Custom tool for the three hole pivot on the Enlan/Bee EL-01

The pocket clip! The pocket clip holes are spaced similarly to the holes on the pivot. I cut off the ends of some flat push pins and placed them into the holes. The downward pressure on the tacks combined with the leverage of the pocket clip make it a capable wrench. Here are some pics. Just thought I'd share.

I like the way you think.

Simple, effective and no-cost.

Don't think I've said hello yet, so welcome to BLF s.c.

It is good to have you here.

Nicely done! I will try that.

Very clever. And applicable to other knives too. I'll try that while I'm waiting for my circlip pliers orderd some time ago.

You better apply for a patent on that before someone steals your idea. Wink

Great find, thanks for sharing, s.c.!

I use round nose pliers to adjust mine.

Is there an elegant way to adjust the other type of pivot screw? The triangle one?

There was a tool on Exduct, for the new Enlan pivot. The site seems down right now though.

Yeah, for 10USD. The knife is 14USD…

Hmm, even a good pair of circlip pliers can cost that much.

I will cut in a rectangular shape for a standard screwdriver.

edit: no I won´t. Google says it looks crappy

I thought about using a Dremel with cutting disc on the pivot on mine (three holes) so I could use a flat head screwdriver, but I haven’t seen an example that looked good.

Maybe you could bend the tips of these to fit two of the slots?

Are they still shipping these with the 3 hole pivot, the new ones are triangular….even more screwy…or less screwy, actually.

I’d cut a slot, torx head bolts are enough of a pain, and totally unnecessary for a non-torque specified fastener.

Really small needlenose, spring clip or jewelery pliers will work on the 3-hole models.

The main reason I can see Enlan changing to the triangular screw is to sell triangular screw removal tools.

If they really wanted to do it up right they could have a screw in the shape of a Chinese Alphabet character….that’d get’er done!

I wonder if a tool could be made from 3 small bits that fit into the hole (almost anything really but I’m thinking those taper shaft dremel tools that are worn out, cut to fit) and use JB Weld to create the holder for them. Maybe put a piece of wax paper over the pivot, press the bits in and while holding them steady apply a ball of JB Weld Stick with perhaps an uncut dremel bit shaft running into the middle for the leverage. The stuff sets up in a matter of minutes, hard as a rock in an hour. It can then be shaped if you want it to look fancy.

I’ll probably find out soon enough. Bought an EL-02 for my cousin for graduation and liked it so much when it got here that I ordered an EL-04 in Micarta for myself! :slight_smile:

Is it strong enough that a cast could be made to fit the tri-star pivots, press it onto the pivot screw then pull it off to get a negative form.

Depends on how much torque is needed to tighten or loosen that pivot screw. In my experience they’re not tight or the blade won’t open. So yeah, it probably is. But it’s also quite agressively sticky, so you’d probably have to coat the pivot screw with oil or grease first, press the JB Weld onto it and let it cure, then remove it. It is steel reinforced after all. But if steel pins were inserted and the JB Weld was used to hold the pins I’m real confident that would work best. Small nails, cut off thumb tacks, old drill bits, whatever. Press the JB Weld into a bottle cap, then press that onto the pins in the pivot screw with a piece of shrink wrap, wax paper, whatever, in between the pivot screw and the JB Weld for separation. Then you’d have a small tool that you could even carry if need be. The diameter of the bottle cap would give enough torque to turn the screw.

I’m thinking that the new triangle screw would be as easy as you suggest, press the JB Weld onto it, let it cure, bingo, easy tool. Just be sure there’s a coating for separation or you’ll need to source a new screw.

JB Weld Stick is like a jelly roll. White on the outside, grey in the middle and wrapped in a sheet of plastic, stored in a tube. Cut off a chunk, knead it with your fingers to get a uniform color mix, and it sets up really fast…working time of less than 15 minutes usually. I almost always cut off too much… I roll the excess into a ball and give the resulting marble to my kid to play with. It’s a lightweight rock. Seriously, you can drill and tap the stuff. There’s quite a few variations, from 2 part epoxy that takes a day to cure…to a stick that cures in an hour. You won’t believe me, but this is the truth…I cut a segment off of a 2” thick granite bench to square it up. One piece of the cut-off broke at about 7 inches long…such that it was 2 1/4” wide and 2” thick by 7” long, ok? I decided in my stubborness to see if I could shape it. I stuck a large square headed bolt (whatever was handy, in this case a rusty old bolt that was 1/2” diameter with a 3/4” square head on it) to the bottom of the piece with JB Weld stick, gave it about 15-20 minutes then mounted the threaded bolt end into my drill press. I used a diamond cutting wheel in my Makita Angle Grinder to cut the corners and round the granite piece, literally turned it into a round column. Then used the velcro attached granite polishing discs (diamond imbedded from 120-2000 grit) and polished this piece. So I have a round polished piece of granite, 7” long. Simply cut the bolt off with a cut-off wheel in my dremel when I was done. The JB Weld held against that rotating torsion for the duration and it took me a while to do it and considerable pressure with the polishing pads.

Check out the SteelStik, that’s the one for this job. (and a lot of other stuff once you’ve got it on hand)