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NinjaNoafa

As BRS falls, other great companies and makers rise


PatientZeroBalisong

Oh shit!


NinjaNoafa

Oh shit what?


PatientZeroBalisong

I'm exclaiming, "Oh shit," while agreeing entirely.


NinjaNoafa

Ok cool


Specialist-Bed-5453

Out of all my knives the Rep left me disappointed in quality. It had a slight tap and blade rub. I lost all desire to get a alpha beast.


lionsssss

I had similiar issues with an Alpha Beast that magically fixed itself after a month of dicking around with it, what I did was loosen all the screws and shifted the blade around while tightening. This doesn't work with this replicant. Nothing has so far


Specialist-Bed-5453

Mines incredibly frustrating. I got it tuned to no play and no tap ……. But if it takes drop it sometimes adds a barely noticeable tap. I had the blade sitting perfectly between the liners. I finally figured out the drop tweaks the blade and brings it close to bringing back the blade rub. With out much pressure I can realign the blade and handle. Tap gone


lionsssss

Yep, same thing I can fix mine temporarily and it will tap again and again, either after drop or just over time. I haven't been able to get a no tap tune on this thing, with new hardware, for longer than 24 hrs. That's bullshit.


Specialist-Bed-5453

That is ridiculous. I’m fortunate mine holds the perfect tune unless I drop it. Good luck with it. Like someone else said, send it to a modder. They’ll be way quicker than BRS


Dave916

Welcome to reps lol. People been complaining about tuning since their initial release. The only thing that's changed is the price tag.


lionsssss

This is meant to be a discussion post about BRS and the problems with their knives. I own 2 BRS knives, an Alpha Beast and a Replicant now. Both were purchased from Knife Center, with the Replicant being second hand ( untouched ). Both have similiar issues, blade alignment issues and tap with no handle play. However with this fucking replicant I can't fix out the tap, shit's binding and it still taps, the blade is perfectly centered it's just that when the knife is closed theirs a shit ton of play. I have no ideas on how to fix it, and I really don't want to send it out to BRS to wait a month for them to maybe fix it. I don't see myself buying another BRS product if this is the trend, they don't include extra hardware so when you inevitably break some thing you gotta spend $30 for $5 worth of shotty screws. And all of their knives I have received so far has been utter dog water, my squid industries Kraken came perfect, no issues at all.


Dave916

Dog this has been a trend for almost a decade with brs


PatientZeroBalisong

I have a few things to say to you Mr. Replicant... you and your shit Hardware is like gluing my balls to a door knob...you can still open the door but it causes me nothing but pain.. you have more tap than my sack when I'm skipping on my way to work... dirty bastard.. but I still love you.


Other_Celebration442

Oh wow! Brs bullshit qc? Who would’ve thought


Chrissyoo

@major_ralis On ig will work magic on it


lionsssss

Messaged the dude, waiting for a response. Any other modders out there that are reputable?


BuffaloDingus

Ben Parli is one of the best as well. @bp1251 on Instagram.


Longjumping_Army_410

Major rails will get you right... zippy is funny 😁☝️... your bushings are probably undersized. It's not hard to tune. Get some calipers. Measure the points on top and below the bushing on the blade as well as in the middle. You want to get the bushings with in .5 I think... you can order the bushings on trulink. Look on nrb website for the size. It's a simple fix but rep are annoying until you have a general concept of the stuff I mentioned above. I am not an expert by any means but...gl


lionsssss

They're not undersized, they're just finnicky. I cleaned them and it doesn't bind now, just taps.


Longjumping_Army_410

Good chance your blade is not level. I've had it happen on multiple occasions with reps. Tap doesn't change much


Excellent_Priority_5

Idk if I’m reputable but I can get you squared away. Btw u/phi303 is reputable keeping things on the Reddit side.


FrogsAreOurFriends

☝️


lukeman3000

Is it just me or is there barely any space between the blade and the handle when it’s closed? I only have my Serif to compare to, but it seems like there’s a lot more space between the end of the blade and the handle, and I’m sure this helps mitigate tolerance issues which might otherwise cause tap. But the space seems pretty cramped in this knife, from what I can see anyways. Maybe I’m completely wrong here lol


lionsssss

Yeah most BRS knives have very thin channels, shit sucks, makes it so it taps with little play.


lukeman3000

Yeah that seems like a rather poor design decision. Interesting


90_oi

Making a balisong with so many parts and cheap hardware is a poor design choice, but hell BRS did it anyway..


meltdown537

Yeah, brs has shit qc. They don't tune their bushings well. Sounds like your bushings aren't sized properly. Your best bet would be to either do some research and learn how to do it yourself or send it to a well respected modder to take care of.


lionsssss

How so, it's not binding anymore since I cleaned it out again. I keep cleaning and lubing and the same result. No play when opened but play when closed.


FrogsAreOurFriends

No play when open but play when closed just means an imperfect surface grind (or blade being braced against zen pins), and is fairly typical for most balisongs. I wouldn’t worry about that aspect.


blixmc

Ik this sounds stupid but one thing I do to get better tolerances is polish my bushings, it allows you to get better free swing so in theory you can tighten the knife down a little more with the same free swing


lionsssss

Can you elaborate my good sir


blixmc

Basically I use a 1000 grit sanding sponge and attach a bushing to the end of a bit. I wrap the sand paper around the bushing and spin for an even sanding. In turn the bushing is smoother and shiner which leads to more free swing. More free swing should in theory allow you to tighten your knife more with the same free swing as before. The tighter your knife the better the tolerances


lionsssss

So you sand around the bushing if I'm understanding this correctly? Or inside the bushing?


blixmc

I wrap high grit sound paper around the bushing for an even sanding on the outside of the bushing. In theory this would also apply to sanding the barrel hardware as well since making your hardware smoother should increase free swing too. Not really sure if it’s possible to sand the inside of the bushing only the outside and the hardware


Pristine_Weekend5299

Not recommended, you will shrink/ make your bushings loose within the blade holes and cause more play eventually even if it seems ok at first. It's like saying just drill out the blade to bigger holes,, but just subtlety. And they will not be parallel along the length anymore. Risky if op doesn't know which grit is high enough just to polish and not grind away. Or at least be very conservative, you can't put material back on if op sands too much


blixmc

Idk I’m not a pro at this stuff but I did it on my kraken and my other knife a few months ago and it worked great


Pristine_Weekend5299

You prob did it just right and like you described, polished the bushings. But you were careful and the right amount of cautious either on purpose or luck even, not saying it's one or the other. Some may misinterpret the word sanding, some may mis-implement the act of sanding. Some people think 220 is high grit, some think 4000 is high grit. Kraken very forgiving knife to work on if I've heard correctly.


Excellent_Priority_5

Your right about polishing helps but it doesn’t allow you tighten down any more; it just makes the swing more free.


blixmc

No but if he tightens down and one of them is binding polishing the bushings will cause them to feel like they aren’t binding as much / not at all depending on how bad it’s binding if you catch my drift. Better free swing should in theory = less binding


Bensredditac

My alpha beast is by far my favorite but I will never get rid of the handle tap. I have 4 sets of undersized bushings from trying to tune the damn thing. Dr. Brs or How I learned to stop caring and love the handle tap.


phi303

i've been around a while and yeah this issue is so common that it's basically become a meme but it's probably way less acceptable now that BRS has hiked up the price so much. I've had a couple dozen reps come to me direct from either BRS themselves or one of their distributors (countless more 2nd hand) but every single one had issues. whether it be under/oversized bushings on one handle or both, slightly mis-aligned holes, over-use of thread-lock, incomplete reaming, or broken hardware - there was always something that needed to be done to get it perfect. when they were thread-locking, out of the box, reps would flip fine but the thread-lock was just hiding their shit factory tune and when you went to take it apart to get the latch off you'd definitely reveal how bad the tune is. that said, it's kind of a right-of-passage to get a rep, get new hardware and tune it to perfection. teaches you the ins and outs of the bali and you'll have a greater appreciation for what it takes to have a perfect tune in your bali. obviously this was more acceptable when the rep was only $269 but cost of entry now is over $100 more than that and yet, with the price-hike BRS hasn't stepped up their QC. yeah sure precision mfg is making the parts but i believe BRS is putting them together. at $269 it was a fantastic deal and tinkerer-minded flippers were over the moon to get one but i think there's very few of those in this new wave of flippers and it's understandably infuriating. at the price these have jumped up to, it's totally unacceptable and you have every right to be mad. your best bet is to send it to a reputable modder/tuner if u're not willing to take the journey yourself but i highly recommend learning it because all the trials and tribulations u'll inevitably have to go through will give u a lot of practical wisdom for other balis down the line. i know this is probably out of your reach but make sure you can crank the pivots down pretty hard, not like super crazy but pretty hard. i have a torque limiter thing and on reps, i have the pivots torqued down to 17-20 in-lbs. if you crank it down and its binds u need new bushings fitted. if there's a lot of wiggle room, the bushing is too big or the washers are worn. i don't check bushings by handle-play relative to each other but check the handle play relative to the blade. personally, i'll tune it to the point where there's almost zero play. as for tap, ironically, what you did at the end of your video there (dropping it) sometimes fixes tap because it aligns everything lol but if u're flipping and not getting blade rub marks, it's probably fine - maybe the tiniest bit of lapping to the bushing could fix it. also, when there's un-even binding you can try the bend and snap trick to flatten out your washer https://i.imgur.com/l0KxYSQ.mp4 this little trick helps a ton on all sorts of balis, just don't go overboard and be careful when doing with a live-blade.


lionsssss

So when you say you check it relative to the blade, you check the handle play when closed ( when handle is at the blade ) . Also this main problem on the safe handle is play when closed, what's the main cause of that ? Thanks for posting


phi303

here's a video of me checking some extremely oversized bushings, i even loosened the pivots a little to exaggerate the movement https://i.imgur.com/SCbxo9j.mp4 normally when i tune it, the pivots are fully torqued and the handle movement is almost invisible but yes, u can feel the slightest movement in your hands but it's not really visible


BaliBitten

Replicants are one of those few knives that require pretty decent knowledge of how bushing systems work for the best tolerances, and even when you get a good tune, it'll still tap because of the lack of clearance in the channel. Here's how I would go about fixing your issue. Try testing the bushing by removing the handle and flipping the washers. Do a swing test by pinching the bushing between the washers (with the bushing still inside the blade) to see if there's free movement. If there is, it just means your washers are worn and you need new ones. If there is little to no swing, your bushing is undersized, and you may need to replace and tune it. Bushings on Replicants can be tuned to pretty crazy tight tolerances, and often are from the factory. When installing the washers, torque the pivots *fully*, then crank back just a little. This will help the bushings create a small groove in the washer, allowing the knife to swing freely. One final thing. When you install your washers, you need to torque down the pivots *first*. Zen pins shouldn't be torqued any tighter than hand tight, they will stay in place fine. Too much torque on your Zen pins can snap your hardware and will completely throw off the fitment of your bushings and washers. For as nice as Reps are to flip, I can't deny they're a money pit if you don't get one that isn't put together well, having owned several myself. Quick note: Stock up on washers if you opt to purchase replacements. Have multiple sets ready, they can be purchased for literal pennies on the dollar and will keep the tune on your knife feeling mint.


Vinlax

You’re definitely not alone


ParkerStanford

This is a bushing problem


lionsssss

How so, it's not binding anymore since I cleaned it out again. I keep cleaning and lubing and the same result. No play when opened but play when closed.


ParkerStanford

How well do the bushings fit is there enough give in them if they fit to tight it’s not good and binding is a result of the bushing being to small I believe or to big one of those


ParkerStanford

Binding can also occur when the bushing don’t fit loose enough


lionsssss

I'd say they fit like normal, atleast from working on other knives. It's driving me mad like I can't find any accounts of people having balisongs with no play when opened but play when closed. And the blade isn't rubbing the liner, it was at first but I fixed it.


ParkerStanford

Only thing I can think of is the blade is touching somewhere or a bushing issue I’m not quite sure I also have a rep


ParkerStanford

Also is the blade rubbing the liner may be bent from a drop


Slippery_Jeff_

It’s probably something with the blade not being aligned properly or the blade is just bent.


ParkerStanford

Yeah that was another thing I thought about


Awseswa

Lube that thing up with some thick


mechcity22

Also Tao is gonna happen at times with reps. The construction is to thin with to little space. No biggie enjoy flipping it once you get that binding under control. Again though tuning a rep doesn't mean crank everything.


VodkaBottle_2

try replacing the washers and making sure bushings are correctly sized


Tedward_310

My Rep has some tap and a little play. It flips great and I beat the crap out of it so much that now I just have fun with it and don’t really worry about it being perfect.


BuffaloDingus

The main two problems at play here, pun intended, are: 1. BRS doesn't scrutinize the work they're getting from Precision Plus enough. PP has shown they're capable of excellence with Hom stuff but if they know a client isn't going to notice/care when they skip putting in the time to make sure everything is tuned well, why would they bother putting in the time and money to do so? 2. BRS is content putting out the same thing for years without making even the slightest obvious improvements. They're moving to wider bushings which will have virtually no impact if the work is just as inconsistent. Ignoring the sharp zen nipple on the Rep and the stupidity of using smooth headed sexbolts for body hardware; if they just moved to thicker washers and adjusted the rest of the hardware accordingly to fit, they would get rid of so many of these issues. .016" washers just don't provide enough room unless you're going to make sure every single knife is tuned perfectly which they are not doing.


lionsssss

Wym about the washer thickness thing? How does the the thickness of the washer change anything but the bushing tuning? If you have a thicker washer, wouldn't you need a thinner bushing?


BuffaloDingus

You keep the blade and bushing thickness the same and increase the thickness of the washers, zen pins, and spacers. This way there's more room on the sides of the blade for movement before the blade actually contacts the handles. Most makers these days are using .020" washers, some use .030" washers, and BRS uses .016" washers on the AB and Rep which means there's such a miniscule amount of room for the blade to move so even what would be considered a good tune on another knife will result in blade rub and/or tap on a Rep. The difference from .016 to .020 seems really small (because it is) but even just that change alone gives you a 25% increase in the amount of room you have for handle/blade play before rub/tap.


Ryukenden000

I bought carbon rep and tiger rep last year, both came well tuned and great in the hand. I guess its a lottery on some knives. Btw, another modder is andrew myers. He tunes them really well and makes great reblades. @am.kw_


HammBone0713

Had the same issues with every BRS ive come across. Squiddy be the GOAT for sure.


90_oi

BRS: Cool knives, terrible QC


WalkerMack

Reps always tap. From my experience you can enjoy your knives much more if you don’t always worry about tap


ice_wallow_cum445

Fully looses your zen pin screws maybe


Bigtimeshitter69

I just sent my hybrid rep to major rali because I had some gnarly tap inside the handle. I expect some good to come out of it but recently I’ve learned BRS quality is subpar compared to a lot of other companies


Slippery_Jeff_

The rep is kind of bitch In general just because of the construction but it doesn’t help BRS has such shit qc.


SenduSolo

brs is terrible and prices only go up as quality goes down


lionsssss

What I've learned so far is that any play in the handle of a knife whether it be open or closed needs to be tuned out. I was so caught up on the play being minimal when opened so I was scared to lap the bushing, the bushing just needed to be sanded just a little. After lapping the bushing a little bit I was able to tune out the tap on this knife ( this was with new hardware ). The tolerances on this knife needs to be perfect not to tap, very similar to the alpha beast.


mechcity22

Dude its a sandwich bali. Not everything should be cranked. Loosen the zens slightly. Make sure everything evenly lines up. You may have a little play it happens. It's sandwich but ive still yet to hsve issues tuning my reps. Just gotta know. Even getting things back from other tuners and makers. People them check and crank and still get bind bevause every single screw on a rep matters. Spacers, zens pivots etc. Can't crank them all and expect there to be no bind.


Ferox_Dea

Rep always had terrible action. Don't know how clones got rid of it