Trouble with Bob's Razor Works handle on EJ DE89 head .

[JCinPA]

This is very strange. I had a Bob's Razor Works XXL Deluxe handle which I used with my DE89 head for a year. I traded that for a non-XXL BRW handle recently and was using that on my Gillette NEW long comb head. I also have an Ikon handle. My old BRW worked for a year on the DE89 head.

The new BRW regular handle does not thread easily onto the DE89 head and I am perplexed. The Ikon handle spins on it easily and both handles spin on the Gillette NEW easily. But it feels like the threads don't match on the DE89 head. They have to be the same thread pitch or the old BRW handle would not have worked so well.

What could be wrong??

So as not to be confusing, both handles spin easily on the Gillette NEW, and the Ikon also spins easily on the DE89. I'm only having trouble with the BRW bull mastiff, DE89 combo. I am perplexed.

 

[xillion]

It could be the thread pitch of the EJ head. The fix would be to run a M5 x .8 tap down your BRW handle.

Here are a couple posts that Bob made regarding threads :

Well I received my M5 x .8 D4 tap today and it's virtually identical to a over sized #10-32 H11 tap. The metric tap is a few .001s larger.
So a Gillette head will screw in to a Muhle handle but a Muhle head might not screw into a Gillette handle, a lot of Gillette's have over sized threads.

This is what had me confused, Merkur heads and handles would interchange with most Gillette's and they ones that didn't I thought was due to the plating.
I work in cabinets and the threads are #8-32 and the Euros are M4.
Well they are close but you can only get about 2 turns before they jam, so I never thought that a metric and a imperial would be interchangeable.

If you have a handle with #10-32 threads just enlarge them with a M5 X .8 metric tap, takes less time to do then to type this.

 

[MaxP]

Exactly. Bob supplied most handles with 10-32 threads which fit NEW heads. In order to use his handle on EL/Muhle, he re-threaded them with M5 x .8.

You can get an M5 tap at Sears or most auto parts stores.

 

[celestino]

Thanks for the informations, gents! Good luck, John!

 

[bakerbarber]

Towards the last few months or year he made all his handles with the metric thread to be totally interchangeable, but most of his pieces were standard threads for Gillette unless you specifically requested the metric.

I realized this too after getting my first handle from him. On subsequent orders I requested the other threads. For my last handles he made for me he said he just did them all that way as a rule.

A real pioneer who laid the foundation for all who came later. His work has inspired many and his methods, which he freely shared, have given us all a well of knowledge to draw from.

I good tap is relatively inexpensive. Easy modification.

 

[JCinPA]

Towards the last few months or year he made all his handles with the metric thread to be totally interchangeable, but most of his pieces were standard threads for Gillette unless you specifically requested the metric.

Ah! That makes the most sense, because the handle that I traded for the current one fit both perfectly. This must be an older BRW handle. Thanks for clearing that up! The fact that one worked and the other did not had me confuzzled.


Anyway, no need for a tap. I was just playing around. I have the BRW on the Gillette NEW and I have the Ikon handle on the DE89 and that's the way I'm likely to leave it. Thanks, gents!

 

[HUF]

So, is it safe to use a handle with M5 female thread (DE89) with Gillette Tech head (10-32 male)? No stripping either thread after extended use?
EDIT. I have got the answer myself. The pitch of 10-32 thread is 25.4/32= 0.794 mm. It is very close to 0.8 mm of a M5x0.8 metric thread. As for the diameters, I have just measured M% on DE89 head and 10-32 on the Gillette Tech head. The DE89 is 4.85 mm and 10-32 is 4.70 mm. So, yes, it must be safe to use DE89 metric handle with Gillette Tech Imperial head.

 

[xillion]

I've used a Tech head on a Mühle R89 handle, same threads as EJ, with no issues.

As long as the Tech head screws to your EJ handle without any binding then you
should be ok to go.

 

[HUF]

Thanks, that's what I think as well.