Zt 0450

D

dwdickey

Joined
Feb 14, 2014
Messages
261
Anyone ever have one of these just simply lock up where you couldn't flip or even open it using two hands?

Picked one up last week and have been carring it as my edc since and up until tonight it has performed flawless. I had gotten home and was taking off all of my daily carry junk and tried flipping the knife and it simply wouldn't open no matter how I held it or how much pressure I applied. Tried using two hand to no avail after fidgeting with it I got it open, flipped it a few times and it locked up once again. So far all in all I've duplicated the condition 4 times where it simply will not open. It's got me confused, all looks right is nice and clean and has worms flawlessly before this. Also when it does come open it has severe lock stick, any chance the detention ball could be coming loose and causing this or something with the Lockhart insert?
 
The common problem is people don't notice they are applying pressure on the lock bar when trying to open the knife. The main culprit is the middle finger, it rests on the lock bar keeping the blade from opening because of the massive detent.
 
DeadboxHero said:
The common problem is people don't notice they are applying pressure on the lock bar when trying to open the knife. The main culprit is the middle finger, it rests on the lock bar keeping the blade from opening because of the massive detent.
Click to expand...

Hahaha...good one except that isn't the case here. I have the clip installed and lock tited in such a way as any fingers placed on the clip are prevented from putting any pressure on the lock bar. Tried many grips and even forcing the flipper tab on a hard surface it would not open, after fiddling with it and slapping it in my palm a few time I was able to get it free but then it had massive lock stick.
 
I have the 0450cf. If you find out what is wrong let us know. Its been my edc since I bought it friday.
 
my guess is the detent ball isn't set into the lockbar deep enough. This combined with how zt cuts their detent hole in the blade may mean the detent ball is able to sink so far into the hole in the blade that it simply isn't going to release. If it only locks up after its been riding in your pocket I would assume this to be the case as when a knife rides in the pocket we can put pressure on the lockbar forcing the ball into the detent hole further than it should go. Push on the lockbar where the lockbar insert screw is. Then try to fire it. If its locked up then I would say the detent ball needs to be set farther into the lockbar. Or it could be an alignment issue exacerbating the situation. The ball may be riding the edge of that hole and the alignment may be as such that any pressure on the lockbar wedges the ball into the lockbar. I would make sure all screws are tight but most importantly the pivot.
 
dwdickey said:
Hahaha...good one except that isn't the case here. I have the clip installed and lock tited in such a way as any fingers placed on the clip are prevented from putting any pressure on the lock bar. Tried many grips and even forcing the flipper tab on a hard surface it would not open, after fiddling with it and slapping it in my palm a few time I was able to get it free but then it had massive lock stick.
Click to expand...

Hey...Gotta rule out the basics man ;)

Take some pictures of the lock bar insert, have you taken the knife apart before? Are you able to send it to ZT?
 
Mine got tough to flip, the clip was actually pressing on the lock bar. Losened it up slid the clip over a little bit and it was good to go.
 
It just surprised me since it had zero issues up until last night. No I haven't taken it apart yet. I will definitely have to do some more investigating on this one, if I can't figure it out it will be headed back home for a tune up that's for sure.
 
Some good advice here already. I assume you cleaned the knife? I've had some crap get caught in the detent hole that made the knife hard to fire.
 
I have mine for a year and never had anything like this happen.
Please let us know what you find??
Joe
 
Well, you got it a week ago. I imagine you can just exchange it. Less hassle and a new knife instead of repaired
 
Pulled it apart and found no obvious defects or damage. Removed all of the factory packaging/shipping lube. Reassembled, now the lockup is even earlier like 15-20%, but whatever. It seems to be working normally again, if it happens again it's going off to KAI.
 
You could try lowering the tension on the lock bar... but I would probably just send it in for warranty ZT has one of the best customer services in the industry imho (I've used it a few times)
 
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