AR 2ax Woofer problem?

[ian hughes]

Have just re-Foamed my woofers from the AR-2ax's I am restoring. I purchased the reFoam kit from Msound and it all went very smoothly.......however, during the process I have discovered a problem with one of the woofers.

The cone appears to be sticking on the pole piece of the voice coil. The fit is tight enough to hold the cone in whatever position it is at.....I can move it in and out (very carefully) by hand but it appears to have almost no gap between the pole piece and the surrounding section that is attached to the cone, and a lot of friction between them

This was how I found the woofer when I removed the dustcap, so I'm pretty confident that there isn't any debris got into the gap during the reFoaming. It appears as if the cone piece has got smaller in diameter? I have tried sweeping out the gap with a piece of shim.......the gap seems to be as tight all the way round the pole piece and I don't think its a case of the cone piece getting out of shape.

Any suggestions on a possible fix? Is something that I can do a DIY job on or does it need to be re-coned/rebuilt by a specialist? Should I be looking for a replacement woofer?

Ian