Loose screw

[Zach Thompson]

I need a tip. I have the pro pack II upgrade. I have an issue with the screw holding the arm to the bar working itself loose. It happens quite often (if I’m re profiling it will happen several times on one knife.) I’ll be going along and realize the screw came loose, and now the arm is no longer at the angle I set. Anybody else run into this and have a McGuyver-esque solution?

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[Geocyclist]

I had this problem. My original screws were black, thumb screws. I tried very hard to tighten them. There is now a black thumb screw with a hex insert, so you can tighten it with the hex tool. I emailed Kyle and WE to request a free set. This has fixed my problem.

[Zach Thompson]

Boy, do I feel like an idiot. I just looked at my WE and realized my thumb screws have the hex insert. It just never dawned on me that that was there for me to use to tighten the screw.

Thanks for saving me from my own stupidity.

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[Mikedoh]

I went to the hardware store and bought Allen head screws. I tighten them on the backside of the bar where there are no dimples.
You could also turn the bar around and use the non pointed screws on the front side.

Hope that helps

[Eamon Mc Gowan]

Boy, do I feel like an idiot. I just looked at my WE and realized my thumb screws have the hex insert. It just never dawned on me that that was there for me to use to tighten the screw.

Thanks for saving me from my own stupidity.

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You’ll have to get in line. I did the same thing when I got mine. It never dawned on me to look in the screw?
Also the tip about turning the bar around makes it easier for me to adjust the arms.

[polarbare]

One of my arms is coming loose as well (propack 1), but I think I figured out why – the conical tip on the screw that was getting loose was a bit longer than the one that doesn’t. I just knocked down the tip of the screw with some 600 grit sand paper (being careful not to changed the bearing surface) – feels like a tighter lock up already, but haven’t sharpened with it yet (literally just did this 5 minutes agoe and came to post about it 😉 ), so we’ll see how it goes.

[Ty]

I’m having the same problem where they come loose (Pro Pack I) As soon as I was assembling my WE I noticed that the thumb screws were sloppy (1/32 to 1/16) play up and down.

When I screwed them into the arm mount. One side was worse than the other, I emailed WE just before New Years but haven’t heard back yet.

I did try going to the hardware store and getting new stainless allen head bolts but they were just a sloppy when screwed into the mount. My thumb screws were silver and didn’t come with holes for an allen wrench.

I took the mounts and screws to a friend of mine who is a full time machinist and has his own CNC shop to ask for his opinion on how the fix the problem and right off the bat he said your mixing metals. Aluminum and Steel are not the best match for mounting a set screw as the steel is stronger and will wear the aluminum threads out over time and tightening. You could put a metal Heli-Coil insert in if you can find it in 10/32 thread?

His words, not mine as I don’t have the expertise to make these recommendations, But I do believe he’s right. I have had experience where screwing into a softer metal (aluminum) did have a shorter life span.

I am looking on the web for companies that supply set screws of a softer metal that will make for a better and tighter 10/32 threaded union per my friends advise. Has anyone found a better set screw or that works better? Or another type of thumbscrew or bolt to hold the arms to the bar better?

I did like the Heli-Coil idea as that would give a very tight union to the bolt and threads and give a better stable mounting for the arm mounts for better repeat-ability. But cost and time make it a last resort.

I’m not knocking the WE I’m just trying to improve what I see as a weak point in the systems simple thumbscrew adjusting system. if I can find a better simple thumbscrew that will mount tighter to the bar I will post the information to help others and just make this quick fix.

Thanks for your time and help

[Author]

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