ZapWizard's Leatherman Free P4 Mods

[Dutch_Tooler]

I didn't need the notch for my setup. I'm thinking I shortened the file a little more, past where your notch is.

Probably. I thought of that too but I didn't like the thought of taking off more blade length than absolutely necessary. Plus the resulting hook might come in handy for picking up things out of reach of your hands 

Pic shows P4 on standby at the grill...

[Rocket surgery]

  Hi guys, so the stars finally aligned, my P2 came back from warranty for the second time and the pliers where problem free! So I have gone to install the bit exchanger and blade exchanger... Well that was 3 hours ago. The problem I'm having is with the little plastic piece which covers and holds the magnet in place and how it contacts the base of the spring (part which sits around the magnet).
From factory the springs sit just to either side of the plastic cover part, but when installing the thicker blade exchanger the spring is pushed over the top of the plastic piece, meaning the bottom claw(?) Of the spring is floating above the magnet, causing me to be unable to get the pin even nearly lined up  I have tried all sorts, but each time it's deforming the plastic piece more, and every time I can get the screw tight, the whole frame is out of wack because it's pushing the magnet cover all over the shop. Has anyone found this, or better yet, found a solution to this? Getting rather frustrated and feeling a bit stupid 

[Slygrin]

Probably. I thought of that too but I didn't like the thought of taking off more blade length than absolutely necessary. Plus the resulting hook might come in handy for picking up things out of reach of your hands 

Pic shows P4 on standby at the grill...

Great picture! I decided to just shorten the file and not the saw. I use the file 90% of the time. I also carry a Surge, rotate it with the P4. I can always use the longer blades when needed on the P4, I just have to put the file back in to close it or leave it empty.

[Dutch_Tooler]

Hi guys, so the stars finally aligned, my P2 came back from warranty for the second time and the pliers where problem free! So I have gone to install the bit exchanger and blade exchanger... Well that was 3 hours ago. The problem I'm having is with the little plastic piece which covers and holds the magnet in place and how it contacts the base of the spring (part which sits around the magnet).
From factory the springs sit just to either side of the plastic cover part, but when installing the thicker blade exchanger the spring is pushed over the top of the plastic piece, meaning the bottom claw(?) Of the spring is floating above the magnet, causing me to be unable to get the pin even nearly lined up  I have tried all sorts, but each time it's deforming the plastic piece more, and every time I can get the screw tight, the whole frame is out of wack because it's pushing the magnet cover all over the shop. Has anyone found this, or better yet, found a solution to this? Getting rather frustrated and feeling a bit stupid 

Good to have a functional P2 now
Yes, I had a similar problem - not enough space left for the plastic bit between the springs, seeing that there are now only three  implements between them. I ended up leaving the plastic bit out. One could maybe shorten it and reprofile the shortened end but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle. It seems that the magnet still sits where it should even without the plastic bit.

[ZapWizard]

Has anyone found this, or better yet, found a solution to this? Getting rather frustrated and feeling a bit stupid 

I haven't modified my P2 as much, but I can imagine what your talking about. The plastic bit does nothing more than make the magnet surface a bit easier to clean. The magnet itself is held in place by the springs.
You could always trim off a tiny portion of the plastic where the spring now hits.

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In other news Shapeways has finally finished producing the Scalpel holder prototypes, which are now in the mail. Metal parts now take a month even when paying for rush production. That sucks as each time I need to tweak the design it takes 5 weeks to get the new parts to confirm the changes.

[fishbulb59]

Love your work here, ZapWizard. I've been modifying some Free parts by hand, and I designed and printed my own spacer for the T4 to hold a custom set of tools, as well as a few Leatherman bits with a driver built in. I'm happy to share the design with anyone that's interested, but it takes a lot of work to use, because you have to cut down the magnet and pivots by hand.

I'm starting a new build based on the T2, and I'm keeping the factory dimensions for pivots and magnets. I've ordered your 4mm bit driver to replace the two 'thick' tools, since it's better than anything I've come up with. In my existing T4, I use a scalpel blade on a ground-down awl tool, which is the standard 'thin' size for the Free tools. Any chance you'd be able to do a thinner version of your scalpel holder without the thumb tab? That way I could replace my terrible, hand-ground version.

[ZapWizard]

Very cool T2 mods! They did waste a lot of space on that thing with plastic.
If the scalpel holder works out (the blade holding profile) I could alter the rest of the design to make it fit in place of a thin tool.
A #3 profile holder may be a good project for the smaller T2 or T4.

[fishbulb59]

Yep, a #3 blade would be perfect, as that's what I've been using in my T4/T2 stuff. I do a fair amount of tinkering in Fusion and 3d printing in general, so if I can be of any help, definitely let me know!

[ZapWizard]

Teaser image!
The prototype scalpel holder finally arrived.  (The damn UPS Mail Innovations delivery took 12 days)
I just have a few tweaks to make to the design. As usual I will still order a 2nd prototype before selling. So expect another 4-6 weeks till is is available to order.

The great news is that the slot profile works well. The slot came with a bit of gunk still stuck in the slot. The good news is that thinnest dremel grind off wheels happen to be exactly the right size to clear the slot. Just a few tiny hits from the dremel and the slot allows the blade to slide on perfectly. The 0.6mm blade I have (60XT) doesn't want to fit, but that isn't a big deal.

I did also have to grind off a bit of the back stop of the blade.  I need ~0.7mm more clearance in that area. The thumb tab also needs improving.

The term "scary sharp" applies. No I didn't cut myself (yet), but its weird how the scalpel blade feels much more dangerous when deployed compared to the regular blade. Part of that is also the fact that the pointed tip of the blade is exposed with the slightest deployment angle. So I am going to recommend that anyone who installs this use a holster, and not just the tool in their pocket or belt clip.

[Poncho65]

Looking good, Zap Glad to hear that the prototyping is going well and it is almost complete

[ReamerPunch]

Fantastic work! Now replace the handles and pliers!

[ZapWizard]

This doesn't even feel legal. 

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I have finished all the tweaks to the design. Lots of small things you can't see, such as moving things by 0.1mm to get just a slightly tighter fit.
The biggest change is the scalloped curve in the thumb tab to increase the grip while opening. Another larger change is less material near the back outside edge of the blade, this allows you to get a better grip with pliers when removing the blade.

I will order the 2nd prototype, and paid extra for shipping so I don't have to wait so long.

[fishbulb59]

First things first: I'm not trying to steal anyone's thunder here. ZapWizard, I've ordered a few of your parts from Shapeways, and they'll be going into my P2 as soon as they get here. )

Here's my prototype T2 with my ideal tools: Leatherman blade (which I think is just about the perfect size for me in the T2/T4 form), 4mm driver and bottle opener, and #3 scalpel blade holder. I'm not carrying this around yet, but only because the 3D-printed tools aren't magnetic, and I *really* don't want the scalpel opening in my pocket.

The scalpel holder is 3.2mm thick, which is the thickness of the 'thick' extra tools, like the philips head or big flat head tools. The driver is 4.8mm thick, which is one 'thick' tool and one 'thin' tool, such as the file or awl. Since the T2 comes with two thick and one thin extra tool, the tool is still the same thickness overall. This is nice, because I didn't have to do the crazy stuff I did with the T4, like reshaping the thumb lock or shortening the screw posts. And since my metalworking skills are B- at best, that means the whole things fits back together a lot better.

I also reordered the stacking so there's a spring on either side of the bit driver. That means I can use a bit of extra width to hold the driver bit a little better. Those springs are 0.8mm thick, so I'm pressing my luck, but it seems to work OK for now.

I also designed a custom spacer that 'squares off' the profile of the handle, which also makes some room in the bottom for a few extra screwdriver tips held in by magnets. There are three tips in there right now, but it'll hold another two on top and still close just fine. I'm trying to figure out how to make the bottom of the spacer swing open, because getting the bits out is a real pain—you have to open all the tools, then fiddle around in there to get the tips to come loose from the magnet. It's a recipe for disaster with so many sharp blades nearby!

The custom spacer means I can make the tools a bit longer too. ZapWizard's bit drivers are designed to fit in the shorter tool space of the P2, which makes more sense; these tools only really work with a custom spacer in one of the knife bodies.

I ordered a metal printed version from Craftcloud (who is getting it printed by Sculpteo I think). I'll post here when it arrives if I can add anything useful to the discussion.

[ZapWizard]

Those are some good designs for the T2 (which is lacking on utility for me).
 I would recommend your own thread however, so folks can watch the progress and make/order their own copies once you get something prototyped.

[fishbulb59]

Will do. I'm still in the very early prototype stage, so I'll start a new thread when there's more to show. In the meantime, I'll keep following along with your progress here!

[ZapWizard]

So the new revision of Scalpel holder has arrived, and it is almost perfect. Just some +/-0.1mm tweaks to make. I would have it available to purchase already, however I can't yet make a video showing it off properly as Shapeways screwed up one of the parts. It seems that someone mishandled it just before the sintering step and warped the part. They are replacing the part, but now I got to wait for a few more weeks for that to arrive.

I would make the video with the mirrored version, except that one of the main requests was making the P2 bladeless using this mod, and so I need to wait.

[Poncho65]

Sorry to hear they messed one of the parts up, Zap at least they are replacing it, even if it isn't going to be quick Glad to see the progress

[ZapWizard]

The Scalpel holder for the Leatherman FREE P4 & P2 is now available!

[ZapWizard]

So a person asked on YouTube for a smaller tool that would hold #25 blades. I checked, and the #25 and #22 blades installed into either the T2 or T4 look like they were meant to be.

[Poncho65]

That is so very awesome, Zap

One of those scapel holders is just what a person needs for bladeless areas

[Juan el Boricua]

 

Also for whacking on a disposable instead of chipping/snapping on the OE blade; or if you're not too keen on resharpening! 

[Poncho65]

  

[Slygrin]

Recently ordered the scalpel holder. I figured I almost never use the scissors. I find that I can use a blade for almost everyting I would use the scissors for. I will use the scalpel a lot more. Between the flat bit holder, the T-shank holder and now the scalpel holder, I have a Free Zapwizard multi tool.

[brab]

I purchased the P4 some time back. I bought and added the thumb assist blade openers to the main and serrated blades.  Before I added the thumb assists, I first moved the serrated blade to a position, diagonal to the main blade, as is the case with my Charge Ti and my Wave.  It seems to me, that is the more ergonomic location for the serrated blade because a simple rotation in the right hand of 180 degrees puts you into a position to open either the main blade or the serrated blade.

One thing I noted about the P4 was that the back side of the main blade protrudes slightly beyond the side of the tool, wherein it is enclosed, similar to the Charge and the Wave, which makes access to the thumb opening aperture more easier and really obviates the necessity of adding a thumb assist opener to the main blade.  At first I was going to add the thumb assist opener to the serrated blade only but decided to go ahead and add it to the main blade as well, (it does make the main blade more easy to open but not appreciably so). This situation made me wonder why Leatherman didn't make the P4 serrated blade the same as the Charge and Wave blades, with the protrusion of the blade back side beyond the side of the tool as the main blade is, so that the thumb opening aperture was easily accessible on both blades?.

I also purchased the flat bit driver from Shapeways, Zapwizard's outfit or the company marketing his mods, because I really wanted to be able to use the Leatherman bits and I felt the loss of the Phillips was not a big deal because I inserted the combination Flat Screwdriver/Phillips No.2 bit in the bit driver.  Don't remember what the other tool that was lost from the P4 was, (because of adding the bit driver), but it wasn't a big deal because I never used it.

But the main reason I added this post was because I wanted to know if the long Leatherman flat bit, which combines the Flat Screwdriver with the Phillips No. 2, would fold into the tool and clear the pliers so that it folded up completely.  Does anyone know? I guess I could shorten the Flat Screw driver end of the long bit, to make a longer bit work. Such a mod would make the default bit in the bit driver, more useful because it would have greater reach.

See attached pic.

[ZapWizard]

@Slygrin, and brab thanks for your orders. 

@brab

They made one only blade protrude so you can tell which blade your opening without looking, one of the issues with the wave is pulling out, opening the blade, only to look down and realize it was the wrong blade (since it is 180 degrees symmetrical)

Just to be clear, Shapeways is the manufacturer, they produce and drop ship the parts that I (and lots of other folks) design. They don't own my designs, or market them beyond giving me a store front to list my goods.

I assume your talking about the Leatherman Mut bit? It looks to be twice as long as the standard bit. It would hit the pliers when folded up.

Leatherman does make a short combination bit kit here: https://www.leatherman.com/1-2-phillips-3-16-flat-screwdriver-bits-624.html

In other news:
I just purchased a Raptor, a Signal and a Skeletool with the intent of designing accessories. I get request for Thumb tabs for the signal and skeletool all the time, so those will be first, for the raptor I want to design a much slicker holster than the very bulky model that it comes with.

[ZapWizard]

The user aerodrew808a on YouTube put this idea in my head 11 months ago. Yesterday I got the itch to go ahead and design it.

It won't be cheap (nothing in the FREE series seems to be) as the vials are $10 a piece + UV adhesive. So to that end I rendered out all 72 possible color combinations so folks can visually decide on what combination they may want.
Also, will have a 2nd version for use with glow powder / epoxy.

I am partial to the orange/green combination.





I won't be prototyping this for a bit, working on lot of other stuff at the same time.

[Poncho65]

  That is pretty cool looking,  Zap

[PeaceInOurTime]

 

Very cool! Do you have plans to make them for the Surge? (Not sure if these are interchangeable with the other non-Free tools)

[ZapWizard]

I will do the FREE series first, then look at making them for the Surge/Wave. No sense in investing money into prototyping all of them at once.

[PeaceInOurTime]