The Quirky Switch

[Chako]

Yes, more an oddity and a collector piece than anything else. 

[badwolf]

Digging up this old thread as I've now had a chance to have a little play with one, courtesy of Badwolf at the recent meet-up.

Sadly I have to confess that I thought it was all a bit silly.   As Dan said in the OP the tools clump horribly and the thing is a real fiddle to put together.  The tools themselves are just too small to be of any real use IMO, though I will admit that I didn't actually try using any of them so I could be being unfair.

Without wanting to put words in other people's mouths, I think I can safely say the the group conclusion was a pretty resounding; NO!

Funny this coming up, as tomorrow, its going in a log anyway, its a great concept but the end product is really rather poor, its only when you actually assemble it, (based on the one I have) you find its all just so so, tools end up very tight and hard to open and once open click in to place and then, em well, are loose and have play to them. Could do with some spacers between tools and saying that, tools could be better, shame really, glad I only paid £20 for it, really just wanted to try it out, maybe one for a giveaway or pass around

Yes, more an oddity and a collector piece than anything else. 

Yes, totally agree

[badwolf]

Stuck in a log here, I've just noticed that one tool component doesn't have a back stop, so the tool opens to far, I'll check the other components to see if any more are like it

[Zed]

Stuck in a log here, I've just noticed that one tool component doesn't have a back stop, so the tool opens to far, I'll check the other components to see if any more are like it

its not as big as i thought 

[/quote]

[badwolf]

Yes, its pretty small, great idea but sorry to say the Vic Classic is a better tool, pic attached is an edited one of Chako's, thank you, and shows what's missing on its serrated blade, it has no back stop, all the other components are fine

[Poncho65]

Wow what a wacky tool Very interesting concept behind it though I love the idea of being able to customize a tool the way I want and if this one had been executed just a little bit differently, both the way it's made and sales/marketing I think it would have been a winner They should have made the tools a bit bigger maybe and instead of buying all the tools at once perhaps buy a basic model and then buy each tool you want individually Very neat and thanks for the link to this Grant

[Poncho65]

Great pics and writeup Chako

[ChopperCharles]

I just snagged one, and I must say I'm disappointed. Not in the size of the tools, or the wackiness, but there are some design elements that just don't work at all, and quality control is marginal.

First off, the lock bar. This is the flat metal bar that engages the tools when they're open, and prevents them from closing. This sorta works, but the tools have a good 1/4" of movement at the tip, because the lock bar does not securely engage the flat on the tool.

I took the thing back apart, bent the lock bar, reassembled, and as soon as I opened a tool, it bent the lock bar back into the same place it was. The lock bar has some spring to it, but the tools have too large of a ramp, and they bend the bar out of the way. Or the handle is made of the wrong type of steel. If I bend the lock bar and install the center piece with one tool already in the extended position, the lock bar works as it would have been intended, but as soon as I close that open tool, it bends the bar away.

This is also a problem of retaining tools. With the bar bent properly, all the tools stay closed, even the spring-loaded pliers and scissors. But as soon as a tool is opened, now the scissors and pliers half-open because of spring pressure. Every tool in the thing just wiggles around, whether opened or closed.

I found that clumping wasn't an issue if you have a hair of space available, so that the tools are assembled a little loosely. But this brings me to another point. If you've assembled the thing with all the tools you want, but there's still a little space left, there are no washers or anything included to take up that space. Which is annoying. Four cents of nylon washers would fix that.

Finally, QC is abysmal. The aluminum inserts have flats machined on them, so they can't rotate when inserted. On my medium set, the flats on the small bar weren't machined 180 degrees apart. So i had to file the thing just to get it to assemble correctly.  For the large one, the length of the large pivot is too long, or there's a burr in there or something, because it can never get tight and properly sandwhich the aluminum scales to the inner handle correctly.

I like the tools themselves, they're sharp and cute, if short. But the tool to me is unusable due to the loose floppy nature.  It's junk IMO. It could have been executed so very much better with just a few tweaks.

Charles.

[mikekoz]

  I am also resurrecting an old topic! Over the past year I have bought two of these tools from Ebay. The one pictured here and a smaller black handled one. I have no idea which one was made first. The smaller one is better quality but that is not saying much. It has a much larger blade and the implements that came with it are more robust. I just received the version that it shown in this post yesterday. It came with more tools and three different bodies to make a tool in three different sizes. The tools in this one however are very thin and small, and some are mostly plastic, and they look like they would easily break. You can also just make one tool with the kit. If they added a few more pieces, you could have been able to make three tools from it! The tools in both sets clump, but the blue handled one is worse. The tools on both are hard to open and in some cases you have to be careful you do not cut yourself while doing so. Both tools remind me of multitools I used to find at gas stations years ago! I would say they are for collectors only! As users they are pretty crappy!