Heavily modified Micra

[tterev3]

Hi all,
This is my super modified Leatherman Micra. I have gradually made the changes to this tool over a few months to configure it to exactly what I need.

My first steps were to put my car and house keys in. After I carried it like that for some time, I made a set of lock picks (using bandsaw blade material) with the Micra tool profile on the back end. I put these in the other handle, along with the stock tweezers and flathead screwdriver (with a basic wire stripper filed into the base). The final step was to get rid of the scissors (since I have those in my Victorinox http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,29675.0.html) and turn them into small forceps-style grippers.

I carefully bent the two blades so that they would come in towards center and line up at the tip, and then I ground them flat and filed in some grip texture. The area where the blades are bent in was ground away so they have clearance to come together, and at the base the scissor blades are still intact to use as cutters. The downside to this modification is that the handles will not close all the way (because the scissor blades cross past each other in the stock setup when folded).

A small detail I thought was worth pointing out is has to do with the keys: I had my car and house keys in this tool for a few months and found that the brass was too soft—some would be scraped away by the spring bar every time I opened the key, and the shoulder that stops it in the open position gradually wore away as well, allowing the keys to open past 180 degrees. I recently discovered that the Alumaloy I bought will bond to brass, so I brazed some on to the base of the key and solved the problem. The Alumaloy is harder than brass so it stands up to interaction with the spring bar perfectly. You can see this in the picture below, where the base of the car key is a silver color.

[Crouton]

Excellent result.  Nice work.

[Gareth]

Heavily modified indeed!  Very nice tt.

[edap617]

It gives me an idea  to modify mine, the one with the broken knife.

[Reinier]

Very nice!

But why do you need those keys when you have the lock picking tools

[Sparky415]

Nice work T3 

[MultiMat]

I like those keyed Micras 

[trouthunter]

This would be a great tool for a Realtor or something like that. 

[Ombudsman]

Amazing ! great mod 

[WWW]

The forceps type of jaw is just a fantastic idea !

Great job my friend! Take care!!

[J-sews]

Nice work! I need to try that key thing one of these days

[Taninaree]

Great mods 

[colinoutdoors]

Now that is a very cool mod. Important keys on your Micra, what more could you ask for. 
Perhaps in the future Leatherman will have a service where they can put your keys in a personalised MT, now that would be cool.

[nuphoria]

REALLY clever

The jaws are excellent. I thought you needed two lock pick bits at a time to open locks though?

[tterev3]

REALLY clever

The jaws are excellent. I thought you needed two lock pick bits at a time to open locks though?

You don't need two picks but you need a pick and a tension wrench simultaneously. That's why I've done this further modification since I posted originally. It's a stainless wire holder that keeps the wrench along the handle. It's only in the way of opening the picks, so it doesn't hinder anything.

[nuphoria]

Sorted

[Ombudsman]

Something interesting to try with this mod



Link to full Forbes article: http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/08/05/defcon-lockpickers-open-card-and-code-government-locks-in-seconds/