Spirit pliers vs stranded wire

[in_sympathy]

Greetings, gents. I originally posted about this yesterday on our May 2022 Swisstool Super Challenge, but decided to make a separate topic. So here’s the story:
I have a concern about the wire cutting experience on my Spirit - it really struggles with cutting a standard 220V stranded copper electrical wire. For example LM Wave  goes through it like it's nothing. And I feel a little bit of play in the plier head. Is there a simple way to tighten the pivot? 

I found this video on YouTube on loosening a pair of stiff Wave pliers:



What if I’d hit the pivot on the fixed side as the author mentioned in the video? Would that work with a Spirit to tighten the pivot?

[McStitchy]

I haven't done that myself but others her have on various tools. Steve on older Leathermans for example. I'm sure someone will chime in and share their experience with tightening the pliers pivot.

My experience with the Spirit's wire cutters are that they do struggle with stranded wires. And I find them a little short as well. And the ones on my two Spirits do not have play 

[MrToolJunkie]

I am not sure that it is the smoothness or looseness of the pliers - I think it has more to do with the cutters themselves being short. I struggle with it as well on both my SwissTool and Spirit models. Cutting Romex or anything larger is also a challenge. LM does better in this category in my opinion. I am also participating in the challenge and have to cut some wire at some point and will report my experience when I do. Texas Tool Crib is a good site on You Tube - Ben there does awesome reviews on multitools and other tools and he has one video on the wire cutters of various models and talks about it.



Check 2:55 mark for SwissTool. Also at 12:42 mark it goes into more detail.

[in_sympathy]

Thanks, I’ve seen this video a while ago - really nice comparison

I still believe my Spirit is defective - check out this:

Here’s a picture of the pliers being normally closed:



And here are two shots of the play that is present - this is how much I can twist and offset them way too easily:



I even made a short video of the plier head play:

[McStitchy]

Looks not ok to me 

[Aloha]

Just checked my very well used Spirit and while there is some play it is NOT like yours. 

[in_sympathy]

Thanks, gents, now I need to figure a way to send it from Ukraine back to Switzerland. Have any of you sent your tools to Victorinox?

[SirVicaLot]

Victorinox warranty is outstanding. You can find more info here: https://www.victorinox.com/ch/en/Swiss-Army-Knives/Service/FAQ-Swiss-Army-Knives/cms/service-swiss-army-knives-faq#item-4

Last time I sent something in from the US, so not sure if the process is different from Ukraine.

[Farmer X]

Victorinox maintains a separate service center in the States. I'm pretty sure that the two I sent in last year never left American soil. How it works in other parts of the world, I can't say. But I do agree that alexanderre's Spirit needs to go in as a warranty claim.

[MrToolJunkie]

Definitely a warranty item - that is a defect for sure. Thanks for the video!

[in_sympathy]

Thanks gents. Wrote an email to Victorinox - we’ll see what they would suggest on whether I will need to mail it back to them or it’s possible to solve locally.

[Aloha]

Like Nix I used their US facility.  Good luck.

[ToolJoe]

I used their US facility for a Spirit Scissors defect with good experience.

[in_sympathy]

Well it’s been a week and I still haven’t heard back from Victorinox, so since I bough my Spirit on Amazon I’m thinking of maybe winding it back to the US. May I kindly ask you guys for some guidance on sending it to the US facility?

[Aloha]

Victorinox is slow at responding.  I am not sure I'd send it to US vs Switzerland?  Even their US facility was not the best at communicating.  Maybe give them a little more time or contact them again   

[Farmer X]

Switzerland would be my vote, too. I'm not sure that Victorinox USA would accept a warranty claim from Europe; that's something you'd want to be sure of before sending it off. I can say that they got my somewhat recent repair job done pretty quickly.