of silly liability issue.
By keeping everything a warranty issue, they may be trying to keep idiots from fixing their own knives and injuring themselves. Perhaps BM has already been sued by someone who poked himself with a knife while trying to disassemble/reassemble a BM product.
 
CWL said:
I suspect it is some sort of silly liability issue.
By keeping everything a warranty issue, they may be trying to keep idiots from fixing their own knives and injuring themselves. Perhaps BM has already been sued by someone who poked himself with a knife while trying to disassemble/reassemble a BM product.
Click to expand...

If this was the case then they wouldn't offer replacement blades and handles for sale for non-warranty items. They say on the warranty form to call them for prices. If they will sell these parts why not the springs?
 
AXIS locks are way too good to stay away from.
Click to expand...
Uhh.. maybe? How about no springy-springs-gimmicks to break? I'm just all about simplicity, the less moving parts the better. While a blur I had snap'd a torsion bar and Kershaw sent 2 news ones, no questions asked; I'm now not willing to depend on that knife. KISS.
 
I know there IS a place that sells omega springs, but I've forgotten the site.

As a side note, I have yet to experience an omega spring failure since the axis lock was introduced in 1999(?)
 
If this was the case then they wouldn't offer replacement blades and handles for sale for non-warranty items. They say on the warranty form to call them for prices. If they will sell these parts why not the springs?
Reply With Quote
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BM won't send any parts. Benchmade clearly states that owner must send the knife in for them to do the work, the only difference if that they will first quote you the cost for repairs. Read it again:
For non-warranty parts replacement pricing, such as
blades (for issues such as tip breaks, extensive sharpening and/or general wear) or handles (wear) please contact
repair@benchmade.com for a quote before sending the knife into the factory.
Click to expand...
 
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