Making a Bic Lighter Easier to Use

Introduction: Making a Bic Lighter Easier to Use

Everyone uses a bic lighter from time to time. We all know that at times they can be a bit difficult to get to light. The trouble comes from the child tamper resistant spring that sits above the flint wheel. The spring is rather strong and not really necessary. The lighter is much easier to use once this spring has been removed.
Do not preform this modification if children (or those who act like children) are going to be anywhere near the lighter
Also, be careful when working with the lighter, it is full of flammable material and could explode if you do something wrong.
Safety glasses are not a bad idea for this project
That said…

Step 1: What You Need

1. Bic lighter. (large or small)
2. Prying tool. Small flat head screw driver works best. do not use a knife blade
3. Pliers.

Step 2: The Operation.

1. Light the lighter. Take note of the amount of force you need to exert on the spring to make it light.
2. Use the screw driver to pry up the wings that hold the spring in place.(pic 1)
3. Use the pliers to pull the spring out by the lip on the end of the spring. (pic 3)
4. Use the screw driver to push the wings back down to where they were (pic 5)
5. Try the lighter…see, isn’t that better.
toss the spring in the trash, put your tools away and your done.
pretty soon you will hate using any bic that is not “fixed” like yours.
It is now very important that children be kept away from this lighter

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34 Comments

i just got a new one and I did this like I have since they started putting the on and this new piece of shit the wheel just spins un less you push down on it hard maybe my last bic

Awesome!! Didn’t even need the needle nose pliers! My thumb is sore no more!!!

thanksss.. i took the metal case first time T_T I broke the whole damn lighter. I did it right this time :3

Thank you for this. It’s a small thing that makes life easier.

lol just remove the whole damn metal case. the flame is bigger and it won’t burn your pocket.

The plastic melts too easily when you do this.. I’ve had a lighter explode when the plastic caught fire because I was using it that way..

yea, but if you want to light a bowl and tilt it, the plastic will melt. 🙁

You can also use a fork, slide/wedge one prong in between the flint roller and the round part safety tab (along the top), pry or pull on the tab and the safety will pop off without having to make any extra bends. NOTE: The safety tab pops off at high velocity, super easy to lose the piece or get it in your eye- so pull/pry with the top of the lighter pointed away from you.

Scripto lighters come without the spring, but have a child safety machanism, where you have to push down on the flint wheel with some force before pulling back in order to light it.

I thought this was common sense to do this to a lighter before you used it?

hahaha you’re definitely right I always do this. You can just use your keys to do it too. It’s nice to help people who can’t figure it out though I guess…

i just took that thing off because it gets hot if you have the lighter on for to long, was about to make an instructable on it :/

OMG this is so cool! Thank you so much it’s really easy and fun to do and makes it possible to light with almost nothing but a touch.

interesting… in brazil these come ALREADY without these child springs… :0

Our country too (SA)

You can buy them with and without i think, or at least i can in ausralia

first, just pop a key into the hole and twist… then pull the metal tab off. second, that spring keeps the flint grime off your fingers.

I just take off the metal guard at the front with a screwdriver, then pull the metal thing off of the wheel, then put the metal guard back on.

awesome/simple instructable. definitely worth the three minutes it took to do. i was stupid and took the spring out with the flathead, cut my thumb, warning not to do that.

Nice ‘ible great pics too 😀