Yay, my first real mod!

ddogu · **on:** May 27, 2018, 08:39:20 PM

Adding an awl to my LM Wave had been something I had been thinking about for some time now, but I did not have the right material. Or so I thought, because it turned out the missing element was not the "right material" (apparently I had that for more than a year

) but courage and motivation

So, here are the pictures showing the steps I went through. The piece of metal I chose was much harder and more difficult to work on than I thought. My biggest concern was drilling the hole precisely at the right spot, at the right diameter and without any angles. Not having a drill press I had to drill by hand but luck was on my side, and everything went smoothly.

I wish the material I chose was wider, the nail grip (or whatever it is called; you know, the indentation on a tool which is needed to pull it up) could have been more ergonomic and larger, then.

After it was finished some of its original paint was still on the awl. That was deliberately left there as a partial protection against rust. I'm more than satisfied with it. The lock works perfectly, there is no wobble, no play.

And by the way, this whole process was MUCH MORE fun than I thought it would be

Oh sh*t, I just realized something. I grinded it wrong

The straight side of the awl should have been the sharpened one and not the other side

Aaah... Anyway, at least I took a step towards "modderdom".

ddogu · **Reply #1 on:** May 27, 2018, 08:40:45 PM

And here's how it looks assembled.

zrxoa1 · **Reply #2 on:** May 27, 2018, 08:45:09 PM

Looks good to me!! Well done!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Don Pablo · **Reply #3 on:** May 27, 2018, 08:52:41 PM

Making your own tools?

ddogu · **Reply #4 on:** May 27, 2018, 08:57:47 PM

Quote from: Don Pablo on May 27, 2018, 08:52:41 PM

Making your own tools?

The metal was hard to work on but the process itself is easier than I thought actually

magentus · **Reply #5 on:** May 27, 2018, 09:00:09 PM

Excellent! Making your own tools is kickass!

jaya_man · **Reply #6 on:** May 27, 2018, 09:20:07 PM

Excellent mod ddogu...

Awarded...

ddogu · **Reply #7 on:** May 27, 2018, 09:21:49 PM

Hehe thanks guys

jaya_man ayouh terima kasih

jaya_man · **Reply #8 on:** May 27, 2018, 09:26:18 PM

Sama-sama...

Sparky415 · **Reply #9 on:** May 27, 2018, 10:05:39 PM

Quote from: magentus on May 27, 2018, 09:00:09 PM

Excellent! Making your own tools is kickass!

^^^
What Mags said

Wspeed · **Reply #10 on:** May 27, 2018, 10:27:55 PM

Excellent job ddogu

It looks very nicely made

Obi1shinobee · **Reply #11 on:** May 27, 2018, 11:44:06 PM

SteveC · **Reply #12 on:** May 27, 2018, 11:53:08 PM

Great job !

gerleatherberman · **Reply #13 on:** May 28, 2018, 03:27:50 AM

Nice job for sure! (Like everyone else mentioned).
I like the shape you went with. Seems very functional!

ddogu · **Reply #14 on:** May 29, 2018, 11:35:04 AM

Thanks a lot, guys. This sure gives one motivation to do more stuff like that

obi1

Aloha · **Reply #15 on:** May 30, 2018, 07:15:30 AM

Well done

. Glad you finally took the step to mod your tool to fit your needs. This is of course only a first step

. Whatcha got planned next

Sam Lim · **Reply #16 on:** May 30, 2018, 09:13:11 AM

Quote from: ddogu on May 29, 2018, 11:35:04 AM

Thanks a lot, guys. This sure gives one motivation to do more stuff like that

obi1

really like the idea of fabricating tools. Endless possibilities!

ddogu · **Reply #17 on:** May 30, 2018, 09:37:31 AM

Quote from: Aloha007 on May 30, 2018, 07:15:30 AM

Well done . Glad you finally took the step to mod your tool to fit your needs. This is of course only a first step . Whatcha got planned next

Well, I always liked those shrink wrapping openers (whatever they are called, you know, that weird tool that can only be used for cutting those fragile-looking-but-actually-impossible-to-openup-without-something-sharp packages) and I don't have any MTs with that particular tool but first I have a WORKING bottle opener for the Wave in mind.

This post covers it:

Quote from: lichan on July 08, 2016, 10:43:06 PM

I'm in for the Rambler. I'll go with the Leatherman bottle opener, also. I once tried to open a beer in a group of friends and managed to poke a hole in the lid. To save face, I rotated the bottle and punched it again. After using the pliers to widen the hole, I put in a straw, trying to act all continental! I was known as strawman after that.

I still laugh when I read this...

Some Vics have those combo tools where the bottle and can opener are one single tool. IMHO Wave has a pretty bad bottle opener, so, why not "Victorinoxify" it?

Poncho65 · **Reply #18 on:** May 31, 2018, 03:33:30 AM

Very nice

Good job on the mod and making it from scratch

ddogu · **Reply #19 on:** June 01, 2018, 09:53:19 AM

Quote from: Poncho65 on May 31, 2018, 03:33:30 AM

Very nice Good job on the mod and making it from scratch

Thank you poncho, sir

ddogu · **Reply #20 on:** June 04, 2018, 09:33:20 AM

Well, I considered starting a new topic but I was not sure whether this deserves a separate topic.

This is the first Victorinoxification attempt of the bottle/can opener combo on the Wave but it failed

The photos below show the steps I went thru and on the final photos you can see (if you're patient enough to wait for all the photos to load hehe) the reasons of failure. For those impatient I summarize:

1) The material I used was too soft, apparently and unfortunately. I assume it was simple iron. I even thought about making a DIY kiln or going to a foundary and ask for hardening but I was not 100% sure that the process would harden it enough.

2) My final filing (and thus, largening) of the "mouth" of the opener was excessive, I think. Before that step the opener kept sliding away from the edge of a test can. During this sliding movement the "tooth" of the opener was rubbing on the edge of the can and was grounded off a little bit. I had assumed the grinding would give the opener a better grip. I was mistaken. Now the opener can't even hold on to the can

Next time I'm using a better material

The metal I used as resource was the pneumatic lock of a lift door.

Not having a Vic with a combo tool, I googled for photos, resized on screen and put a piece of paper, outlined and then cut it out

)

The first version failed to grab the bottle cap, so some refinement was necessary.

This part gave me some problems because it either pushed the tool away, pressing it onto the bit holder OR simply prevented the tool from sinking in into the handle completely. Thus, I had to do a lot of worried filing. I was afraid the metal would be too weak finally. Well, that was not a problem but there were others as listed above

.

So, this was the final product. In this example, it may be better for me to go with a plastic design first. Hard plastic cannot open up a can or a bottle for sure but it's easier to shape and it should be possible to get a "feeling" of how it rests and presses on the can during testing. Once that gives confidence a hard metal version can be created using the plastic one as template.