Hey all, I bought the bit kit for my LM Wave, but I have found that the bits are extremely soft and starting to strip with minimal use. Any one else ever had this problem? It's particularly bad with the philips heads. Spyder
I twisted a flat head on my MUT through hand-tightening a screw. I thought they were D2 steel and hard?
They are soft on purpose to "wear before the tool" since they are replaceable. At least that is what a rep told me
^^ I don't know if I buy that. Theoretically you'll strip a screw before you damage the tool. I've found them to be quite soft as well, and the only reason I can think of is cost savings over using a more expensive/harder steel.
This is part of why I gave up on LM bits, and went back to the excellent fixed drivers by modding my Wave.
I use my bits all the time and really have only worn down 2 of the #2 phillips/flat head combos to the point of unusable. If I was using my leatherman to tear down a road grader i believe i would destroy the entire tool in the end. I will say though that with the bits I have the finish does wear off and It would be nice if they were tool steel.
Why not get a bit extension and then you can use standard bits in your LM Wave. Or mod a standard bit holder to fit your LM wave bit holder like others here have done.
My older Leathermans had harder bits than my newer ones (Sidekick and Wingman). The newer ones have bits that are soft enough that I don't trust them on anything more than easy jobs. However, that could just be a personal preference as I haven't really put them to the test.
There's really no mercy concerning the hardening of screws nowadays. I've seen wood screws that I bet were hardened to 60 HRC , stripping the fragile screwdriver bits like dough. Well, there IS too little metal in a cross tip. Is hex or Robertson the only solution?
If it is an issue, it is not a new one I have a torqued flathead on my OG supertool, still need to send that sucker in actually.... Im not very strong and I wasnt really putting that much pressure on it when it started twisting
Well I have a nice shiny matte chrome-vanadium security Torx set right before my eyes now - selected for the ability to work with hex, security hex, torx and security torx after I had to dremel out a pin from a security hex once (no, I'm not on of those guys that take Leathermans apart!) - but the chances of seeing it in flat LM format are slim. The LM adapter I EDC now is stuffed with a furniture hex.
