Gerber Center Drive Club

[Barry Rowland]

 

[ChopperCharles]

Hope you enjoyed that popcorn, because my first wave of mods is done.

First is the clip. I used a Titanium clip for a Zero Tolerance ZT0055 knife, snagged off of eBay for around $26. All-black clips are five bucks or so more, but they're powder-coated and I prefer natural metal or black oxide.

Next the screws and the holes. The handle is hardened stainless. Tiny-ass screws hold this clip onto the stock knife, but a tiny-ass tap is going to break trying to go through stainless. So, I drilled with a 2.5mm hardened bit, and tapped with an off-the-shelf name-brand 4-40 tap. SLOOOOOOOWLY. After drilling my holes (with a drill press), I then chucked the tap into the drill and gently, slowly, ever so carefully tapped the holes. One "CLICK" at a time, watching the tap closely for twisting, constantly dialing it backwards, and oiling it regularly. After about 45 minutes I had two tapped holes. I was in a hurry, and broke the tap after I was done and was extracting it a little too quickly. So... don't rush.

I practiced on an old Rebar frame first. I had done this before to my MP600, but I tapped it metric (M3), and the taps I used were junk. I wore several of them out and STILL didn't cut full threads. So I just used some red locktite and screwed the M3 screws in to what little threads there were. (Felt like it was cross-threading the whole time). BUT over a year later that's still holding up.

This time, I wanted to cut full threads, and that's why I practiced on the Rebar first. It can be done with a high-quality Irwin tap, a drill press, and a lot of time. After succeeding with the Rebar frame I made my holes in the Center Drive and tapped them the same. I chose the screwdriver side, and yes the driver does interfere with the pocket lip when I'm trying to clip the CD to my pocket. BUT, when I remove it from my pocket the deploy button is right under my thumb and the pliers are easy to open. I was going to drill and tap the other side too, so I could try it both ways, but I broke my tap before I got that far.

The screws are standard 4-40 screws, but I chucked them into my drill press and held a file against the edge until I turned the diameter down such that they'd fit through the cutout in the top of the clip. I slightly enlarged the holes in the clip with a dremel and a diamond rotary tool, but only slightly. After tapping, I screwed it all in, and used a dremel with a cutoff wheel to cut the excess off inside the handle.

Finally, I ground my file into a scraper blade, like I've done with all my Gerber tools. Then I used a whetstone to finish it.

I like the results!

Charles.

[Barry Rowland]

I  that!

[ChopperCharles]

Whoops, I said an old rebar frame, but I meant a diesel frame. I don't really like the Diesel, I just bought it to mod the scissors and saw into an MP600. So I may buy another clip, modify some more screws, mount the clip to the diesel frame, and then sell it.

Or I may hold on to it, because I need another Diesel for another saw and scissors mod...

Charles.

[Chako]

It took me some time, but I now have one.

[Barry Rowland]

Way to go Chako and nice collection!

[Chako]

Thanks Barry Rowland. 

[ChopperCharles]

I’ve been EDCing the center drive for a few days now and I’m really liking it. However, the little bit holder is in the way. It prevents me from really bearing down on the pliers when trying to pull cellophane or foil from the top of containers. It’s an extra step to unfold that bit holder so the pliers will function for such thin material. None of my mp600s have this problem. Some other tools do, but that’s usually because the serrations in the plier jaws are too sharp. Only the center drive has a problem actually gripping thin stuff.

Granted it’s not a huge problem, but I open stuff with my multi tool all the time, so it is a bit annoying. 

Charles.

[Ivo]

I just come back from shopping and saw this GERBER for €70 , is it a good price ? 

[Top-Gear-24]

I just come back from shopping and saw this GERBER for €70 , is it a good price ? 

Was this at the A. S. Adventure store in "your" city?

I saw that they briefly had the Center Drive at -50% discount, costing only 69,95 Euro or so, but they were sold out quickly. And one of the stores who had one in stock was the one in your hometown.

Now on topic, the cheapest I found one (except the one at - 50% discount) was about 100 Euro, so yes, 70 Euro is a good price (but for some reason I didn't bite  , while I held one in my hands for like half an hour while in the store only two weeks ago, when it was still at -30% discount.

For some weird reason I thought I could use that 70 Euro on something else (better?  ).

Edit: used the word one quite a lot. Reading back my own post. But I'm at work and don't have the time to do something about that right now  .

 

[Mechanickal]

I thought we agreed you'd PM me when this would happen...

[Ivo]

Yes it is in A.S. in Turnhout 
And it was at 50%

[Mechanickal]

TG, you owe me a Center Drive...

[Top-Gear-24]

TG, you owe me a Center Drive...

I'll give you mine... 

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which I don't have...

The way I see it, you owe me a thank you whenever you spend that 70 Euro on something better 

And in my defence, there were like 4 stores which still had the CD in stock, and they were gone mighty fast (which is why I find it weird that their webshop says "sold out" while at least one of the stores who had one in stock still has it available, weird...)

Edit: I'm not saying the Center Drive isn't something good, but choices have to be made since my "tool budget" is way smaller than my wanted tool list... 

[Mechanickal]

Might visit my local AS tomorrow...

[Top-Gear-24]

Might visit my local AS tomorrow...

If I remember correctly the last stores who had them were the ones in Aalst, Turnhout, Veurne and Oostende.  And they were all gone in half an hour time or so ...

Maybe they just took them offline, and they are still in these stores ?   

[Mechanickal]

You checked them all??

[Top-Gear-24]

You checked them all??

Yeah, I jumped into my car and drove halfway around the country to see where they had them ...

 

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You do know that you can check their site to see which store has something in stock, right ?  By the way, can't do that for the CD anymore, since it's listed "out of stock", but when it was still available, the above stores were the last ones who had at least one of them

Edit: Maybe we should continue this with PM, we're ruining this topic ... 

[Top-Gear-24]

When I opened up a new screen on the pc today I noticed that the page with the Gerber CD on the A.S. Website was show in "my favorite sites", so I decided to click on it just for the heck of it and guess what ... The CD was available again, and still at -50%, this had to be a sign that I really should just buy it, right ...

 


So, I put it in "my basket", clicked on the checkout button and entered my creditcard info, and right before I clicked on "buy it" I thought "maybe I should try and buy two of them ...", went back to "my basket", but when I changed one into two it said there wasn't enough stock, so I quickly changed it back to just one and completed the buy.

One minute later I received an e-mail confirming my order so it might just be that I picked up the very last one at -50% discount (If I don't get an e-mail these next 24h or so saying they can't deliver my order since it's out of stock  ).

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Sorry Nick ... 

[Barry Rowland]

 

[ChopperCharles]

I removed the awl and the serrated blade from my center drive and added the jigsaw blade holder from an MP600 pro scout. It was a drop in replacement, no filing or modification necessary. The awl fit in the pro scout too. I was wondering if the center drive took mp600 tools or diesel tools, and thankfully it takes mp600 tools.

Mp600 scissors won’t fit though. The larger release lever gets in the way, and they’re completely a no-go. 

The combination tool works for opening bottles AND as a can opener. It’s not a good can opener, like the MP600 opener, but it is passable. It does a decent job.

For me, it’s a hard decision as to which is a better EDC, between my modified mp600 or this center drive. (Both have pocket clips) The jaws on the center drive don’t open nearly as far as the blunt nose mp600. The center drive weighs more and is more bulky to carry. The screwdriver and blade seem to make up for this. I almost never use the blade or drivers in my mp600. I usually have a pocket knife on me and it’s faster to open that for a blade. The center drive’s blade is nice and big and easily deployed, and I leave the knife at home now. The screwdriver I’ve used more than the pliers now.  So for that use, the center drive really wins. With the mp600 in my pocket, I reach for real screwdriver often as not. The mp600 just doesn’t have the reach.

But, if I ever need to grip larger items, the mp600 wins. Especially for garden hoses and the like. It’s always a trial to get my power washer hooked up, for instance. The clearance is weird and pliers help immensely. The MP600 has more tools, scissors and saw and file and openers and whatnot.

So for me, I cannot retire the mp600 entirely. It still has valid uses that the center drive cannot manage.

If they made a blunt nosed CD, that might be enough to retire the mp600.

Charles.

[zoidberg]

Mp600 scissors won’t fit though. The larger release lever gets in the way, and they’re completely a no-go. 

It's hardly a surprise though is it after seeing the short handled scissors on the plus version.

If they made a blunt nosed CD...

That would be pretty cool.      

[ChopperCharles]

Oh somehow I forgot the pic. Here it is.

I thought the scissors could be modified to fit, but there is really no way. It wasn’t clear from the photos until I had some scissors out of the tool, but the distance between the tool pivot and the scissors blade pivot is greater on the CD scissors than on the mp600. It’s not just a shorter handle, the tool itself is longer.

Charles.

[zoidberg]

I put Diesel? scissors in my MP600, small reprofile needed around the pivot area but totally worth it for the extra reach.

[ChopperCharles]

I have diesel scissors in one of my mp600s. Longer reach yes, but also more pressure required, which is hard on my thumb. They’re also not as smooth for some reason. Still the extra reach is nice. They still won’t work on the CD tho.

Edit: diesel saw, bottle opener, and large flat driver as well in my MP600. Saw because saws are useful. Large driver because it is beefier and I’ve bought two mp600s with broken large flat drivers - both broken at the narrowest point. The diesel driver doesn’t have that narrow area. The diesel bottle opener because it is shorter, which allowed me to extend the bottom of the slide so the pliers head tucks fully within the handle.

Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Center-Drive Plus arrived today! 

Looks better in person. The stone-wash finish on the implements is nicely done, but a tiny bit cheap looking. But, the classic Gerber Satin finish makes the tool look pretty good. The leather sheath is really nice and has the pocket for the bit set.

OK, we know about the normal Center-Drive, but the main differences to the CD+(aside from the finish) are the scissors(replacing the SE blade from OG CD) and combo blade(replaces PE blade from OG CD). The CD+ also comes with the well-made leather sheath(made in the USA). Same bit set as the normal CD.

Scissors have a similar blade profile to the Diesel scissors, but with a much shorter handle. They work great on paper, thread, and other softer materials. Anything thicker, like cardboard, is a thumb-bruiser. 

Though, with that said, they are still a better implement to have than the small SE blade. The combo blade is done quite well.

PICS!

*The other CDs came to welcome the CD+*







Center-Drive Plus photos.

[ChopperCharles]

I ended up really needing that saw blade that I put in my CD. Had to modify an auto fuse box and cut a slot so a wire could exit the box without being pinched. My girlfriend’s car started overheating in heavy traffic. Radiator fans wouldn’t come on. Stopped at advance and got a piggyback fuse holder, and I used the CD to crimp some connectors on to make a bypass.  Either the relay is bad or the thermostatic switch is bad, or some bit of electrical voodoo is broken. Wired the fan to the high beam circuit, and that got us home in rush hour traffic on a 100 degree day.

The cd crimped connectors, cut wire, and the saw made a small slot in the fuse box for the wire to exit. The only thing the CD didn’t do well was strip wire. The replaceable cutters just aren’t good for anything precise. I broke out my SAK for that.

Overall I’m really liking carrying the CD as my EDC. It has some trade offs though so sometimes I still swap it for my blunt nosed bladeless MP600

Charles.
Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Oh snap. Looking at Gerber's date codes, seems as though I ended up with Center-Drives from 2017, 2018, and 2019. 

[ChopperCharles]

Where is that date code info? I’m curious what it tells me about mine. It has the same number on the blade: “0871118B”

Charles.

[Top-Gear-24]

Where is that date code info? I’m curious what it tells me about mine. It has the same number on the blade: “0871118B”

Charles.

Was wondering how the date codes worked myself, one of my CD's has the same 0870217A code behind the bit driver (haven't opened the other one yet).