Help! Zt 0566 lock stick

tlisowski · Dec 14, 2014

i absolutely love the feel of this knife but the lock stick is killing it for me. i need to actually pry it over to close the knife. Ive had it for 2 days and have flipped it probably 100 times and it is the same. Is there anything i can do to fix it? i took it apart to take the torsion bar out so i voided the warranty. also all the videos i watched said it is ridiculously smooth with the torsion bar out and for me it isn't. i cant find the happy medium between smooth and no side to side play. Do you think it could just use some lube and be 10x better?
thanks
Tom

BellaBlades · Dec 14, 2014

Lube will not do it on its own. I have converted a few to manual and always work the washers on my strop a little bit as well as the washer area of the blade. This also will require a little breaking in if the knife is new like yours. It also allows you to flick the knife with the thumb stud much better as well.
I would leave in the torsion bar for a few weeks while it breaks in and use it. Like you said you have only had it for two days. You really need to give it time and that goes for 50% of the folders out there. Mostly with frame locks.
Then take her apart and do exactly that. When you add lube just use a small amount on the washer and wipe most of it off. That is it. For the lock use a pencil or permanent marker on the tang of the blade and that will help as well. Too much lube with often make things sluggish.
Matt

tlisowski · Dec 15, 2014

BellaBlades said:
Lube will not do it on its own. I have converted a few to manual and always work the washers on my strop a little bit as well as the washer area of the blade. This also will require a little breaking in if the knife is new like yours. It also allows you to flick the knife with the thumb stud much better as well.
I would leave in the torsion bar for a few weeks while it breaks in and use it. Like you said you have only had it for two days. You really need to give it time and that goes for 50% of the folders out there. Mostly with frame locks.
Then take her apart and do exactly that. When you add lube just use a small amount on the washer and wipe most of it off. That is it. For the lock use a pencil or permanent marker on the tang of the blade and that will help as well. Too much lube with often make things sluggish.
Matt

thank you i brought the washers to strop a little and made it a little better. i put the torsion bar back in for the time being but it rattling because i cleaned out the gunk from factory. I put in eucerin chap stick which is like a liquid chap stick. seams to have stopped the rattling for the time being

chickenfried · Dec 17, 2014

Are you sure what you did voids the warranty? I bet KAI would be accommodating just a pain to pay for shipping on a new knife.

had a similar experience although not as extreme, never had to pry it open. It took A LOT of flipping and closing to break it in. It took about a week of constant flipping any time my hands were idle to get to the point where I thought it should've been out of the box. I may have even used a plastic tire lever when my thumb was too sore

. Now after about two weeks it's good. Some cursing helped too. Part of me feels like a dolt going through such trouble with a not cheap new knife instead of just moving on. But what can I say I really wanted to like this knife...

tlisowski said:
i absolutely love the feel of this knife but the lock stick is killing it for me. i need to actually pry it over to close the knife. Ive had it for 2 days and have flipped it probably 100 times and it is the same. Is there anything i can do to fix it? i took it apart to take the torsion bar out so i voided the warranty. also all the videos i watched said it is ridiculously smooth with the torsion bar out and for me it isn't. i cant find the happy medium between smooth and no side to side play. Do you think it could just use some lube and be 10x better?
thanks
Tom

SunOfAtom · Dec 17, 2014

I purchased a 0566 used from the exchange, and when I received it I noticed that it was not very smooth opening and had pretty bad lock stick. I took it apart to clean it and noticed that the lock bar was bent inward at too steep of an angle. I removed the over-travel disc and bent the lock bar back towards the handle just a small amount. This made the knife much smoother and completely removed the lock stick.

If you do take it apart, I would check to see if there is a sharp edge on the lock bar, where it contacts the blade. If there is, I would get some fine sand paper and lightly go over the corners of the lock bar to remove any fine sharp edge that could be getting caught against the blade. You don't want to round the edge off, just remove any sharp edge.

I don't believe ZT has any issue with you disassembling your knife, and the 0566 was made to give the user the option of removing the torsion bar. You certainly have not affected your warranty, so you could still send it to them if you are not able to get it smooth on your own.

Rey HRH · Dec 18, 2014

I had a 560 that would either have the lockbar wedge in so tight, I couldn't use my thumb to pry it open. On times when I could pry the lock bar open so I can close the knife, the lock bar felt and sounded like a creaky wooden door. I tried the stuff I found on the internet, nothing worked. I finally sent it to Kai and when it came back, it worked great.

tlisowski · Dec 18, 2014

i got so fed up with this knife i took it apart, took off the lock bar stabilizer and bent the frame lock over a little. It was at about 50% and now i would say it is at 40%. Made a hell of difference. still has rock solid up and down but the side to side is a little wiggle so it can actually flip out. this is one of my favorites now next to my 0560bw and i just ordered a new scale for it from a fellow member. Thanks for the tips guys

vinnier6 · Dec 20, 2014

I am glad I read this before I bought a 0566, it was next on my list of zt's...

Seadaddy1970 · Oct 19, 2019

I

SunOfAtom said:
I purchased a 0566 used from the exchange, and when I received it I noticed that it was not very smooth opening and had pretty bad lock stick. I took it apart to clean it and noticed that the lock bar was bent inward at too steep of an angle. I removed the over-travel disc and bent the lock bar back towards the handle just a small amount. This made the knife much smoother and completely removed the lock stick.

If you do take it apart, I would check to see if there is a sharp edge on the lock bar, where it contacts the blade. If there is, I would get some fine sand paper and lightly go over the corners of the lock bar to remove any fine sharp edge that could be getting caught against the blade. You don't want to round the edge off, just remove any sharp edge.

I don't believe ZT has any issue with you disassembling your knife, and the 0566 was made to give the user the option of removing the torsion bar. You certainly have not affected your warranty, so you could still send it to them if you are not able to get it smooth on your own.

I had the exact same experience with my ZT 0566, so I did exactly as you suggested above . . . worked perfectly! The advice given on this site is invaluable! Thanks, gents!