Fixed the side to side play in my Para 2
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:27 pm
*DISCLAIMER*
Taking your knife apart will VOID YOUR WARRANTY with Spyderco so unless you A) don't care, B) have already taken the knife apart anyway, and C) are mechanically inclined enough to understand what you're doing, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS.
Cliff Notes: Take your knife apart, file down the ends of the stop pin, reassemble and your blade play will be gone.
Today I got a little nostalgic for my 20CP Para 2, because I've had a lot of knives since this one and haven't carried it for a while. I got it out and touched up the edge (soooo sharp) and came back around to the one nagging issue with this knife that has plagued me since first buying it...side to side blade play. I read that all of this sprint supposedly suffered from it, but out of the box this knife was solid as a rock. Like the other 2 versions of the Para 2 that I've owned however, this one developed a slight side to side wiggle after about a month of EDC. It wasn't so bad that you could feel it in use, it didn't actually "jiggle" but if you know what you're feeling for you could feel it in the pivot. Anyway, I decided to take things into my own hands and fix it today.
So, long story short (I didn't take pics...it was too tedious and too simple to bother with), I simply took the knife apart and *slowly* sanded down the ends of the STOP PIN. I did eventually take a tiny bit off the sides of the bushing as well, before it occurred to me that the problem is with the stop pin being too long and preventing the bushing from tightening down onto the blade firm enough to eliminate play.
So, I took it apart, and used a 400 grit diamond stone to "file" the ends of the stop pin down...very small amounts at a time, and then put the knife back together to check progress, then repeat as necessary until I was able to eliminate side to side play. I got it to the point where I could apply enough pressure with the pivot screws that the blade wouldn't fall shut by gravity anymore, then I knew I had done enough. A drop of Locktite and adjusted the pivot so it was snug but had no play, and it was good to go. It flicks open like a laser and drops closed with gravity (passes my "drop closed and cut phonebook paper test, if you've ever seen that) and has no side to side play anymore.
Taking your knife apart will VOID YOUR WARRANTY with Spyderco so unless you A) don't care, B) have already taken the knife apart anyway, and C) are mechanically inclined enough to understand what you're doing, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS.
Cliff Notes: Take your knife apart, file down the ends of the stop pin, reassemble and your blade play will be gone.
Today I got a little nostalgic for my 20CP Para 2, because I've had a lot of knives since this one and haven't carried it for a while. I got it out and touched up the edge (soooo sharp) and came back around to the one nagging issue with this knife that has plagued me since first buying it...side to side blade play. I read that all of this sprint supposedly suffered from it, but out of the box this knife was solid as a rock. Like the other 2 versions of the Para 2 that I've owned however, this one developed a slight side to side wiggle after about a month of EDC. It wasn't so bad that you could feel it in use, it didn't actually "jiggle" but if you know what you're feeling for you could feel it in the pivot. Anyway, I decided to take things into my own hands and fix it today.
So, long story short (I didn't take pics...it was too tedious and too simple to bother with), I simply took the knife apart and *slowly* sanded down the ends of the STOP PIN. I did eventually take a tiny bit off the sides of the bushing as well, before it occurred to me that the problem is with the stop pin being too long and preventing the bushing from tightening down onto the blade firm enough to eliminate play.
So, I took it apart, and used a 400 grit diamond stone to "file" the ends of the stop pin down...very small amounts at a time, and then put the knife back together to check progress, then repeat as necessary until I was able to eliminate side to side play. I got it to the point where I could apply enough pressure with the pivot screws that the blade wouldn't fall shut by gravity anymore, then I knew I had done enough. A drop of Locktite and adjusted the pivot so it was snug but had no play, and it was good to go. It flicks open like a laser and drops closed with gravity (passes my "drop closed and cut phonebook paper test, if you've ever seen that) and has no side to side play anymore.