Charge TTi Tabs

[Magic Bus]

I had a closer look at how my Charge TTi is put together today, and it's quite a complex little beast isn't it? In particular I noticed the little bent up tabs inside the handles that the plier tips rest against when it's all closed up were beginning to mark slightly. Looks to me like these tabs take a bit of force when closing the tool up unless you baby it. The fact that the plier tips rub on these tabs seems to occasionally impede the smooth closing of the tool. This occurs on my Surge too. I know that Kwakster has reported this as a possible weak design point in the Charge series. Anyone had a tab break or find that their Charge TTi doese'nt close up too smoothly sometimes? Are these tabs really necessary? 

[kwakster]

Yep.

If these 'tabs' get bent outward or even worse, break off completely you'll end up with a plierhead that jams itself next to the bit in the bit screwdriver.

Inside each Wave and Charge leg are actually 2 springs.

One thick spring with the shape of a fork that helps to keep the tool opened and shut, but also with the use of a sidepin acts as a means of holding the knifeblades closed when the pliers are open.
When the pliers are opened they force the fork sideways which puts the sidepin through the opening holes of the knifeblades.

The second, thinner spring works on the locking tab which locks the rest of the items, and the weak 'tabs' are actually part of this spring in current models.

Both springs are held in place with the little rivet you can see in the middle of your handles.

On the soon to be released versions the 'tab's' are now an extension of the first, thicker spring, so they themselves are also thicker and a lot sturdier.
I've already built spare ones in older Charge ti's and Xti's

If you are planning to buy a Wave or one of the Charge's, look for the thicker pin.
It's worth it.

[Magic Bus]

Thankyou 

[original man]

On the soon to be released versions the 'tab's' are now an extension of the first, thicker spring, so they themselves are also thicker and a lot sturdier.
I've already built spare ones in older Charge ti's and Xti's

If you are planning to buy a Wave or one of the Charge's, look for the thicker pin.
It's worth it.

Please tell me more about the new Wave...

[J-sews]

Yep.

If these 'tabs' get bent outward or even worse, break off completely you'll end up with a plierhead that jams itself next to the bit in the bit screwdriver.

Inside each Wave and Charge leg are actually 2 springs.

One thick spring with the shape of a fork that helps to keep the tool opened and shut, but also with the use of a sidepin acts as a means of holding the knifeblades closed when the pliers are open.
When the pliers are opened they force the fork sideways which puts the sidepin through the opening holes of the knifeblades.

The second, thinner spring works on the locking tab which locks the rest of the items, and the weak 'tabs' are actually part of this spring in current models.

Both springs are held in place with the little rivet you can see in the middle of your handles.

On the soon to be released versions the 'tab's' are now an extension of the first, thicker spring, so they themselves are also thicker and a lot sturdier.
I've already built spare ones in older Charge ti's and Xti's

If you are planning to buy a Wave or one of the Charge's, look for the thicker pin.
It's worth it.

Kwakster mentioned this some time ago. Looks like a worthwhile improvement to me:




Picture is of two New Waves, looking down into the handle channel. On the '07 model you can see how flimsy the little "stop" pin is that the pliers rest against. No wonder they break occasionally.

The stop pin on the '08 model is much thicker. Makes me wonder why they didn't do it this way from the start.

[David]

When I bought the Charge TTi back in December I made sure it had the new tabs because of this thread. They are much better as Bobs pictures show.

[Magic Bus]

Yep.

If these 'tabs' get bent outward or even worse, break off completely you'll end up with a plierhead that jams itself next to the bit in the bit screwdriver.

Inside each Wave and Charge leg are actually 2 springs.

One thick spring with the shape of a fork that helps to keep the tool opened and shut, but also with the use of a sidepin acts as a means of holding the knifeblades closed when the pliers are open.
When the pliers are opened they force the fork sideways which puts the sidepin through the opening holes of the knifeblades.

The second, thinner spring works on the locking tab which locks the rest of the items, and the weak 'tabs' are actually part of this spring in current models.

Both springs are held in place with the little rivet you can see in the middle of your handles.

On the soon to be released versions the 'tab's' are now an extension of the first, thicker spring, so they themselves are also thicker and a lot sturdier.
I've already built spare ones in older Charge ti's and Xti's

If you are planning to buy a Wave or one of the Charge's, look for the thicker pin.
It's worth it.

Kwakster mentioned this some time ago. Looks like a worthwhile improvement to me:


(Image removed from quote.)

Picture is of two New Waves, looking down into the handle channel. On the '07 model you can see how flimsy the little "stop" pin is that the pliers rest against. No wonder they break occasionally.

The stop pin on the '08 model is much thicker. Makes me wonder why they didn't do it this way from the start.

Thanks for the photo, looks to be a big improvement there. The tabs on mine have bent a little but not got any worse over time.

[raptor]

Yep.

If these 'tabs' get bent outward or even worse, break off completely you'll end up with a plierhead that jams itself next to the bit in the bit screwdriver.

Inside each Wave and Charge leg are actually 2 springs.

One thick spring with the shape of a fork that helps to keep the tool opened and shut, but also with the use of a sidepin acts as a means of holding the knifeblades closed when the pliers are open.
When the pliers are opened they force the fork sideways which puts the sidepin through the opening holes of the knifeblades.

The second, thinner spring works on the locking tab which locks the rest of the items, and the weak 'tabs' are actually part of this spring in current models.

Both springs are held in place with the little rivet you can see in the middle of your handles.

On the soon to be released versions the 'tab's' are now an extension of the first, thicker spring, so they themselves are also thicker and a lot sturdier.
I've already built spare ones in older Charge ti's and Xti's

If you are planning to buy a Wave or one of the Charge's, look for the thicker pin.
It's worth it.

Kwakster mentioned this some time ago. Looks like a worthwhile improvement to me:


(Image removed from quote.)

Picture is of two New Waves, looking down into the handle channel. On the '07 model you can see how flimsy the little "stop" pin is that the pliers rest against. No wonder they break occasionally.

The stop pin on the '08 model is much thicker. Makes me wonder why they didn't do it this way from the start.

look at the stop pin of swisstool spirit,never bend,never broke.

[Magic Bus]

Yep.

If these 'tabs' get bent outward or even worse, break off completely you'll end up with a plierhead that jams itself next to the bit in the bit screwdriver.

Inside each Wave and Charge leg are actually 2 springs.

One thick spring with the shape of a fork that helps to keep the tool opened and shut, but also with the use of a sidepin acts as a means of holding the knifeblades closed when the pliers are open.
When the pliers are opened they force the fork sideways which puts the sidepin through the opening holes of the knifeblades.

The second, thinner spring works on the locking tab which locks the rest of the items, and the weak 'tabs' are actually part of this spring in current models.

Both springs are held in place with the little rivet you can see in the middle of your handles.

On the soon to be released versions the 'tab's' are now an extension of the first, thicker spring, so they themselves are also thicker and a lot sturdier.
I've already built spare ones in older Charge ti's and Xti's

If you are planning to buy a Wave or one of the Charge's, look for the thicker pin.
It's worth it.

Kwakster mentioned this some time ago. Looks like a worthwhile improvement to me:


(Image removed from quote.)

Picture is of two New Waves, looking down into the handle channel. On the '07 model you can see how flimsy the little "stop" pin is that the pliers rest against. No wonder they break occasionally.

The stop pin on the '08 model is much thicker. Makes me wonder why they didn't do it this way from the start.

look at the stop pin of swisstool spirit,never bend,never broke.

Yes indeed and I do love my Spirit. The TTi has the bit holder though and a big variety of bits available which I find useful when somebody "borrows" a screwdriver or allen keys at work.

[J-sews]

look at the stop pin of swisstool spirit,never bend,never broke.

Those Swiss definitely got it right the first time!

[kwakster]

look at the stop pin of swisstool spirit,never bend,never broke.

Those Swiss definitely got it right the first time!

Not quite, as they got a weak point of their own; the tab on the outside where you put the separate corkscrew.
I have seen a handful of SwissTools that had these broken on one side because apparently too much force was applied to the handles.

These SwissTools came to use because people thought we were a Victorinox repaircentre too, which isn't the case.

[Benner]

Can I just ask what you do repair?

[kwakster]

90 % Leatherman and 10 % SOG, Buck & Gerber

[glorn]

My SURGE!! looks different than either of those Charges. The tab comes in from the side up against the handle as opposed to inline with the handle, and then it folds over on itself forming a flat instead of the pliers head hitting the end of the tab.

Is this typical of the Surge, and if so.. have you seen issues with it?

[Dunc]

It looks to me that the new tabs are set slightly to lean back . Going by my new wave the small bit driver only just clears it . Any thoughts ?



Dunc

[Magic Bus]

Well I've still got a Wave because my mate who so desperately wanted it pulled out of the deal  (it's going nowhere now) So I can tell you Dunc that there is more clearance on mine ie. tabs are just about upright. You must have got a duff one 
BTW it's good to see these tabs are a lot stronger than the older ones eg. on the TTi I used to have.

[Blackbeard]

My SURGE!! looks different than either of those Charges. The tab comes in from the side up against the handle as opposed to inline with the handle, and then it folds over on itself forming a flat instead of the pliers head hitting the end of the tab.

Is this typical of the Surge, and if so.. have you seen issues with it?

Yeah, this is how the surge tabs look, I know because I handed the tool to my mom and she somehow managed to close it incorrectly and bent one of the tabs, causing the plier head to rub and get stuck..
Was able to get it back to the correct position pretty easily and it works fine.