ZT 0450 rattles

KAI did not say about the cause of the issue. Many here suspect the issue is due to an oversized detent hole, which makes sense to me but I am not 100% sure.
 
That would make sense that the detent ball is too small for the hole. Other than replacing the blade, can the detent ball be removed, a larger hole drilled and then a bigger detent ball put in?
 
That would make sense that the detent ball is too small for the hole. Other than replacing the blade, can the detent ball be removed, a larger hole drilled and then a bigger detent ball put in?

I'm not sure. Most ZT framelocks have the detent ball set into a "post" milled into the titanium lock bar that protrudes through the steel interface. It doesn't seem like a thru hole that someone could punch the ball out of, and the post wouldn't allow any extra room for a bigger hole to be drilled. I'm sure there are other ways of removing a detent ball besides punching from the other side but I'm not too familiar with them. Given the titanium lock side, you could drop the whole piece into ferric chloride and dissolve the ball away. Not sure if ZT would go through that trouble though.
 
If the problem is due to a too large detent hole or put it the other way, a too small detent ball, the the solution must be one of the following:

- Replacing the blade with another that has a smaller detent hole. Too costly for KAI perhaps, so uncheck.

- Making the detent hole smaller. likely undoable and a bad idea. Uncheck.

- Replacing the lock side liner with another with a bigger detent ball. This is the easiest to do, and the old liner is still usable. This fix could also be cheaper (labor+material). Check.

- Replacing the detent ball with a bigger one. Not sure how easy it is to take the ball out. Enlarging the cave and pushing a new detent ball in shoulg be easy. Check/Uncheck.

I am inclined to believing it is Solution 3 above, but again, it is just my speculation.
 
The ZT 0450 is a framelock so it has no liners. I never dissambled mine, but what I can see is that the detent ball is placed in the steel insert.
So my guess is that Kai simply replaces the insert with a bigger detent ball. Or maybe drill the insert and put a bigger detent ball in it.
If they replace the blade it is easy to check when you get it back, because for some reason replaced blades won't have any etching.
 
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Got mine back a couple days ago and its all better now. They did not say the problem, just that it was covered and fixed.
 
Had this same problem on two out of three TILTs I've owned- it was the lanyard tube rattling around. Put some oil around the edges, tightened it up good and no more rattle. Blue loctite works also. :)
 
Had this same problem on two out of three TILTs I've owned- it was the lanyard tube rattling around. Put some oil around the edges, tightened it up good and no more rattle. Blue loctite works also. :)

No I am fairly certain that is not the problem being discussed in this thread.
 
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