Spyderco Forums

I was very nervous to tune my first detent on a spyderco knife but decided it was that or sell a couple knives I found the detent too weak on. I took apart my sliverax and got out the dremel with a small round diamond bit. I turned the dremel to 5k rpm and went slowly. After deciding it looked sufficient I put it back together and it's FANTASTIC! Super excited to give new life to spydies that aren't being carried.

Sounds interesting. What exactly were you trying to tune or tune-out?

The detent was too weak to flip well. I have the same issue with my carribean and lum tanto though they're not flippers.

I think that’s pretty cool. I assume you made the detent divot (or whatever it’s called) deeper. Any way to make a strong detent weaker?

I did the same to mine a couple months ago. It worked like a charm!

So vague, lol. Any pictures?

The only tuning I’ve done to achieve a stronger detent is by bending the lockbar in to increase the pressure it has on the blade in the closed position.

To weaken the detent you would do the opposite. Bend it out.

Both done with knife disassembled.

I can’t visualise what you could have done with a dremel other than grind a detent ramp on the blade but that won’t increase detent strength?

Now that I have a dremel I’ll really need to try this on my sliverax and amalgam.

Photos would be good of these variations - for the non technically minded !

500Nitro wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:16 pm

Photos would be good of these variations - for the non technically minded !

Or for the technically minded too. What are we taking about? Deepening the detente hole? With a dremel??

This is what I used to open detent hole. I could've used a rotary tool but I chose to turn the bit by hand. I took a little off at a time and tested until it was where I wanted it. I'm very happy with the results.

Seems risky. Remove too much and you could end up with detent play.

ABX2011 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:37 pm

Seems risky. Remove too much and you could end up with detent play.

Yep! That's why I took my time and did it by hand. I dislike detent slop, so I was careful not to go too far.

Sharp Guy wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:27 pm

This is what I used to open detent hole. I could've used a rotary tool but I chose to turn the bit by hand. I took a little off at a time and tested until it was where I wanted it. I'm very happy with the results.

Did you do this because the hole was too small and the detent ball wasn’t fully seating?

Tims wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:46 pm

Did you do this because the hole was too small and the detent ball wasn’t fully seating?

Yes, the detent was a little on the light side, so I opened the hole a tiny bit to make the ball sit a little deeper.

mb1 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 6:04 pm

I think that’s pretty cool. I assume you made the detent divot (or whatever it’s called) deeper. Any way to make a strong detent weaker?

Yeah I'd be curious about that too. I know on frame locks you can just bend the lock bar out a little, some people do that with the Domino but it might be a little trickier to get just right with a comp lock.

brainfriction wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 8:09 pm

mb1 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 6:04 pm

I think that’s pretty cool. I assume you made the detent divot (or whatever it’s called) deeper. Any way to make a strong detent weaker?

Yeah I'd be curious about that too. I know on frame locks you can just bend the lock bar out a little, some people do that with the Domino but it might be a little trickier to get just right with a comp lock.

The comp’ lock is just like a linerlock in the way it acts on the blade. To weaken it just pull the knife down, separare thr liner with lock bar from the scale and bend the lock bar out so it exerts less pressure on the blade. With less lock bar pressure the ball will pop out with less force when you open the knife.

I've done this a number of times. Always by hand, as it's easy to remove metal and hard to put it back. Definitely helps the Taichung models. I find the Golden spydies have stronger detents from the factory.

A mod I have performed a lot of times :) I prefer to use a small cylindrical bit as you can keep the edges of the hole closer to 90 degrees :)