My newly acquired $5 Fat Boy needs repairs

[The Pontificator]

Can someone refer me to shop that can fix it?

1. One of the silo doors hangs when opening/closing and upon close inspection it looks like one end of the blade guard on that side is bent ever so slightly.

2. The chassis will not adjust when the blade adjustment ring is turned. It clicks, but I can see no discernible adjustment.

I see that there is a place in AZ called Razor Emporium and am curious to know if this is where I want to send it. I don't want to get rid of this razor given how little I paid for it but I am also not wanting to pay a mint to have it repaired (if it can be repaired at all).

 

[IronHammer]

I will somebody else more knowledge about fatboy repair confirm this, but my guess is that the door problem can be easily repaired with a pair of smooth tip pliers (jewelers use these).

The adjuster problem can be repaired but it will take quite a bit of work and familiarity with the fatboy innards to do so. From my understanding, this would involve dissaembling the razor to determine the cause of the problem.

Since you only spent $5 on it I would say it's not worth it. If you keep looking around at various antique shops, you will likely find another one that doesn't need repairs. At least now you know how to tell if the razor is a dud!

-Todd

 

[The Pontificator]

Upon closer inspection the entire blade guard on one side is bent. It's not the silo door that's the problem. The guard is bent all the way across but it's so slight that you can only readily see it on one end.

Again, I'm not horrendously bummed about it. I know what to look for in the future and for now I'm going to hold onto this FB and if there is a chance of a repair I'll go for it. My only concern is that it's going to cost more to fix it than it would to buy a nice new Merkur or EJ. Again, it's a "in the future" thing (I'm back in college and it's just not an affordable thing right now).

Now if someone has had any good or bad experiences with Razor Emporium I'd like to hear about them. From what I can see they do some beautiful work. Of course, that kind of work isn't free.

 

[vitaman]

I've straighten out a few bent guards. It usually just takes lite pressure because you are straightening brass. I put it on a table edge and press lightly. You can also use a bubble level or anything that is 100% flat.

 

[GreekGuy]

Upon closer inspection the entire blade guard on one side is bent. It's not the silo door that's the problem. The guard is bent all the way across but it's so slight that you can only readily see it on one end.

Again, I'm not horrendously bummed about it. I know what to look for in the future and for now I'm going to hold onto this FB and if there is a chance of a repair I'll go for it. My only concern is that it's going to cost more to fix it than it would to buy a nice new Merkur or EJ. Again, it's a "in the future" thing (I'm back in college and it's just not an affordable thing right now).

Now if someone has had any good or bad experiences with Razor Emporium I'd like to hear about them. From what I can see they do some beautiful work. Of course, that kind of work isn't free.

I've fixed plenty of adjustables. If you are willing to pay for the shipping I'll fix it for you for free. I can't replate it, but I'd be more than willing to get it up in running shape again.

 

[The Pontificator]

I've fixed plenty of adjustables. If you are willing to pay for the shipping I'll fix it for you for free. I can't replate it, but I'd be more than willing to get it up in running shape again.

I could probably do that.

MODERATOR NOTE: I see that the aforementioned repair facility is a filtered vendor. I don't know why (I don't know anything about them) but if you'd prefer me not to mention their name I'll not do so again.

 

[IronHammer]

Speaking of filtered vendors, where would a B&B member go to find out the causes and histories of banned vendors? Is there such a place?

 

[GreekGuy]

Speaking of filtered vendors, where would a B&B member go to find out the causes and histories of banned vendors? Is there such a place?

I have never heard of one. But I would be very curious to know the stories/reasons why. Bit of a tangent on the thread though..........

 

[Go West Young Man]

99% likely the jammed adjuster is just gunked up solid. Give it the old hot soapy water soak interspersed with periods of working the tto knob and adjuster untl everything loosens up.

The bent safety bar can be fixed just be wedging it straight with a screwdriver.

 

[missingskin]

As you only paid $5.00 for it, how adventurous do you feel.......? Depending on the date they are very easy to strip down far enough for you repair the possible damage it may have. If you google "how to pull down a fatboy razor" it gives a detailed step by step strip down. Good reading even if you feel you that it it not for you. I currently have my 59 FB in parts because the adjuster did not work, most of it was down to gunk inside the razor and some to the fact that it had been overclocked.
I would put the link on here but am still feeling my way as to what is acceptable on here, I should add it is only a guy trying to help not a commercial service.

 

[BigFoot]

There is a great thread on here on doing that. I am on my phone I can look later or if anyone else has it easy at there fingertips could you link it?

 

[DavyRay]

As you only paid $5.00 for it, how adventurous do you feel.......? Depending on the date they are very easy to strip down far enough for you repair the possible damage it may have. If you google "how to pull down a fatboy razor" it gives a detailed step by step strip down. Good reading even if you feel you that it it not for you. I currently have my 59 FB in parts because the adjuster did not work, most of it was down to gunk inside the razor and some to the fact that it had been overclocked.
I would put the link on here but am still feeling my way as to what is acceptable on here, I should add it is only a guy trying to help not a commercial service.

Post anything including links to outside sites. If you see "Filtered Vendor", then ask some questions. Basically, this is the Internet, and anything goes, except for live ebay auction listings and links to people who have whizzed in the breakfast cereal here repeatedly.

Don't be shy.

 

[LiveOak]

Regarding the aforementioned filtered vendor, I recently bought a pink Lady Gillette that looks like new from them at a very nice price. I have wondered about their other services. It would be nice to know why certain vendors have been filtered. I do appreciate the work the mods do to inform us of unscrupulous vendors.

 

[missingskin]

Post anything including links to outside sites. If you see "Filtered Vendor", then ask some questions. Basically, this is the Internet, and anything goes, except for live ebay auction listings and links to people who have whizzed in the breakfast cereal here repeatedly.

Don't be shy.

Enjoy......... http://vintagesaws.com/fatboy/fatboy.html

Steve

 

[The Pontificator]

Enjoy......... http://vintagesaws.com/fatboy/fatboy.html

Steve

Found that link this morning but thanks for posting. My FB looks better than that one.

 

[missingskin]

Found that link this morning but thanks for posting. My FB looks better than that one.

So did mine until I took it apart, then I realised the amount of gunk that can get in the works in 50 years of use. And it enables you to work on the bits that need reworking without damaging the rest. But still good to know how your razor works. I sort of hoped you would find it from the original post (it should have been near the top of page 1 of the search .......). Hope you get it sorted out, it will be good to see it working for another 50 years?

 

[mharris127]

Regarding the aforementioned filtered vendor, I recently bought a pink Lady Gillette that looks like new from them at a very nice price. I have wondered about their other services. It would be nice to know why certain vendors have been filtered. I do appreciate the work the mods do to inform us of unscrupulous vendors.

Since the mods do not make a list of "filtered vendors", you probably would not be held liable for triggering the censoring in a post once or twice. I think an accessible list of banned and filtered vendors is in order so we know not to use them, a "Wall of Shame" type listing mentioning their name and what they did to get on the list would work for this purpose. I may try to get a list from a mod again sometime -- I tried once and did not receive a PM back.

 

[Mr.Goodfella]

After reading this thread I decided to try and pull mine apart. Since I first got the razor one of the silo doors would partially open and I would have to give it a little tug to make it fully open. For the razor being 52 yrs old I figured it would be really gunked up, I was glad to see that it was pretty darn clean on the inside. Once I had it all pulled apart I removed the silo doors and there was no gunk causing it to stay open. I held up the silo door and automatically noticed that one of the arms was bent, quick fix with the plyers put it back on and I had full free motion. Snapped everything back together, reset the dial, gave it a twist to open, the silo doors fully opened! It is funny that just a little bend will cause so much trouble.
I am not much of a handyman but this was realy simple, all I did was follow the "how to pull down a fatboy".

 

[akira7799]

Nice fix!

I just picked up a slim adjustable this weekend for $9. I had to do the whole tear-down/cleaning thing on mine as well.

Glad to hear you got it working!

Dave