Plus2 scales for Swiss army knife

thingiverse

The Plus^2 (Plus+) Victorinox 91mm scales The Plus^2 scales have all the features of the Victorinox Plus scales (pin, tweezers, pen, tooth pick) and add space to store an SD card and fire steel (ferro rod). I did toy with the idea of just buying a firefly but these are only shipped from the USA and the cost of shipping makes the product quite expensive in the UK, so I thought about how I could make my own variant. The Plus^2 scales are based on a 3D model of the Plus scales published by Stevetecx (https://www.thingiverse.com/Stevetecx) on Thingiverse. I used the little remaining space in the Plus scales to hold a micro SD card and ferro-rod. The ferro-rod is a 2.38mm diameter x 50.8mm long rod supplied by Greenmanbushcraft (https://www.greenmanbushcraft.co.uk/mini-firesteel-blank-2-38-x-50-8mm.htm) at a cost of £1.65 plus postage. I experimented with a number of ways to make the handle for the ferro-rod and found the most successful method to be to create an epoxy handle. Method I used: 1) File one end of the ferro-rod to reduce the diameter to about 1.5mm for 4mm of its length. 2) Create a mould using a small piece of wood. • Drill a 2.5mm hole through the wood. • Expand the hole to 6mm diameter with another drill bit for a depth of 5mm • Push the ferro-rod into the mould so that it is flush with the top of the 6mm hole • Fill the 6mm hole with epoxy resin and wait until completely hardened around the ferro-rod. 3) once the epoxy is dry, you will have a 6mm diameter, 5mm long handle Processing the handle: • remove the wood mould (using saw, file or knife) • Shape the handle using a file and sandpaper, checking regularly for fit against the scales. • Paint the handle (optional) Printing & Finishing Tips: Print so that the outside of the scale is on the bottom, this will improve the print quality of the inside of the scales which is important to ensure a good push fit to the knife. Lightly sand using progressively higher grit, for a very glossy finish I used specialist plastic polishing cloths finishing with 12,000 grit. Use luminous PLA for glow in the dark function as suggested by Stevetecx Alternative: By happy coincidence the pen on the plus scales happens to be the same diameter as the ferro-rod, if you don’t have a 3D printer and want a ferro rod more than the pen you can use that space on the Plus scales.