Adjusting a bent or asymmetric safety bar on a slim or Fat Boy adjustable

[ctakim]

Thought I would answer a question in a thread for the benefit of the B&B. I mentioned in a recent thread that many Fat Boy and slim adjustables that I have had in my possession have asymmetric safety bars. Most likely this is due to the soft brass safety bar being bent after being dropped or bumped. If you look closely and your razor looks like a slant, you might need to carefully even out the safety bar.

It is relatively easy to do this with a regular flat head screwdriver. First, please use caution and if you are afraid of scratching the finish DO NOT PROCEED. For those who are more brave first set the adjustable to 1. This lowers the base plate in the razor head. If you don't do this, the torque can sometimes strip the adjustment mechanism downward resulting in an under clocked razor (also fixable). Next, insert the head of the screwdriver in the slot on the bottom of the razor head underneath the side of the safety bar that has been bent down. If you are careful and keep the blade flat against the metal you can minimize any wear on the razor's finish. If you want, you can cover the screwdriver blade with a thin cloth or a folded paper towel. Then with the screwdriver wedged firmly in place, carefully pull the screwdriver away from the razor handle. This lifts the safety bar that is in direct contact with the screwdriver blade. A few gentle but firm pulls will slowly bend the safety bar back up to the propoer position. Remove the screwdriver frequently to check if the blade gap is even and try not to over correct. Most razors have safety bars bent downwards. Voila! Your slant is now a restored razor!

Please only do this on your shaver grade razors that are out of alignment!!

 

[cooncatbob]

I find that smooth jaw pliers are useful tool for adjusting bent razor without marring the finish.

 

[Kyle Hyde]

How do you use the pliers instead of the screwdriver?

 

[rainman]

I just take my thumb nail and grab the metal piece comming out of the side of the razor underneath the silo doors on the side that is too high up and pull it down. Sometimes this takes a few times on different occations for it to take to memory. I also use methods similiar to this to fix uneven closing silo doors.

 

[Clem]

Ha! Vindication! My wife recently gifted me with a pair of adjustables. Having never owned one I found the slanting to be quite odd. Both bars on both razors were slanted to one side. I figured that there had to be something to it and have been beating my brain search for the answer this last week. Thanks for the post! I have one question though, can the bending of the bars be due to improperly adjusting (blade in head) as well?

~Clem

 

[AsylumGuido]

Ha! Vindication! My wife recently gifted me with a pair of adjustables. Having never owned one I found the slanting to be quite odd. Both bars on both razors were slanted to one side. I figured that there had to be something to it and have been beating my brain search for the answer this last week. Thanks for the post! I have one question though, can the bending of the bars be due to improperly adjusting (blade in head) as well?

~Clem

Nope. It is caused by blunt force trauma brought on by clumsiness.

 

[ctakim]

Clem, glad you found this useful. You will see a lot of discussion on how Hou should loosen the head on an adjustable before adjusting but the deleterious effects are questionable (IMHO) and I can't imagine how it could lead to an asymmetric safety bar. I have always assumed a slanting bar was due to a dropped razor.

 

[theinternot]

ctakim - THANK YOU!

I was able to get the gap back to almost perfect and clicking it up didn't cause any distortion. It's fixed!

My neophyte knowledge in all this led me to believe my razor was toast. But, now I think I can get a good feel for it and know whether I like the razor, and not just blame it on the bad gap.

 

[golddbz2000]

Thanks for the great information; I recently dropped my Fatboy adjustable and bent one of the bars. I was wondering how to correct it! Thanks!

 

[golddbz2000]

And it's fixed! thanks again!

 

[Sebs]

I was researching for the date of my slim adjustable and came across this thread.

My safety bar is now straight like it used to. Thanks!

 

[Patrologia]

Hi, I'm dragging up another old post.

I assume this technique could be used on an old Super Speed as well as an Adjustable, right? I shaved this morning with a 40's SS that I haven't used before, and one side felt quite a bit more aggressive than the other. The difference was very noticeable shaving, but I didn't see a difference in exposure when I looked from above. After reading this post I suspect the issue was the safety bar. Will the asymmetry probably be visually apparent when viewed from the side, and will I be able to fix it based on visual inspection, or is this going to require tweak - shave - tweak - shave experimentation?

Thanks guys.

-Mike

 

[Blue-EyedSon]

If the safety bar is bent to the degree that it is actually the culprit effecting the shave, you should probably be able to visually see it. And if this is the case, then the method above should work on a SuperSpeed as well. You may want to await confirmation from somebody more knowledgeable than myself, but I suspect it would work just fine.

 

[Clem]

@mikeH- I found the OP's tips to be quite useful on anything (that I personally own) that has a safety bar. So the SS falls in to that category. The other option with the pliers worked as well. I have also come up with a viable trick to straighten a bent comb. Although, it is kind of risky, maybe I wont post that one. Feel free to PM me if you are interested.

 

[wolfrb]

Thanks I had not been bold enough to start tinkering on my own.

 

[K.T.]

Thanks for this great tip. I have a Slim that's otherwise in great shape save for a bent down safety bar.

When bending the bar up, do you find that the bar itself bends when pressure is applied to it? I'd hate to end up with a slightly wavy safety bar. Is there a way of insuring that this doesn't happen? Maybe do the prying near where the support is?

My safety bar is bent down on one side, so that the one side is bent way down, the center of the bar is not quite as low, and the other end is where it should be. There are supports on either end of the safety bar and in the center. How to bend it so that the entire safety bar stays straight, but the blade spacing returns to normal at all points?

Thanks!

K.T.

 

[ctakim]

Typically the bar itself will not bend so it stays straight. What is bending is the support that connects the safety bar to the head of the razor. That being said if you make an exaggeratedly large movement you might do more deforming, but what I suggest are gentle tweaks. Hope this is helpful.

 

[berukblue]

This really saved me. I was really frustrated that I broke my Slim but this fixed it right up. Didn't even damage the razor... I think

The weird thing is that I've never dropped it and it came in near mint condition. I was simply adjusting from 4 to 6, closed the silos and then I noticed the bent safety bar. Anybody has any idea what happened?

 

[Patrologia]

AD fairies. They were trying to get you to buy 4-5 more so that you could do an honest comparison.

 

[Merkur25]

I actually had luck with taking my Fatboy completely apart and measuring it with calipers and then bending the bent safety bar with a set of needle nose plyers. Which ever way best works for you