This is my remix of the Hall Precision Talon Knife. I had a few issues with the original design and wanted to make some improvements for my own personal use, and they turned out to work very well. Shoutout to Hall Precision for the excellent design of the retraction/sliding mechanism.
The full list of changes I made:
- Added length to the body and an ergonomic shape so that it can be held comfortably with all four fingers
- Added some indented strips to the slider so that it can be gripped easier with the thumb to deploy and retract
- Added 0.1mm of clearance to the bottom stop for the blade cutout, as my Stanley brand blades had some variation in length that made them hard to seat in the original design
- Added another 1mm of retraction clearance for the tip of the blade. This reduces the exposed blade length when fully deployed by 1mm but adds a bit of extra safety margin if blade lengths are inconsistent.
I've tested this print in both PLA and PETG, and a combination of the two for either of the two parts:
- PETG body with PETG slider - This is the most durable, but the action can be a bit sticky if the blade isn't fully seated in the slider. Overall a good option.
- PLA body with PLA slider - I found this to be the most sticky and resistant to smooth sliding action. I wouldn't recommend this combo.
- PLA body with PETG slider - The rigid PLA on the locking mechanism gives this a very nice clicky/snappy action to deploy and retract, and the PETG slider makes the locking peg easier to push in to swap blades. This is my favorite combo.
- PETG body with PLA slider - I found this to be a bit harder to load a blade in and out of, and the action was a bit too soft for my liking.
Soon I will post another variation that adds a half-stop detent so that the blade can be half-deployed and stay in that position, to make it easier to open shipping boxes and the like without damaging the contents.
Maykr
