Leatherman Mini mod/accessory

King_Gorilla · **on:** May 31, 2017, 12:00:53 AM

First time ever posting something on here.
I’ve spent a lot of time reading these forum threads, looking at all the cool stuff people do with their multi tools.

Problem:
I bought one of the discontinued Leatherman Mini tools. I love it but I wish it had a Philips head driver or a bit driver.

I made the purchase with the intention of replacing the knife blade for a Leatherman bit driver that I was planning to take off a donor tool once I could afford it. The blade on the mini tool is a cool little blade but I carry a knife everywhere I go so this little thing was not going to get used. THEN I found these forums and saw what Evil did with his crazy Leatherman Mini that he built from the ground up! (Humbling moment) I have nothing but admiration for the incredible tool he built but for my project, I wanted to keep as much of the original tool intact as I could.
I started to look for people who could help me make new fold-out handles so that I could fit the bit driver that is so much wider than the knife blade. I even had plans that would make the bottle opener more functional. (The bottle opener on the Mini is almost as bad as the bottle opener on the gerber clutch

) A lot of time and effort was wasted.
I started thinking about buying one of the old leatherman bit driver attachments that hook onto the end of the tool but then I saw how big they were. I feel like buying one of these to carry with a Leatherman Mini would kind of defeat the purpose of the tiny multi tool. I also couldn’t think of a good way to carry the oversized attachment.

Solution:
Then one day as I was fiddling with the Mini tool and a very simple solution came to me. By folding out the two handle extensions and then closing the pliers, you get this odd open area that was more promising. *first picture*
I took a ¼ inch socket from a ¼ inch driver sized socket set and used a grinder to flatten two sides of the socket. Then I used an angle grinder to cut two channels into the flattened sides.

It took a little trial and error but it now fits very snug onto the end of the tool making a very useful bit driver. I also had to grind a little groove out so that the blade would not make contact with the socket.

Years ago I bought a little keychain bit driver that I have carried on my keychain ever since. On work days when I wear a belt, I EDC either a Leatherman Signal or a Crunch. This little keychain bit driver works very well with both of those and now it works perfectly with my Mini. I usually drop the leatherman Mini into my 5th pocket when I don’t feel like wearing a belt on my days off.

The little bit driver attachment that I made stays on my keychain attached to the keychain bit driver. I have not tested it yet, but I believe it would still function as a socket with a normal ¼ inch driver.
I guess in the end I didn't really mod the tool itself but the end result was better than I expected.

SteveC · **Reply #1 on:** May 31, 2017, 12:15:45 AM

First welcome to the forum and great first post

Great idea and it looks like it will work really well.

King_Gorilla · **Reply #2 on:** May 31, 2017, 12:20:59 AM

thanks steve

MusicMen · **Reply #3 on:** May 31, 2017, 12:24:38 AM

Nice mod!

zoidberg · **Reply #4 on:** May 31, 2017, 01:21:40 AM

Welcome to the boards mate.

What an excellent solution you came up with there. I like it a lot.

zrxoa1 · **Reply #5 on:** May 31, 2017, 01:28:17 AM

Nice!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Old Boy · **Reply #6 on:** May 31, 2017, 02:01:52 AM

Very cool!!

pa_strunk · **Reply #7 on:** May 31, 2017, 02:42:22 AM

Puts the "I" in innovation

aluminated · **Reply #8 on:** May 31, 2017, 03:03:17 AM

Sweet! I wanna see it turn something!

Tsquare · **Reply #9 on:** May 31, 2017, 03:38:40 AM

That is an awesome idea. I had an idea to add a phillips driver where the blade was but when I disassembled the mini tool I found the pivots wont allow a wider tool so I just gave up on the idea but this is really cool and does not require you to permanently change the tool.

King_Gorilla · **Reply #10 on:** May 31, 2017, 04:21:27 AM

Thanks, I'm glad people seemed to appreciate it.

Quote from: aluminated on May 31, 2017, 03:03:17 AM

Sweet! I wanna see it turn something!

Is it possible to put short video clips on these forums? I could get a couple short actions shots.

If not, I could take a picture, I guess.

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #11 on:** May 31, 2017, 11:23:17 AM

Nice mod

The Leatherman Tool Adapter fits the Mini, but it means carrying something else the same size as the tool to supply the absent functions. This is why I sold my Mini. I compared it side-by-side with the Sideclip and figured the Sideclip gave a better function per bulk/weight ratio - and the Sideclip still takes the Tool Adapter should you need different drivers.

This mod is a nice workaround though