Dropped my Gillette Aristocrat on the floor

[Nobeard]

Today I was moving my beautiful Gillette Platinum British Aristocrat in its open case and it fell on the floor. Clumsy me!

I don't see any visible damage, but now the TTO mechanism does not work. It will twist a bit but then before there is any movement in the doors it just stops twisting. I don't want to force it.
When I twist the bottom of one of the doors will move just slightly, but thats as far as it goes

Does anyone know anything about fixing these? The bottom has what looks like a recessed screw head visible. But a phillips screwdriver does not seem to work.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Sinnbad11]

Backroads gold does repairs and plating. He did great work on my British aristocrat when I sent it in for plating. He may be able to repair it.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I suspect you may be turning the screw the wrong way. If it is the same as an English Red Tip then you undo the screw by turning it clockwise. The screw head is not a Philips cross head type, it uses a two prong screwdriver head, sometimes known as a spanner head, like this:

 

[Hannah's Dad]

Show us some pictures of the head (particularly the sides).

 

[garyg]

My condolences - seems there was a non-commercial member who had a lot of experience with the TTOs, you might try searching for repair & adjustable & Gillette ..

I've seen them with bent corners but haven't run across one that wouldn't open after a drop

 

[Nobeard]

Here are some pictures. The 2nd and 4th pictures show the gap on the left bottom of the dooe if I try turning the twist. The head dosen't seem to show any damage

 

[Nobeard]

geez, I ment for this to be in the double edge safety razor section. Not under safty blades. Can I move this?

 

[Hannah's Dad]

You need to carefully wedge a small flathead screwdriver between the side bars (end cap bars) and the base. The drop must have bent them enough to prevent the doors from opening. Cover the driver with tape to prevent scratching.

Or send it to Back Roads Gold and Chris will fix it.

 

[nemo]

geez, I ment for this to be in the double edge safety razor section. Not under safty blades. Can I move this?

Moved it for you. Good luck with the repair, such a shame but it could have been worse.

 

[Joezamboni]

Recently did the same with an aristocrat junior by accident.

the issue Is if I spent $30 to fix it I may spend $60 instead

 

[Nobeard]

Thanks for all the help. I am going to try Hannas dad's suggestion. It sounds like it had promise.
I will let you know how it worked

 

[Nobeard]

Well I have not written for a few days with the results because I am totally disgusted with myself.

Hanna's dad, you assessed the problem correctly, so thank you for that.
I could not get the thinnest of screwdrivers to fit between the bent side bars and the rest of the razor. I had, of course covered the screwdriver with electric tape. The side bar was too close to the rest of the razor. So I took a small pliers and again covered it in tape. I got it to move but ended up scratching the beautiful platinum finish. I tried to be so careful but ended up wrecking a beautiful razor.

I have been reducing my collections the past few years (razors, fountain pens and guitars) because I just had way too many things and since I am now 72 years old. But I was planning to keep some razors including this one. But now it is junk. As I said, I am just disgusted with myself. First for dropping the razor, then messing up the repair.

Oh well.

 

[kingfisher]

Might still be repairable by an expert. Or, you could just move on. It's a shame but it isn't the end of the world.

 

[desertcat]

@Nobeard go easy on yourself. You can always get the razor replated. Furthermore, consider how many razors from that era ended up being thrown away, melted down... or worse yet, allowed to erode and become useless. Entropy comes for all of us.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

Well I have not written for a few days with the results because I am totally disgusted with myself.

Hanna's dad, you assessed the problem correctly, so thank you for that.
I could not get the thinnest of screwdrivers to fit between the bent side bars and the rest of the razor. I had, of course covered the screwdriver with electric tape. The side bar was too close to the rest of the razor. So I took a small pliers and again covered it in tape. I got it to move but ended up scratching the beautiful platinum finish. I tried to be so careful but ended up wrecking a beautiful razor.

I have been reducing my collections the past few years (razors, fountain pens and guitars) because I just had way too many things and since I am now 72 years old. But I was planning to keep some razors including this one. But now it is junk. As I said, I am just disgusted with myself. First for dropping the razor, then messing up the repair.

Oh well.

I’m really sorry, my friend. Perhaps Chris from Back Roads Gold can work some magic. It’s worth $50-$60 bucks to try, right?

 

[Nobeard]

Thank you. I will look for back roads gold and see what he thinks