And so it begins.... (My adventures into Alox!)

[crackout]

Uah...that looks like a lot of work.

[enki_ck]

I wish I had some money to spend    This thing looks just dreamy.

[crackout]

This thing looks just dreamy.

Fixed.

I'm not getting warm with Cadets somehow. The scales are too thin for my taste. Also the modding is so much harder.

[nj2656]

 That is EXACTLY what I want. Love the awl. 

[nj2656]

I have to keep a close eye on you. Is the knife in your profile a mod? If so could we see a bigger picture. Also any progress on the backtool 84mm? After seeing the Mini Pioneer I can't wait to see what you do with that. A Mini Camper with the corkscrew or Hiker with the screwdriver.

[Syph007]

I have to keep a close eye on you. Is the knife in your profile a mod? If so could we see a bigger picture. Also any progress on the backtool 84mm? After seeing the Mini Pioneer I can't wait to see what you do with that. A Mini Camper with the corkscrew or Hiker with the screwdriver.

lol, thats the one I did a few pages back with the electricians blade and combo tool.

Im working on the backtool mod next.   

[crackout]

Im working on the backtool mod next.   

Can't wait for that.

Anyone tried fitting a nailfile on a 93mm? Are there even bigger files than the ones from Cadets?

[tattoosteve99]

Im working on the backtool mod next.   

Can't wait for that.

Anyone tried fitting a nailfile on a 93mm? Are there even bigger files than the ones from Cadets?

Lots have tried that. It sits too low in the knife for the nail nick to be used. I had a idea for tools like that to fit but it's very time consuming and costly.

[Syph007]

Im working on the backtool mod next.   

Can't wait for that.

Anyone tried fitting a nailfile on a 93mm? Are there even bigger files than the ones from Cadets?

Lots have tried that. It sits too low in the knife for the nail nick to be used. I had a idea for tools like that to fit but it's very time consuming and costly.

Ya the only way I can think to make use of the 84mm parts on 93 would be to make a custom spring with fatter ends to hold the tools up higher. 

[tattoosteve99]

I was thinking of making a very small carrier that would be the same size as a 91mm tool. I don't have anything to draw up one though so the thought is still in my head

[Syph007]

I was thinking of trying that with a 58mm scissors to put in place of a can opener, but when I looked at it, it was so much fiddly work to make, I lost interest.

[tattoosteve99]

Yep that was me too. Plus it's so thin I was afraid after all the work it would snap.

[Syph007]

Well I've been awaiting this day for 4 months now... that's right... urban legend no more...  I have custom scissor springs! 

Here is the original concept model I did.  The idea was to make a spring that can be used for multiple tools simply by grinding the nub rest down.  This should allow the spring to work for scissors, pliers, saws, really anything.  I could even use 84 mm tools like the 84mm combo tool in the main blade layer by leaving enough metal to hold the combo up higher than the stock 93 springs would.



Anyways.. all the steps in this process did work out except the last.  Succesful laser cut and heat treat, but the shop we tried to get them thickness ground couldnt do it.  Instead of waiting longer I decided just to hand surface some and get the ball rolling on actually using these things.

The best tool I had to surface is the belt sander, so I had to make a aluminum heat sink and mount some pins to hold the part.  The handy thing about these being springs is I could get them to tension against a pin placed just right and it was held quite nicely. 





Grinding this way was slow, but successful.  I had to stop alot to water cool and measure each end to make sure im grinding evenly along the whole surface.  Slow and steady here was the key, but it did work out fine.  These started at 0.155 and I took them down to 0.110 inches.

Here is a finished and polished part next to an unfinished one that was what I started with.  This is how ugly they look after the heat treat, but they sand and polish up beautiful. I've worked a lot with vic springs and these look exactly the same side by side when both are polished so my custom ones will blend right in with the stock ones in the mod.  Finally!!!!









When I get time later I'll show how they fit up with the scissors and what the action is like.

Cheers!

[crackout]

Amazing!
So you actually made super thick springs that'd fit pliers with minimal thinning and the rest with more? Good idea, yet still a lot of work if you're forced to finish them by hand.

In your CAD image, the spring looks thinner than the laser cut outcome though.

[Syph007]

Amazing!
So you actually made super thick springs that'd fit pliers with minimal thinning and the rest with more? Good idea, yet still a lot of work if you're forced to finish them by hand.

In your CAD image, the spring looks thinner than the laser cut outcome though.

Ya it was jut a 2D file that was sent to laser.  The material I chose was what determined the thickness.  I for sure don't want to be finishing 200 by hand, but a few this way to get some mods done is fine. 

Here is an overlay to show how the scissors were made to fit, and what can be removed to fit pliers. 

[crackout]

Wow that's thin!

How much offset did you do on the center hole for tension build up?

[Syph007]

The pliers and spring both have to ground to fit.  The same as using pliers with 2 saw layer back springs.

I made the curve of the spring exactly the same profile of a stock Vic spring for tension.  Heat treat made it curl just a bit more than a stock one, but the the added spring tension just added to the snap.  It works very smooth with scissors, and I'll give the pliers a test next.

[nuphoria]

As I know one of these backsprings is for my knife, I'm a bit over excited

[Syph007]

As I know one of these backsprings is for my knife, I'm a bit over excited

Yours is going together right now with the shiny spring pictured. 

[Syph007]

A quick 84mm diversion.  I finished this one up last night but forgot to post pics. 

This is a red bantam, with brass liner and scissors.  I've refined my technique on scissor grinding now to get a super snap out of the old 91mm backsprings.  I added the video to show the the better snap action.

I guess I could call this an alox golfer too, but probably a full golfer needs the corkscrew and T&T.













Cheers!

[ICanFixThat]

Wow!  Nice!      

[nuphoria]

That's just lovely - wasn't there an 84mm model like that with ribbed Alox in the past?

I know I coveted them a lot but they were fetching silly money.

[Sidhartha]

it only needs a corckscrew to be perfect, good job

[enki_ck]

That's just lovely - wasn't there an 84mm model like that with ribbed Alox in the past?

I know I coveted them a lot but they were fetching silly money.

http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Voyageur

[Syph007]

As I know one of these backsprings is for my knife, I'm a bit over excited

Yours is going together right now with the shiny spring pictured. 

All done!

The pictures were hard to take in my shop with florescent lights, but it's dark out now so this is the best I can do. 

Here is the new custom spring sitting with the scissors in open mode.



And here it is closed.  Notice the scissor handle rests just right on that ramp I made.       



Here are a couple trying to show that it blends right in next to the stock Vic blade spring.  Again, hard to tell from the photos but noone would know it was a custom spring and not stock unless they were told.





Chrissy I hope you like the mod, I think it turned out splendid!







And a quick video to show of the scissor action.



Cheers!

[MadPlumbarian]

Looking good, absolutely a thing of beauty! JR

[nj2656]

Beautiful work as always. Can't wait to get a new knife to you.

[nuphoria]

Wooooo hoooooooooo, there she is

Been so worth the wait and awesome dealing with you on this. Can't wait to get my hands on it, and it's probably going to be my primary EDC for a great deal of the time. That backspring rocks

[Gareth]

Looking great Syph, love the snap you are clearly getting.   Can the same spring be adapted for use on the 84mm frame? 

[Syph007]

Looking great Syph, love the snap you are clearly getting.   Can the same spring be adapted for use on the 84mm frame?

Sadly no.  The 84 has more in common with the 91 as they share the center hole position (different size but some location).  That's how I was able to use 91 springs on 84s to get scissors on.  The 93s are completely their own beast as far as hole spacing for springs go.  This spring I made up should work for a number of components though. I can even completely grind down the one end and use it for 2 tools.

If I run out of the old scissor backsprings from 91s that I got from Tom, I may have to make some springs up for the 84 scissor mods.  I got a pile of them from him at the time, and I think i have 20 left, but he said he was running low on that old style last time I asked.