- Dec 20, 2013
- 12,340
UPDATE: Problem fixed, mystery solved and a tip for screwy things that're stuck.
The fix: We got the assembly apart by brushing the magic potion onto the stuck parts (see tip below) and found that the ASAP adapter was stuck inside the ASAP housing (the part that unscrews from the end cap). I mean it was literally jammed in there and wouldn't budge. Initially, we thought the parts had welded themselves together. But, as it turned out, there were (what appeared to be) droplets of small bits of metal that looked like they were soldered onto the inner sides of the ASAP housing, where the "teeth" of the ASAP adapter slide in-and-out along its sides. The adapter was stuck about half-way down into the housing and we had to heat it to 400 degrees and then bang on it with a wood dowel to set it free.
The mystery solved: Looking at the face of the adapter in the first photo, you'll see small bits of rough metal that look like solder. Well, that's what we found along the inner walls of the ASAP housing. Because they reduced the inside diameter of the housing, which I'm sure is supposed to be a fairly close tolerance, the "teeth" of the adapter had gotten stuck.
Once the adapter came out, we found that you could only insert the "teeth" into the adapter housing if you oriented the adapter to a certain position. If you rotated the adapter, say, from 12 to 2, you'd either have to force the "teeth" down into the housing or they wouldn't go at all. The second photo shows how far we were able to slide the adapter into the housing....or, more correctly, how, in most positions, we weren't able to slide it in at all.
Fortunately, my friend brought along his Ti-Rant, so we could compare the parts and their operation, which made it instantly clear that my ASAP housing was the culprit. On his Ti-Rant, the adapter (sans spring) dropped easily into the ASAP housing and would turn through a complete 360 degree circle without any roughness or inhibition. The inner sides of the housing were smooth, without all the solder-like bits that mine has. I'm not sure how or why those bits got adhered to the housing walls, but I guess that, at some point during the shoot, as the adapter/driving spring were doing their thing (absorbing some of the recoil), the "teeth" of the adapter got stuck against the bits and everything just jammed-up there.
We smoothed-out the ASAP housing's inner walls 'til the adapter's "teeth" fit down into the housing and the adapter could be smoothly turned a full 360 degrees within the ASAP housing. Once that was done, we returned the inner sleeve—the part that came out with the ASAP assembly—to its place in the tube, reassembled and tested the ASAP assembly to be sure the spring worked and the adapter could compress into the ASAP housing like it should (see photos). Also checked all the o-rings, which were fine.
I'd still like to know how those "bits" got into the ASAP housing in the first place? Considering how neurotic I am about keeping the silencer clean and following AAC's instructions, it just doesn't compute. Hopefully, AAC will be able to fill in that blank tomorrow.
Anyway, since this appears to be a fairly common problem, hopefully, the next person will find this, so they don't have to go through what I did.
The tip: Brushing a 50/50 mix of ATF/Acetone onto the stuck ASAP assembly allowed us to unscrew it by hand (actually, with fingers) in less than one minute! Amazing.
The fix: We got the assembly apart by brushing the magic potion onto the stuck parts (see tip below) and found that the ASAP adapter was stuck inside the ASAP housing (the part that unscrews from the end cap). I mean it was literally jammed in there and wouldn't budge. Initially, we thought the parts had welded themselves together. But, as it turned out, there were (what appeared to be) droplets of small bits of metal that looked like they were soldered onto the inner sides of the ASAP housing, where the "teeth" of the ASAP adapter slide in-and-out along its sides. The adapter was stuck about half-way down into the housing and we had to heat it to 400 degrees and then bang on it with a wood dowel to set it free.
The mystery solved: Looking at the face of the adapter in the first photo, you'll see small bits of rough metal that look like solder. Well, that's what we found along the inner walls of the ASAP housing. Because they reduced the inside diameter of the housing, which I'm sure is supposed to be a fairly close tolerance, the "teeth" of the adapter had gotten stuck.
Once the adapter came out, we found that you could only insert the "teeth" into the adapter housing if you oriented the adapter to a certain position. If you rotated the adapter, say, from 12 to 2, you'd either have to force the "teeth" down into the housing or they wouldn't go at all. The second photo shows how far we were able to slide the adapter into the housing....or, more correctly, how, in most positions, we weren't able to slide it in at all.
Fortunately, my friend brought along his Ti-Rant, so we could compare the parts and their operation, which made it instantly clear that my ASAP housing was the culprit. On his Ti-Rant, the adapter (sans spring) dropped easily into the ASAP housing and would turn through a complete 360 degree circle without any roughness or inhibition. The inner sides of the housing were smooth, without all the solder-like bits that mine has. I'm not sure how or why those bits got adhered to the housing walls, but I guess that, at some point during the shoot, as the adapter/driving spring were doing their thing (absorbing some of the recoil), the "teeth" of the adapter got stuck against the bits and everything just jammed-up there.
We smoothed-out the ASAP housing's inner walls 'til the adapter's "teeth" fit down into the housing and the adapter could be smoothly turned a full 360 degrees within the ASAP housing. Once that was done, we returned the inner sleeve—the part that came out with the ASAP assembly—to its place in the tube, reassembled and tested the ASAP assembly to be sure the spring worked and the adapter could compress into the ASAP housing like it should (see photos). Also checked all the o-rings, which were fine.
I'd still like to know how those "bits" got into the ASAP housing in the first place? Considering how neurotic I am about keeping the silencer clean and following AAC's instructions, it just doesn't compute. Hopefully, AAC will be able to fill in that blank tomorrow.
Anyway, since this appears to be a fairly common problem, hopefully, the next person will find this, so they don't have to go through what I did.
The tip: Brushing a 50/50 mix of ATF/Acetone onto the stuck ASAP assembly allowed us to unscrew it by hand (actually, with fingers) in less than one minute! Amazing.
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