Changing a Millie's clip for tip up carry. PIC HEAVY

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tonydahose
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Changing a Millie's clip for tip up carry. PIC HEAVY

#1

Post by tonydahose »

Recently i traded my old millie in 440V steel. i missed it. It had been converted by STR for a tip up carry. well i just got in trade a carbon fiber millie in S90V steel. I just needed to mod this one for tip up as well. Here's how i did it in case anyone was thinking about modding one of there own millies.

Ok here is the millie as it comes from the factory

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now i had to figure out which clip would look best. using the original would just look weird so that one was out.

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i went with this one, the thing is, i have no idea where i got it, it was just in with my spare knife parts :confused:

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here is the knife taken apart

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here i have outlined where the clip will go and i am measuring the diameter of the screw that i will be using. (i got them at an Ace hardware.

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i drilled out the middle hole with the same size bit as the screw so it was nice and tight. i placed the scre in the hole and then lined up the clip again and drilled the other 2 holes.

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After i finished drilling the holes i needed to grind out some of the carbon fiber so that the nuts would be recessed and not interfere with the blades movement. Now carbon fiber is very dangerous stuff. Drilling it was super easy. i went nice and slow and there wasn't any dust, just pieces like you would have when drilling anything. When i went to grind it i used my dremel with a diamond bit. i have the extension on the dremel as seen below, it is about 3' long. This allowed me to run water on the scale while i was grinding away and not get electrocuted. There was no dust, just CF dirty water.

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here's a closeup of the divet i made and the bit

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tonydahose
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#2

Post by tonydahose »

here is my OOOPS moment, there was a bit of blockage in the loctite :p

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here i have all 3 nuts tightened down

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i then grinded down the rest of the screw down to the bottom of the nut

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not the best picture but a side profile of the screws after grinding them

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here is the knife all put back together with the new clip in place. i noticed the lanyard tube sticking out after i took the pic. it is flush now with the scale.

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side view with the knife opened
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side view of the knife when close

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and here it is in pocket

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overall it wasn't too bad, maybe a 90 minute job. Just be careful with that carbon fiber, its not good for you to breathe!!!!. also the back spacer is oriented in a certain way so mark it so you don't have to take the knife apart to fix it the right way :p
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#3

Post by jackknifeh »

Nice work. Great job. Looks good.

Jack
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#4

Post by DeathBySnooSnoo »

Nice job....now I need a step by step guide for a way to switch it to left hand carry tip down.
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#5

Post by vaisforlovers »

Great pictures and awesome outcome. I'm not yet brave enough to modify my knives yet. I appreciate your bravery and willingness to share. Thanks for your post.
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tonydahose
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#6

Post by tonydahose »

thanks for the kind words guys.

Virgina, just jump in and try it, the water is fine ;) . Pratice modding on a Tenacious, they're cheap :) They are already drilled for 4 way carry but you can try to make some wooden scales or micarta for it.
DeathBySnooSnoo wrote:Nice job....now I need a step by step guide for a way to switch it to left hand carry tip down.
didn't spyderco make a left handed millie?
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#7

Post by rycen »

Nice job,came out very well. Looks like a kershaw clip. I have to admit though I cringed a little when I saw it was an S90V version.
We would rather be the knife in your pocket, because is "works" better, than the knife in your showcase, because it "looks" better.

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#8

Post by tonydahose »

why, its a user already and i can guarantee it will be used alot more :D
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#9

Post by DeathBySnooSnoo »

tonydahose wrote:thanks for the kind words guys.

Virgina, just jump in and try it, the water is fine ;) . Pratice modding on a Tenacious, they're cheap :) They are already drilled for 4 way carry but you can try to make some wooden scales or micarta for it.



didn't spyderco make a left handed millie?
I have just started to mess around with some cheapo knives...got a couple Enlans to do things to.

They do...but it isn't a CF M390 one :D
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#10

Post by Sht »

rycen wrote:Nice job,came out very well. Looks like a kershaw clip. I have to admit though I cringed a little when I saw it was an S90V version.
Yea that was cringe worthy for sure. I have no safe queens, only users & that hurt a little.
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#11

Post by MCM »

I did one of mine when they 1st came out. (same knife)
I drilled & tapped the CF for deep carry, thinking I might have to go your route down the road.
Its been carried a lot, and have never had a problem.
Never even loosened up.
I off set it back to ride in the seam.
Bought the taps from a model / hobby shop.
If you want to cringe, at that time I also smoothed out the peel ply with wet & dry.
Those two mods made it so much more user friendly I am sure it would have not have had near as much use in stock form.
Have pic's on photo bucket. But my favorite clip is from another co. so I dont post it much..

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#12

Post by kbuzbee »

Nice mod, Tony. I think it found a good home, brother! Enjoy!

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#13

Post by Azwaiian »

Nice mod!
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#14

Post by Evil D »

Amen brother :D
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#15

Post by rjowen0984 »

tonydahose wrote:thanks for the kind words guys.





didn't spyderco make a left handed millie?
I have a lefty Millie(2 actually) but would give anything for a s90v or m390 lefty Millie!
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#16

Post by Domanfp »

Could the lefties not buy a Sprint Millie and swap the blades? Sure you will lose the CF or Ti scales but you would get the blade steel you were after
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#17

Post by sharpguitarist »

Hey Frank,
The blade swap wouldn't work.
The blade tang is cut specifically for the left hand version.
Later,
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#18

Post by C.L.L 97 »

Great job! That makes the Millie look so much better!
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#19

Post by Sonny »

Enjoyed those pix. A fine job. Yeah, someone has to use that S90v sometime. Might as well be now, while we're living.
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#20

Post by Holland »

very nice mod, thanks for the pictures!
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