#Multi tool pliers broken series#

Bead blasters fire away, giving parts their signature subtle texture. Multi-axis robotic arms grind for accuracy and perfectly-calibrated fit within the tool. Nearing the end of their birth-cycle, the components receive finishing treatments for precise fit and a pleasing hand-feel. From here, some pieces go out for additional heat treating. To retrieve small parts from the ceramic gumbo a rotating belt-magnetized on one side-is lowered into the bowl, drawing the finished pieces out of the mix and back into plastic bins. This form of slow harassment cleans, toughens and polishes them. Newly cut or pressed components are tumbled with different sizes of ceramic media and a soapy polishing compound for several hours. Imagine cereal bowls so big your family could sit in them, filled with bite-sized pieces of ceramic and buckshot-breakfast of champs.

#Multi tool pliers broken series#

The following Mass Finish section is another deafening area, filled with a series of gigantic vibratory tumblers. Steel of that hardness can damage or prematurely fatigue a punch's dies, so the laser is used to maximize materials, reduce heat-affected zones and prevent tool wear. The laser is largely employed for premium steels used in tougher or lightweight parts.

Smaller progressive punches do similar work nearby with less aural drama.Īround the corner, we explored an alternative to punching: lasers! The danger-stripe floor tape was out in force, but sadly the big laser was turned off and of little danger to anyone during my visit. Operating most of the day, the unavoidable sound of the punch is known to cause dreams of lumbering giants. producing multiply formed tool handles in thirty seconds. It punches, moves over, drills holes, moves over, folds, moves over, knurls. A blank spool is fed in and treated to fifteen different processes in a single cycle. Here, tool handles were being created in an impressive multi-step process. Near the fine blanking machines is a massive progressive punch, a thundering machine the size of a spacious two-story bungalow.

(Any other materials used-such as the glass-injected plastic handles of their new EMT multi-shears-are chosen for their tactile and functional similarity to steel.) Since virtually all Leatherman tools have an all-steel construction, that's saying something. Leatherman's values, all of the steel used is American made. My guides proudly noted that, in keeping with Mr. They rapidly hole-punch the sheet and spit out outlines of components like knife blades and screwdriver bits. Sheet steel is fed from the spools through fine blanking machines, which cut out tool blanks. Most of the steel arrives as narrow sheet coiled on large spools, big enough to take your head off if one were to burst open. Having the designers and machinists in close proximity with production makes it quicker to design new dies and fix broken ones than sending things out of house.The first stage is stamping, the meatiest part of the process. The die shop (curtained off to outsiders) houses what I imagine to be wizardly figures, conceiving, crafting and repairing the dies used in each machine. Production flows from one side of the building to the other, starting with the lifeblood of the factory: a custom die shop. Like most factories, this one is laid out for efficiency. With that, the Leatherman snowball was off and rolling.Īfter chatting with ID honcho Blair Barnes, I left the aggressively air-conditioned design and business offices and entered the stream of activity on the factory floor. They featured it on their back cover and ordered 500 more before the first order was filled. until Cabela's unexpectedly ordered 200 for their mail-order catalog.

After partnering with a friend with a machine shop, he pitched the first Leatherman multi-tool to knife and tool companies to resounding disinterest. Leatherman found himself regularly eyeballing the guts of the car, wishing for one tool he didn't have in his Swiss Army Knife: pliers.īack in Oregon, he spent the next several years developing a design for the tool he had craved, patiently supported by Chau. The idea came to Tim Leatherman back in the 1970s, when the recent mechanical engineering grad and his wife Chau decided touring Europe in a questionable Fiat would be a good use of a year. These days, Leatherman is a synonym for any dozen-in-one dream tool you can fit in a pocket. In its first iteration, the Leatherman multi-tool was a Double-Oh-Seven-worthy gadget idea, born out of a traveler's frustration and initially snubbed by major tool companies.