Modifying Leatherman Multitools: Part II — PST III & PST Lite

I have especially warm feelings for the Leatherman Pocket Survival Tool (PST) because once upon a time, more than thirty years ago, it became my first multitool ..

When I was a boy, in the early 90s .. The Soviet Union crashed and the Iron Curtain fell .. Мerchant, tourist, and military ships from all over the world began to come to Odesa (Ukraine) and one of the sailors exchanged his Leatherman PST for some Soviet souvenirs .. Think it was the best deal in my life ( :

This multitool was a real treasure for a boy and served faithfully for many years ... .. .

Before getting started, I strongly recommend to visit forum.multitool.org — here you will find a lot of related information .!

To produce this modification, I used parts from three Leatherman multitools:

1. Leatherman PST was released in 1983 and discontinued twenty years ago in 2004 .. Leatherman PST was in production for a total of 21 years and during that time over 10 million units were manufactured and sold ..

Since the Leatherman PST is perhaps the most widespread multitool on the planet, even though it was discontinued 20 years ago, it is possible to find a lot of relatively inexpensive ($15-30) that models of multitools on the secondary market ..

1. Leatherman PST II was ​​introduced in the 1990s as an update of the original PST and included additional tools such as scissors and a diamond-cut file ..

The production of Leatherman PST II is estimated that a few million units before it was also discontinued in the 2000s ..

1. Leatherman Wave Original (Wave first generation) has already been discontinued, but on the secondary market, and can still find them at very reasonable prices, often two to three times cheaper than more modern Leatherman Wave models ..

Once, while exploring forum.multitool.org, I came across a very interesting image ..

If you look at the range of Leatherman multitools, it will become understood that the PST III is never existed .!

It can (maybe) that idea formed the basis of the Leatherman Super Tool (Original), which was significantly superior to the Leatherman PST both in size and functionality, it received more powerful pliers, an elongated body, more powerful tools, and expanded functionality, this also reflected on its weight ..

Then an interesting idea came to my mind: what if to cut a handle from two PST multitools in half and assemble a PST III from their halves .?!

On one side, this idea was suggested by Leatherman himself, whose line already had a “cut” Leatherman SideClip multitool: each handle of the Leatherman SideClip is comprised of two separate halves ..

On the other side, I would never have decided on such a project if I had not looked at the work ( registration required ) of perhaps the best master in this field .!

1. The plasma cutting width ranges from 0.8 to 1.5 mm, with an accuracy of ±0.1-0.5 mm
2. The laser cut width ranges from 0.1 to 0.375 mm, with an accuracy of ±0.05 mm

On the third attempt, I managed to find a workshop that took the frames from two Leatherman PST multitools and, of course, it was laser cutting .. The only one thing that was discussed with engineer in advance was that (by the technical reasons) a deviation along the horizontal axis was possible within ±0.3-0.5 mm ..

According to my inner feelings, this was a completely acceptable "deviation error", at least I hoped that such an would be acceptable.. As a last resort, I thought, after laser cutting it would be possible to modify the handle frames manually ..

Before taking the handles from the multitools to the workshop, they should be disassembled .. and this will require special keys ..

Previously, they could only be ordered from the USA (etsy.com / ebay.com), and that was quite an expensive pleasure, comparable in price to a full-fledged multitool .. Cheaper options are now available from aliexpress.com ..

It can be found by searching “Wrench Multitool Spanner For Leatherman” ..

( ! ) To disassemble the Leatherman multitools ( ! ) will need to know exactly which side of the multitool the bushing is on, and which side the screw is on: the bushing must be fixed with one key, and the screw must be rotated with a second key .!

All Leatherman multitools have the same screw location, i.e. to determine exactly where the screw is located, it is enough to remember that location .!

Open the multitool as shown in the picture, in this position there will be a bushing on the left frame at the top and a bushing on the right frame at the bottom: they must be fixed by one of the keys, and use the second key to rotate the screw .!

For pliers no “rule common to all” would operate the same in all Leatherman multitools, and determining exactly where the bushing is located and where the screw is quite problematic, but there is a technical feature that is present in all models without exception: when handles opened (when the pliers open), the bushing is fixed and when handles folded and pliers were hidden, the bushing is released ..

Thus, if you open the multitool, the bushing will be blocked, not totally, but quite enough to find the screw .. Hereafter just fold the tool to unlock the bushing ..

For Leatherman PST can only say that on the side where the ring is located there is probably a bushing, and there is a possibility of symmetry, i.e. there will be a screw on the opposite side, but again this is not a rule and the location of the second bushing can be random ..

After the parts of the handles were cut into halves with a laser, all that remained was to choose the tools for the future multitool .. All the tools were available from PST and PST II, except for the wood saw ..

I had Leatherman Wave Original (Wave first generation), some parts of which (scissors and a Phillips screwdriver) I had already used before ..

Unlike later models (Wave / Wave+), in this multitool the diameter of the mounting hole on the pliers and tools is the same, which made it possible to use a wood saw slightly modified by an engraver ..

Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems the only Leatherman multitool in which the screw and bushing are marked (on the part where the pliers are) is the Leatherman Wave Original (Wave first generation) for disassembling will need two keys (5 Point Star Torx Screwdriver Bit 1/4 Inch): T10 key will be needed for fixed the bushing and a T15 for the screw ..

As a result of the experiment, it was possible to create an expanded version of the famous multitool, and ..

As often happens when you set up an experiment, the result can be something unplanned and surprising: this happened in this case, namely, as a result of creating an extended version of the famous multitool, such an unexpected and unplanned side effect ..

Turned out to be that from the remains of tools and parts you can build another version of it, — PST Lite ( Knifeless ) ..

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