I received a new Spirit today, opened it up, it is as misaligned as Thunderpant's.I m not sure I am keeping it.
Quote from: Kampfer on September 26, 2014, 05:36:22 PMI received a new Spirit today, opened it up, it is as misaligned as Thunderpant's.I m not sure I am keeping it. I know how you feel. Can you post some pics of the head pivot before you return it?
Quote from: pingu on September 26, 2014, 05:43:58 PMQuote from: Kampfer on September 26, 2014, 05:36:22 PMI received a new Spirit today, opened it up, it is as misaligned as Thunderpant's.I m not sure I am keeping it. I know how you feel. Can you post some pics of the head pivot before you return it?Will do, has anyone check with Victorinox to see if they consider this misalignment NORMAL, are they going to do something to correct it?
It´s a tool and that´s it. Not a piece of art.
What bugs me is NOT all Spirits are misaligned.
Quote from: Humppa on August 15, 2014, 06:08:16 PMSorry, I don´t understand that german-english translation. But I just looked closely at my Spirit and it had the same issue. But it doesn´t bother me at all! When it´s closed it doesn´t fit 100 % but when opened it´s perfect. It´s a tool and that´s it. Not a piece of art. Hi HumppaI was going to leave this thread having made up my mind to spend the money on a Crunch (or perhaps a Wenger Evo 18). Something to make me feel better. But since you are from Germany perhaps the German original is interesting to you and your comments useful to English speaking members.I did not think the Google translation was easy to understand. Here is the full review in German...oder ... bemerkenswerte "Produktionstoleranzen" einer Schweizer Präzisionsmanufaktur.Schade!Das Produkt macht egtl. einen sehr guten Eindruck: Verarbeitung, Haptik, Optik alles sehr gut.Leider weisen die Griffhälften einen deutlichen Versatz auf. Offensichtlich kein Einzelfall. Das Austausch-Tool wies ebenfalls einen vergleichbaren Versatz (s.Fotos) auf.Eine Anfrage beim Victorinox AG Kundenservice war ebenfalls wenig hilfreich: "[...] Die Zangen für das SwissTool und das SwissTool Spirit werden im Feingussverfahren hergestellt. Ein leichter Versatz der beiden Griffhälften liegt innerhalb der Produktionstoleranz und ist nicht zu vermeiden." Meine eingesandten Fotos wurden "an [die] Qualitätskontrolle weitergeleitet"Eine Rückmeldung der Qualitätskontrolle erfolgte -erwartungsgemäß- nicht.Wer dieses Multitool also in der Hoffnung kauft eine bessere Qualität als beim großen amerikanischen "Vorbild" zu bekommen, wird -entgegen der sonstigen Qualitätsanmutung des Werkzeugs- im Bezug auf den Versatz der Griffhälften mit einer Produktionstoleranz "belohnt", die offenbar deutlich über der von 15-Euro-Baumarkt-Tools liegt.Anmerkung: Versand und Rücksendung über Amazon wie üblich perfekt.Can you explain a better context for "can not be avoided"?I struggle to understand why parallel grinding and vertical drilling isn't producing better results. I think that is something that Leatherman manages on every tool I have seen.One of the Amazon.de reviews speculated about a bad batch. My open question is what happens to the significant number of returns to Amazon?
Sorry, I don´t understand that german-english translation. But I just looked closely at my Spirit and it had the same issue. But it doesn´t bother me at all! When it´s closed it doesn´t fit 100 % but when opened it´s perfect. It´s a tool and that´s it. Not a piece of art.
This would suggest to me that there is something inherrent in the design which is leading to this,
appears to be[/b] how bendy a bit of steel is.
Quote from: Humppa on August 15, 2014, 06:08:16 PMHi HumppaI was going to leave this thread having made up my mind to spend the money on a Crunch (or perhaps a Wenger Evo 18). Something to make me feel better. But since you are from Germany perhaps the German original is interesting to you and your comments useful to English speaking members.I did not think the Google translation was easy to understand. Here is the full review in German...oder ... bemerkenswerte "Produktionstoleranzen" einer Schweizer Präzisionsmanufaktur.Schade!Das Produkt macht egtl. einen sehr guten Eindruck: Verarbeitung, Haptik, Optik alles sehr gut.Leider weisen die Griffhälften einen deutlichen Versatz auf. Offensichtlich kein Einzelfall. Das Austausch-Tool wies ebenfalls einen vergleichbaren Versatz (s.Fotos) auf.Eine Anfrage beim Victorinox AG Kundenservice war ebenfalls wenig hilfreich: "[...] Die Zangen für das SwissTool und das SwissTool Spirit werden im Feingussverfahren hergestellt. Ein leichter Versatz der beiden Griffhälften liegt innerhalb der Produktionstoleranz und ist nicht zu vermeiden." Meine eingesandten Fotos wurden "an [die] Qualitätskontrolle weitergeleitet"Eine Rückmeldung der Qualitätskontrolle erfolgte -erwartungsgemäß- nicht.Wer dieses Multitool also in der Hoffnung kauft eine bessere Qualität als beim großen amerikanischen "Vorbild" zu bekommen, wird -entgegen der sonstigen Qualitätsanmutung des Werkzeugs- im Bezug auf den Versatz der Griffhälften mit einer Produktionstoleranz "belohnt", die offenbar deutlich über der von 15-Euro-Baumarkt-Tools liegt.Anmerkung: Versand und Rücksendung über Amazon wie üblich perfekt.Can you explain a better context for "can not be avoided"?I struggle to understand why parallel grinding and vertical drilling isn't producing better results. I think that is something that Leatherman manages on every tool I have seen.One of the Amazon.de reviews speculated about a bad batch. My open question is what happens to the significant number of returns to Amazon?
But this is in the tolerances due to the production process.
Quote from: 50ft-trad link=topic=47468.msg954752#msg954752 date=1411760459The answer [bappears to be[/b] how bendy a bit of steel is.Having worked in the sheet metal stamping industry, I can totally see where you're coming from on this. I think you may be correct (although I would argue that how bendy a bit of steel is does have to do with tolerances - the tolerances for folds and bends have to be bigger, but they are still there). They would have to set the metal folding tool (I can't remember what they're called now - haven't worked in the industry for 30 years) to bend the longer piece just a bit more to achieve the perfect 90 degree angle.Still, if it's a design issue, one would think that the problem would be caught in quality control. On the other hand, in these big corporations, management seems to have little patience for QC these days.
Danke Humppa
I suspect though that this is more of a "coining" die, where the die is preformed and there isn't the option for adjustment.
From the misalignment on my Spirit I think there are two factors at work: the play in the pliers pivot and the tolerance on the length of the side plates. Mine are only out by 0.8mm though, or a little less than 0.5°over the length of the tool. I need to work out what a small variation in the centre-centre distance of one of the side plates would do to the angle of the handles.
Quote from: 50ft-trad on September 26, 2014, 10:07:29 PMI suspect though that this is more of a "coining" die, where the die is preformed and there isn't the option for adjustment.Well, not at the point of final assembly, true. But someone has to make the die, and the quality of the die determines the quality of the final product. If it's impossible to counteract the spring-back in the die, then there should be a second process in which the stamped product is adjusted.Whatever the situation, there are ways to fix it, and in my view, not fixing such an obvious issue is not acceptable. I mean, heck, at the very lowest level of technology, they could do it the old fashioned way and have someone give them a final bash with a rubber mallet to align the handles before they do the final QC on function.Now sure, Victorinox may be facing financial pressures in the post-9/11 world, but surely cutting corners in terms of quality is not going to help. This is, after all, Victorinox we're talking about, not some Chinese knock-off artist.