New Aliens Frayed

Anyone out there have the new Aliens? I have had to return 2 sets now because of the trigger wires fraying. I don't know why they didn't just stick with the old wires

I gave mine a visual inspection before I purchased. So far they're fine. Did this happen over time?

Are you talking about the Alien EVO's?

I was considering buying them until I saw that the trigger wires were fixed (crimped?) into each cam lobe. Seems like a terrible design flaw: Every single time you pull the trigger those little wires bend back and forth - wouldn't take long for them to break. Furthermore, it appears that replacing them (because they are fixed into the lobes) would be very difficult.

Went with Totem Basics instead.

yeah im talking about the new ones. i have the double sling ones. i got them in bishop, and in a matter of days, the whole set were busted apart. so i sent them back, they sent me new set, and now all of the new set are fraying apart again. so i sent them back, AGAIN, and now they are sending me the old ones. the new ones are super cool, nice and lite, but the way they are made is just crap. a lot of people have been sending them back they said. im surprised they havent had a recall on them

Similar experience with the new ones as well, placed the green probably less than a dozen times and 2/4 trigger wires are frayed.

I am going to experiment converting them over to old style trigger wires. Will get back with my results. Time to break out the micro drill...

Ted Angus wrote:I am going to experiment converting them over to old style trigger wires. Will get back with my results. Time to break out the micro drill...

The cable fraying was apparently an issue with how the first batch was assembled. Fixe has made changes to the procedure to eliminate the issue. Cams with the issue will be warrantied.

See Blog Post HERE

The old ones have issues as well

Totem Basic Cams = Best Alien redesign by far.

Hello all,

Just some updates as to the progress on retrofitting the new Fixe alien EVO's with old style trigger wires/pins.

First off: I would describe this process as a PITA. Do not buy these with doing this in mind - hold off until Fixe addresses these issues with a new design (either old style wires or a new method of anchoring the cables in the lobes - solder ball ala Totem??). Being in Canuckistan and having had Fixe send me back the defective design on warranty has necessitated me getting creative and going for it.

What you will need:

-3/64 drill bit
-Low speed capable drill - ie adjustable battery powered hand drill. Any cheapy will do, a powered screwdriver could work as well. These bits are real fragile so we need to go slow.
-extra long dressmaker steel head pins or fixe replacement kit for gen1 aliens.
-needle nose pliers and fine wire dykes
-bench vise

amazon.com/Dremel-661-Drill…

Steps:
1. Take out a pin and hold it by an un-severed trigger wire. Put in a slight bend (<10 degrees) at the length on the pin where it will enter the lobe. This is simply a place marker that will save you time on getting the trigger wire length right later. We're going to cut every cable so that the lobes can be manipulated individually, this will make for a trial and error method of reinstallation if we don't make a reference wire of the right length.
2. Cut all the remaining cables.
3. Put each lobe in the vise individually and drill slowly from the flared end of the brass swage. The flare will help to center the drill bit and keep you from removing aluminum lobe material (I cocked this up and now have one alien lobe that is a bit holier than I'd like). Go slow, do not press with the drill.
4. Drill out the cable to plastic interface from the 'underside' ie the non head side of the piece. Bend the cable out of the way to gain clearance for the drill.
5. Bend three other pins slightly to match the 'reference' pin, from here it's just a simple trigger job.

What did not work:

Pressing out the brass swage from the lobes. It actually came through and worked on one lobe, but the others are tight, and damage is more likely than not. This is a tremendous fuckup of engineering, as this is where the problem stems from.

Trying to get around the glue in the plastic sucked. I used every solvent known (acetone, ethanol, hexanol) and they did not budge. I tried heat (heat gun, lighter, soldering iron to the cable itself). No dice. I pulled super hard on the cable, and only got wire slivers for my efforts. This is also a tremendous boner.

I can post pictures if need be. Overall, I will fix mine, use em, abuse em and ditch them when they get mangled. I will not buy more until they change the design. Stock, they work as well as Spaniards do. Sorry for being a dick.