Blackfox Endurance modded with Crescent wrench

[thom53281]

Hello everyone!

Greetings from Germany. I hope my english is not too bad.

On my EDC list there were two items: A simple bit screwdriver with three most universal bits (Flat, PZ1 and T20) and a cheap 15cm (6") Crescent wrench. The screwdriver is an utility I carried for years and since i had the wrench in my pocket, I could use it every day too (for small tasks). But I thought: The handle of that thing is a completely useless piece of junk and some pliers would also be handy.

So I searched for better tools with this functionality. I found wrenches with a knife in the handle, but no pliers. The best match in design was a tool called IBNS 7 in 1 Multitool, which was avaliable on Amazon some time ago (and under some different brands). But I could not purchase this in Germany and also the wrench was called in some reviews to break fast under load. Also the tool lacked some things I wanted to have (like the saw or scissors).

So I built my own one and thought, maybe this could be interesting or helpful for some other people here.


Things I used:
BlackFox Endurance Multitool
Germania 150mm Rollgabelschlüssel (Crescent wrench)


The BlackFox Endurance is a rather cheap multitool availiable for about 30€. It is also sold under different brands like for example Atech 13 in 1.
I had no idea if that worked, so I did not want to try it on some expensive tool. Also it has every other functionality in the right spot. Most tools with pliers (except a lot of Leatherman) have the knife on the other side, but this does not work with the wrench - they collide.

The Germania wrench is a very cheap wrench for about 4€, but interestingly OK in quality and just with the right dimensions.


First I had to remove the tools which I don't need (like the Philips or can opener). All other tools I need, I put on the other side. The wrench fits in perfectly.




Then I first cut cardboard to get the perfect fit in the tool. There is some bent sheet metal inside the multitool for the pliers to rest. The wrench has to be long enough to just fit under this metal. Then I could mark the wrench and cut it. Lastly it needs a drilled hole (4mm) in the right spot to fix it with the original screw.




If you had worked exactly, no other screws than the original one is needed to hold the wrench tight in place. One side is held by the frame of the multitool, the other side is held by the pliers when the multitool is folded. It can not go anywhere.




The last step for me in Germany was to make the tool legal. Must have: Either the knife is not lockable or the knife can not be opened with one hand.
With both true on the BlackFox, I can not carry it legally here in Germany (§42a WaffG). Cause the tool lacked that, I just made a simple pocket clip which prevents the blade from being opened by one hand. It is not perfect yet but does the job.




Cons of the tool:
It is sadly heavy. But it can do a lot of stuff too with this mod.


I hope this was helpful. 

[Poncho65]

That is pretty awesome, thom

Too bad it is a bit heavy still cool though

Welcome to   great way to enter the forum

[Echotech]

  nice work mate 

[PitCarver]

Cool mod.  Nice work.

[pfrsantos]

Welcome aboard and thanks for sharing!

 

[thom53281]

Thank you for the warm welcome and I am glad you like it. Yesterday I could do some more work with it to test how handy it is in reality.

We were at my girlfriend's place and had to make some new doors for the shed. The tools of her dad are not the best, so I took my big heavy toolbox with me and of course my new multitool. But my tools were not always near me, cause we built the door on some other place than the shed. So the multitool came in really handy. The person, who made the last door, must have hated me. He used every size possible from 8mm to 17mm for the nuts and bolts. So, as always, the adjustable wrench was perfect for that. It were always just a few nuts from the same size. So instead of the adjustable, I must have run for every new wrench developing new bolts of some other size. I had no problems with the new multitool-handle - thought that I had more strenght with it, because the original handle was not that big.

But I too could use the pliers, for example to pull the bolts out of the rotten wood and was happy always having them in my pocket. Or using the knife to quickly sharpen the pencil, which I could not do before. I also learned that the adjustable wrench is good for some simple measurements, because mine has a mm scale on it. So I could use it to quickly measure the new bolts and a suitable drill for them.



Sadly yesterday the imagehost i used for about nine years surprisingly closed forever due to some new copyright claims. So i uploaded the pics to another host. But I can not edit my last post (Blocked after some time?), so I am posting the new pics here in the same order.

[King_Gorilla]

 

[thom53281]

The last days and weeks I did some more improvements based on my experience in daily use.

First I decided to replace the wrench. The one I used first was rather cheap and yeah, it did the job well. For testing it, it was perfect. But for my daily work I thought, why not improve a little bit. So I got another 6" wrench and modified it the same way. I also removed the thumbwheel and put washers in to remove as much wobble as possible. Lastly I grinded it to be as small as possible since the normal adjustable wrench is rather bulky to get more force on a nut. I will not get that much force with the multitool on the handle, so I decided to go more for precision and tight spaces.

The next thing was the pocket clip. The one I made did the job. But I was not happy with it. Only held with one screw and the bent metal it always moved to one side when the tool was opened. So I made a new one held with two screws. It serves the same purpose as the old one to make the knife accessible only with two hands (legal issue). This modification could also be interesting for people who want to make for example a Leatherman Wave legal in their country.




With the old pocket clip the locking mechanism could be pressed with the fingernail. But with the new one it is no longer accessible with normal male hands. So I grinded the knife to remove the locking a little bit, so that the locking metal just slips. Now the tool is double legal in Germany.



The next thing was the hook I added and showed here. I realized that the hook also fits inside the tool and just perfectly alignes with the bent metal for the pliers and with the tweezers. So I put it there. Now I can stretch the tool out to reach in much smaller spaces and fish lost things out. To get four tools inside by only space for three I removed one washer. Tools are more tight to get out but it works.




Now the tool is mostly perfect for my daily use. 

The weight is by the way about 360g (12.7oz). With the pocket clip it is ok for me to carry for EDC, since I can use it all the time.

[Adam5]

That is excellent! Nothing better than a tool that has been tweaked to provide the maximum amount of usefulness to you 

[thom53281]

Today I had another idea. It is not really a mod, but I'm showing it anyway. As my EDC for everyday work I always carry a ballpoint pen with me. But sometimes I forget it or lose it. Also doing private stuff, I normally don't carry a pen with me.

The saw on my multitool is the most useless tool as I never used it yet. But I realized that there is plenty of room between the saw and the frame. So I disassembled a ballpoint pen and cut it. I closed the cut part with a tiny screw and some heatshrink tube to prevent leaking. Now I have a small backup pen with me in case I need one. It is not the best but better than nothing.

Maybe you can do this on some Leatherman too. But can not tell if for example the Wave has the same room at the saw.

[thom53281]

Till now, more than a year has passed since I made this tool. For normal EDC I switched to a Roxon M2, but for doing work I still always carry it with me. Although the base is a cheaper multitool, it never failed me till now. But in the meantime, I did some more modifications.

First I turned the wrench at 180° and shortened it a little. Now it takes less space and weight. I made another pocket clip, where the tool now does not slide that deep into the pocket. This makes carrying it a lot easier. I also made a clip for my screwdriver. Both are prototypes, so they are not that nice.




I also designed the new pocket clip in a way, so that it slides into a little space on the other handle where the hook is (see the hook mod a few posts above). This gives the tool more strenght while wrenching. Before this the handles had some wobble on each other, because of the little play in the pliers.




The next thing I added was a pen. I often forget to take one with me when working. A few posts above I showed a space, where a little pen can fit and I often had to use this backup pen. So I thought about a better solution.
I improved this by drilling a hole into the frame. It fits perfectly there and is held tight by the small spacer inside the tool.



It is not very comfortable to write with this. But to take a few notes on some measurements or to mark a spot where I want to cut something (for example), it does the job. Not much more needed while working. The pocket clip and the wrench cover it good enough, so I don't accidentially write everywhere.


Here is an image with all tools I now have.

[Adam5]