Leatherman Kick pocket clip de-wobble

[J-sews]

(DaveK came up with this mod for getting rid of the annoying "wibble-wobble" from the Kick Pocket Clip. The posts were buried in another thread, so I split them off and gave the topic its own thread)

[DaveK]

Interesting review Spoon robot - cheers.

Slightly off topic, but seeing the pocket clip there reminded me....

Does anyone else find that the Kick pocket clip is irritatingly loose? I have a regular kick and a BO model and on both of them there is an annoying amount of play in the clips - enough to make me remove the clips and confine the tools to my toolbox. (At least I'll never have rust problems I guess).

I just wondered if I'd been unlucky or whether it was normal.

[Leatherman123]

Yeah, they are all like that.. But, you could bend the tab a little or even put a dab of super glue on it.

[DaveK]

Yeah, they are all like that.. But, you could bend the tab a little or even put a dab of super glue on it.

Believe it or not I tried both of those things and they both worked a bit - for a while.......

I've an idea though - I'll report back later (if it works).

[DaveK]

Please report back. The loose clip is one of those things that hasn't ever affected me functionally but it is annoying to interact with. Things on multis should be pleasantly tight, not wibbly/wobbly.

Sorted! Well sort of.

I started looking at this ages ago, but having a short attention span must have found something more interesting to do.

The problem is, basically that the thickness of the clip is less than the depth of the head of the threaded rivet that the clip screw attaches to, if you see what I mean. So even if you tighten the clip screw up very firmly, the clip itself still rattles about. Like Spoonrobot says wibbly/wobbly.

So, the solution is to pad the clip with a washer so that the clip screw meets it properly. It works!

I've taken a couple of pics of what I just did, but irritatingly, the batteries just died on my camera 

When I can power the camera back up - I'll post 'em up so you can see what I'm banging on about.

[DaveK]

OK, I managed to get enough juice into the camera to download the pictures.

1) In the first picture you can see what I used, and if you look closely, I made a very rough and ready cardboard 'washer'.

2) Put the washer over the collar of the pin that the clip screw fits into.

3) Attach the clip in the normal way.

Now obviously this is a bit crude, but it works really well. The clip still moves, but needs some force exerted to do it. It is no longer wibbly/wobbly!

I'm betting that a small O ring or similar would make for a better (certainly tidier) solution - so I'll look out for one at the hardware store at the weekend.

If you're reading Mr Leatherman - include a washer or O ring with the clips in the future!

[Spoonrobot]

 

Stellar captioning job and good mod! Let us know what size o-ring works if you find one. I don't have anything suitable in my house to use but I'll look this weekend.

[prime77]

Great idea DaveK. Macgyver would be proud.

[DaveK]

Great idea DaveK. Macgyver would be proud.

lol

[Smitty44]

Good post and pic's DaveK,a nylon washer works real good.

[J-sews]

Kudos on the washer idea DaveK! 

[J-sews]

Topic given its own thread and moved to the Mod Forum.

[scibeer]

Nice fix!   

[DaveK]

Update!

Well, I was in the local hardware store at the weekend (a brief moment of respite whilst decorating our front room) and couldn't find an O-ring or nylon washer that fitted the bill.

So, the quest is on. I'll try a few more places next weekend and let you know what transpires.

[Roadie]

How about getting a rod of nylon the right diameter, drill a hole in it, cut a bit off, sand down to the right thickness....."instant" home made washer? It's a thought if you can find a nylon rod that is

[Poncho65]

How bout some plastic tubing? the kind of water line for a fridge. You can buy it rather cheap by the foot and can get pretty close to the desired size 

[ducktapehero]

I must have been lucky. My Kick's pocket clip was tight.

[DaveK]

Well I found some O-rings that fit the bill, and they work perfectly!

I found that if I tighten the clips too much, then that does reduce the wobble, but there is a trade off as the bottle-opener and crosspoint driver become too tight to open comfortably, so by simply adjusting the tension on the pocket-clip screw, I eventually found a nice balance.

The elasticity in the rubber O-ring means that although the clip can be moved left to right if you force it, it will actually snap back to where you positioned it when released. You could think of the lateral movement as similar to the vertical movement of the clip - i.e. if you get your nail under the end of the clip, pull and release, it snaps back down.

Yup - that'll do for me.

I have used a slightly larger O ring on the BO Kick in the pictures, that's why the clip appears a bit more raised - I'm not sure which I prefer just yet.....

I've added some pics, but they're not very exciting

[Spoonrobot]

Where did you find them and what size, about?

[DaveK]

Sorry - should have said....

I found a selection of assorted orings in a branch of Maplins (don't know if you have them over there - a bit like radio shack really). Cost me £2.99 ($6) for  225 assorted rings!

Sorry for all you imperialists (?) out there but the measurements in the pictures are all in metric......

[J-sews]

So thickness-wise, do you prefer the thin paper or the thick o-ring underneath the clip?

[DaveK]

So thickness-wise, do you prefer the thin paper or the thick o-ring underneath the clip?

The O-ring - definitely. The flex it gives by far outweighs the extra width IMO.

[AHB]

Nothing anyway... 

[Mike 56]

I tried the paper and the o-ring the o-ring worked better me also good mod thanks for searing.
Mike

[max6166]

I tried the O ring mod on my Kick the other day. It worked great, but my o-ring was a little too large so I tried experimenting with other materials.

I think I found another simple way to dewobble the Kick clip.

All I did was place a small metal washer between the clip and screw. Seems to work just as well as the O ring on my Kick at least.

If the action becomes too tight and it is hard to access the phillips, you can loosen the knurled screw on the other side a tad with another clip or some pliers.

The clip has an extremely small amount of side-to-side motion afterward, similar to the O ring version.

You can tighten it until there is no motion, but it makes the tools very hard to get out of that handle.

[Doraemon]

Sorted! Well sort of.

I started looking at this ages ago, but having a short attention span must have found something more interesting to do.

The problem is, basically that the thickness of the clip is less than the depth of the head of the threaded rivet that the clip screw attaches to, if you see what I mean. So even if you tighten the clip screw up very firmly, the clip itself still rattles about. Like Spoonrobot says wibbly/wobbly.

So, the solution is to pad the clip with a washer so that the clip screw meets it properly. It works!

I've taken a couple of pics of what I just did, but irritatingly, the batteries just died on my camera 

When I can power the camera back up - I'll post 'em up so you can see what I'm banging on about.

Hi DaveK,

I don't have a Leatherman Kick (yet), but if I may offer a suggestion... use a lock washer instead of a standard flat washer or even a nylon one. The lock washer will have the 'bite' to prevent the clip from moving.

Caution! May scratch surfaces. (But the scratch surface is only around the washer area, which won't be visible anyway)

Well I found some O-rings that fit the bill, and they work perfectly!

I found that if I tighten the clips too much, then that does reduce the wobble, but there is a trade off as the bottle-opener and crosspoint driver become too tight to open comfortably, so by simply adjusting the tension on the pocket-clip screw, I eventually found a nice balance.

The elasticity in the rubber O-ring means that although the clip can be moved left to right if you force it, it will actually snap back to where you positioned it when released. You could think of the lateral movement as similar to the vertical movement of the clip - i.e. if you get your nail under the end of the clip, pull and release, it snaps back down.

Yup - that'll do for me.

I have used a slightly larger O ring on the BO Kick in the pictures, that's why the clip appears a bit more raised - I'm not sure which I prefer just yet.....

I've added some pics, but they're not very exciting

If you prefer using an o-ring instead, why not get those rubber gaskets that are used in water taps/shower heads? They are also rubber, but they are flat on both sides. It will look better (subjective) than an o-ring which looks like it is bulging out of the clip/screw when flattened.

k

[CENTURION]

Whoah, thread necro. 

[Doraemon]

Just thought of another idea but I will try it out to see if it works first.

Whoah, thread necro. 

Sorry what does this mean? Something like bringing back a buried thread?

[AHB]

Just thought of another idea but I will try it out to see if it works first.

Whoah, thread necro. 

Sorry what does this mean? Something like bringing back a buried thread?

Yes, but that's not a problem around here..

[Sparky415]

Just thought of another idea but I will try it out to see if it works first.

Whoah, thread necro. 

Sorry what does this mean? Something like bringing back a buried thread?

  We need to see this other idea (with pictures please)

Belting it with a hammer was my idea