t1mpani
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2002
- Messages
- 5,460
Howdy,
I'm not irate, nor am I incapable of fixing the damage that's been done to the wire cutters on my Spirit, but I'm wanting the advice of those who've done a whole lot more wire cutting with a multi-tool than I have: is there a heat treatment problem here or did I ask way too much of this tool?
There was a little wire key ring attached to the body of my camera which has been in my way since the first day I bought it. Sitting around this evening, I was flipping it out of the way and finally decided to just remove the thing. Once I started, however, I remembered exactly why I hadn't removed it before--because I have NO idea how they ever got the damned thing on in the first place without breaking the little plastic slot it was in. I kept trying to spread the thing wide enough to go through, but couldn't keep the wire end--once it was part way through the plastic hole--from gouging into the plastic and sticking in place. Finally, I'd had enough and just decided to cut the thing off. I pulled out my Spirit (have had it three weeks) and got the wire cutters lined up and snapped through it. Moved over a quarter inch and did the same again, and the former "o" had become a "c" which of course fell right off.
When I tried to open jaws of the pliers again, though, I couldn't without the handles trying to close; the jaws were just stuck together. I stopped pulling on the handles and got my fingers around the jaws themselves and finally pulled them apart--seeing that what was sticking them together were the now-deformed wire cutters. Those two cuts in that wire key ring had deeply indented them, and they could no longer easily pass by each other. Here are the pictures, both of the ring (to give you an idea of the stock) and the jaws. I guess the thing that bugs me is, it's not like I was squeezing THAT hard to snap through the ring--certainly not hard enough where I would ever have suspected I could have been deforming hardened (I assume) steel wire cutters. I know they're not as tough as wire cutters that'd be on a tool belt, but still it seems a little extreme. But then, I may be very wrong.
Now, I know it's not the stock thickness of the wire but the hardness that is really the issue, but is your basic "100 for $5" little wire key ring really that hard? I've popped 'em before with pliers and have never seen a pair blink. I can fix the damage, at least well enough for the tool to be useable, but I'm wondering if this is a defect I should be worried about or just an unfortunate encounter with a super-stud piece of wire.
Appreciate any and all opinions, thanks.
I'm not irate, nor am I incapable of fixing the damage that's been done to the wire cutters on my Spirit, but I'm wanting the advice of those who've done a whole lot more wire cutting with a multi-tool than I have: is there a heat treatment problem here or did I ask way too much of this tool?
There was a little wire key ring attached to the body of my camera which has been in my way since the first day I bought it. Sitting around this evening, I was flipping it out of the way and finally decided to just remove the thing. Once I started, however, I remembered exactly why I hadn't removed it before--because I have NO idea how they ever got the damned thing on in the first place without breaking the little plastic slot it was in. I kept trying to spread the thing wide enough to go through, but couldn't keep the wire end--once it was part way through the plastic hole--from gouging into the plastic and sticking in place. Finally, I'd had enough and just decided to cut the thing off. I pulled out my Spirit (have had it three weeks) and got the wire cutters lined up and snapped through it. Moved over a quarter inch and did the same again, and the former "o" had become a "c" which of course fell right off.
When I tried to open jaws of the pliers again, though, I couldn't without the handles trying to close; the jaws were just stuck together. I stopped pulling on the handles and got my fingers around the jaws themselves and finally pulled them apart--seeing that what was sticking them together were the now-deformed wire cutters. Those two cuts in that wire key ring had deeply indented them, and they could no longer easily pass by each other. Here are the pictures, both of the ring (to give you an idea of the stock) and the jaws. I guess the thing that bugs me is, it's not like I was squeezing THAT hard to snap through the ring--certainly not hard enough where I would ever have suspected I could have been deforming hardened (I assume) steel wire cutters. I know they're not as tough as wire cutters that'd be on a tool belt, but still it seems a little extreme. But then, I may be very wrong.
Now, I know it's not the stock thickness of the wire but the hardness that is really the issue, but is your basic "100 for $5" little wire key ring really that hard? I've popped 'em before with pliers and have never seen a pair blink. I can fix the damage, at least well enough for the tool to be useable, but I'm wondering if this is a defect I should be worried about or just an unfortunate encounter with a super-stud piece of wire.
Appreciate any and all opinions, thanks.
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