Would love your thoughts on a tool i developed

[Markus Iversen]

Hey there, I'm new on this forum so if i'm posting this the wrong place then sorry.

Anyways,  i'll get straight to the point. I think the belt is a undeveloped space so I've been designing a belt buckle multi tool that I really would like your thoughts on.

It's a multi-tool that is also a belt buckle, it features 6 bits, a driver and a utility blade, everything is milled 7075-T6 alloy.

I will launch this on Kickstarter January if all goes as planned.

Let me know you think!

mod edit: link removed

[SteveC]

Sorry to have to pull your link, but it is in violation of our forum policies on advertising.

As this is a privately owned and members funded forum we can't allow you to advertise for free here. We have members here paying for the privilege to advertise and allowing you to do so for free wouldn't be fair to them. If you're searching for input and thoughts on projects you'll need to upgrade your account to a Research and Development subscription you can buy here for only $10 for 30 days or $75 a year.


Then you'll be able to post links to your project in our R&D subforum.


Or if you're trying to fund your project, check out our Crowd Funding board. Crowd Sourcing subscription is $15 per month or $110 a year.


Be sure to read Multitool.org Think Tank Rules too.


If you have any more questions or would like arrange options for advertising your tool, please contact Grant Lamontagne, the site owner via email.


Nice to have you with us and you can enjoy the forum and take part in the discussions, but don't advertise anymore until you've made arrangements to do so with the forum owner.

[chip]

Hey there, I'm new on this forum so if i'm posting this the wrong place then sorry.

Anyways,  i'll get straight to the point. I think the belt is a undeveloped space so I've been designing a belt buckle multi tool that I really would like your thoughts on.

It's a multi-tool that is also a belt buckle, it features 6 bits, a driver and a utility blade, everything is milled 7075-T6 alloy.

I will launch this on Kickstarter January if all goes as planned.

Let me know you think!

There is no bottle opener so “I’m oot”

Only joking, hope it goes well.

[Markus Iversen]

Sorry to have to pull your link, but it is in violation of our forum policies on advertising.

As this is a privately owned and members funded forum we can't allow you to advertise for free here. We have members here paying for the privilege to advertise and allowing you to do so for free wouldn't be fair to them. If you're searching for input and thoughts on projects you'll need to upgrade your account to a Research and Development subscription you can buy here for only $10 for 30 days or $75 a year.


Then you'll be able to post links to your project in our R&D subforum.


Or if you're trying to fund your project, check out our Crowd Funding board. Crowd Sourcing subscription is $15 per month or $110 a year.


Be sure to read Multitool.org Think Tank Rules too.


If you have any more questions or would like arrange options for advertising your tool, please contact Grant Lamontagne, the site owner via email.


Nice to have you with us and you can enjoy the forum and take part in the discussions, but don't advertise anymore until you've made arrangements to do so with the forum owner.

Sorry didn't know that! I'll check out the options you listed, it was meant more of a feedback than advertising post (you can't actually buy it yet)

[Vidar]

Hi Markus,

While I agree that a belt is a good option for holding a multi-tool, I'm not really sold on the combination of belt buckle and multi-tool. There are a few reasons:

1. A multi-tool that also have to fuction as something entirely different will be exposed to a double set of design requirements and limitations. Thus it will always be worse at both tasks than a multi-tool or belt buckle made for just that.

2. You might have an elegant solution for this, but fiddling with my belt buckle to use a tool sounds a lot more complicated than just reaching in my pocket or to a belt holder. (And while in use you will drop your pants? )

3. This can turn into a very serious one for some of your users: If there is a tool on it that can be used to stab or cut, and it is camoflaged like something else (like say a belt buckle), many countries have fairly serious laws against that. (Imagine being in one of those countries and forget what you have on your belt - and then get stopped with a concealed knife in the airport control).

All that said, welcome to the forum!  You will find lots of people here with vast knowledge of all things multi-tools, and with plenty of use cases, opinions and preferences to share. And of course it also just a nice place to hang out.

[nate j]

Hi Markus,

While I agree that a belt is a good option for holding a multi-tool, I'm not really sold on the combination of belt buckle and multi-tool. There are a few reasons:

1. A multi-tool that also have to fuction as something entirely different will be exposed to a double set of design requirements and limitations. Thus it will always be worse at both tasks than a multi-tool or belt buckle made for just that.

2. You might have an elegant solution for this, but fiddling with my belt buckle to use a tool sounds a lot more complicated than just reaching in my pocket or to a belt holder. (And while in use you will drop your pants? )

3. This can turn into a very serious one for some of your users: If there is a tool on it that can be used to stab or cut, and it is camoflaged like something else (like say a belt buckle), many countries have fairly serious laws against that. (Imagine being in one of those countries and forget what you have on your belt - and then get stopped with a concealed knife in the airport control).

All that said, welcome to the forum!  You will find lots of people here with vast knowledge of all things multi-tools, and with plenty of use cases, opinions and preferences to share. And of course it also just a nice place to hang out.

 


Something else that leaped out at me was the plan to use 7075-T6 alloy for all components.  This aluminum alloy is way too soft for knife blades or screwdriver bits, both of which are generally made from hardened steel.

[Vidar]

Something else that leaped out at me was the plan to use 7075-T6 alloy for all components.  This aluminum alloy is way too soft for knife blades or screwdriver bits, both of which are generally made from hardened steel.

I kind of assumed the bits and utility knife itself would be steel as usual, but that the holders would be the aluminium. Even so there is a softness issue. The ISO (1173-2001) test for bit holders require a bit holder with hardness of at least 53 HRC, and further that the common 1/4" bit holders should take a torque of 71N⋅m without any issues. 7075-T6 is far from 53 HRC.

Either way there is still a lot of potential for new multi-tool designs, and the design and manufacturing possibilties keep expanding every year. I look forward to actually seeing what Markus has come up with.

[Chako]

Have you checked the few Gerber belt multi-tools out there?

[Markus Iversen]

Hi Markus,

While I agree that a belt is a good option for holding a multi-tool, I'm not really sold on the combination of belt buckle and multi-tool. There are a few reasons:

1. A multi-tool that also have to fuction as something entirely different will be exposed to a double set of design requirements and limitations. Thus it will always be worse at both tasks than a multi-tool or belt buckle made for just that.

2. You might have an elegant solution for this, but fiddling with my belt buckle to use a tool sounds a lot more complicated than just reaching in my pocket or to a belt holder. (And while in use you will drop your pants? )

3. This can turn into a very serious one for some of your users: If there is a tool on it that can be used to stab or cut, and it is camoflaged like something else (like say a belt buckle), many countries have fairly serious laws against that. (Imagine being in one of those countries and forget what you have on your belt - and then get stopped with a concealed knife in the airport control).

All that said, welcome to the forum!  You will find lots of people here with vast knowledge of all things multi-tools, and with plenty of use cases, opinions and preferences to share. And of course it also just a nice place to hang out.

Hi there thanks alot for sharing your thoughts! I'll try to describe some of my considerations on the difficulties you mention:

1.
The biggest limitation was space as you mentioned, it's just not feasible to have a leatherman sized tool sitting on your belt buckle. For this, i chose to limit the amount of tools to the ones that is needed the most in everyday situations and then really make the accessibility of the chosen tools perfect to use.

2.
A requirement that i had was that the tool had to be faster and more natural to deploy than a pocket multitool, and it really is, you can have your tool in hand ready for use in under 2 seconds and the blade can be operated with one hand.
The buckle always stays on like a normal buckle, the tool sits "on" the buckle so your pants doesn't drop!

3.
This is a valid concern, the blade is however too small to cut, and it only locks when retracted for safety, but of course in the right hands it can be used as a weapon.
The blade is easily replaceable and can be taken out, when i'm going to sell this the blade will come separately so that the customer will have to install it themselves - this makes it legal to buy.

Thanks again for your thoughts and introduction

[Markus Iversen]

Something else that leaped out at me was the plan to use 7075-T6 alloy for all components.  This aluminum alloy is way too soft for knife blades or screwdriver bits, both of which are generally made from hardened steel.

Only the tool itself is 7075, the blade is steel or ceramic (replaceable) and the bits are steel, i will try to see if i can set up a titanium nitride coating on the bits but not 100% on that yet

[Vidar]

Looking at your tool I figure it uses the 4mm bit standard rather than the 1/4". It makes sense for a compact multitool, and there are plenty of bits available. Thus I would suggest just getting some from the existing range of a reputable supplier rather than setting up something yourself? And why not go for double sided bits? Same size, twice the number of heads, and even slightly less weight to boot. You can do more than 6 bits too by the way - there is plenty of space.

Aluminium still makes for a soft bit holder. The anodization is of course plenty hard so maybe the combination works?

My main gripe is the placement of the bit holder. It just doesn't make sense to me. It will have short reach, and using it will require a lot of free space around whatever you want to screw. Use in tight spaces, near inside edges or in corners will be cumbersome or downright impossible. Given that most of the tool is about bit storage having a holder that cumbersome for actual use seems like a mismatch.

I would suggest to not have a detachable rectangle with all the bits, knife and holder. Instead I suggest to make bits, bit holder and utility knife each connect seperately to the belt holder. The overall package shouldn't require more space than now, and will give you the opportunity to make a bit holder that is more usable, and possibly a better knife handle too.

[cody6268]

In a lot of places, belt buckle knives are a big no-no, so I'd remove the "utility knife" entirely.

[pfrsantos]

In a lot of places, belt buckle knives are a big no-no, so I'd remove the "utility knife" entirely.

Yup, I knew that. I live in a lot of places and our laws are very strick about "concealed weapons".