Unsticking an adjustable

[FarmerTan]

I just did a quick google and it says wd40 won’t harm lacquer. Google called it “paint”. So I guess lacquer and paint is the same thing?

Isn't lacquer a little bit like bad gasoline? Seems like WD 40 could mess that up.

 

[Toothpick]

Isn't lacquer a little bit like bad gasoline? Seems like WD 40 could mess that up.

I didn’t put much effort in to my Google lacquer search...

 

[Chumango]

Patience is your friend.

Get water boiling, add some Dawn dish soap or similar, turn the heat off, drop the razor in. Let it soak until it cools. Work whatever mechanisms work - open the doors, close the doors and lock down the last 1/4 turn, adjust the dial. Repeat. This has worked for every razor I have tried, though none were completely stuck. It takes soak time to dissolve old deposits.

I have also used Scrubbing Bubbles, but that was with nickel plate only. Not sure what that would do with lacquer.

 

[marktyers]

Soak in washing up liquid for 24 hours tends to do the trick.


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[ajkel64]

Any movement yet David?

 

[Legion]

Any movement yet David?

Nah, still stuck solid. Doesn't budge a MM.

I did shave with it, and setting 5 works well for me, so I think I will give up for now, rather than risk buggering it up more than it is.


And it adds some bling to the bathroom. All my other gold razors are worth a lot more more than this one, and are cased and so on, so I don't generally want to put miles on them. They are just collectables to me. Having a gold razor that is still cosmetically quite nice, shaves well, but can be treated as a beater is novel.

It's not like I have ever adjusted a razor mid shave in my life.

 

[Iron Paw]

I had a Fatboy Executive (now sold as 'needed' a stainless Karve, and a stainless Timeless OC...you know how it goes...).
Lovely razor but needed a clean and it wasn't as smooth to operate as I thought it should.
Did the soak thing, etc and finally used WD40.
Perfect...did not affect the gold wash or the laquer.
Bunged some down the shaft too.
Gave it another hot soapy wash some hours later, but for my first few shaves it did still smell of WD40.
However, it operated beautifully. Smooth as silk.
WD40 won't hurt your Slim. My Fatboy looked just fine afterwards. It's showing off it's shine to my Mamba here...

 

[Legion]

I had a Fatboy Executive (now sold as 'needed' a stainless Karve, and a stainless Timeless OC...you know how it goes...).
Lovely razor but needed a clean and it wasn't as smooth to operate as I thought it should.
Did the soak thing, etc and finally used WD40.
Perfect...did not affect the gold wash or the laquer.
Bunged some down the shaft too.
Gave it another hot soapy wash some hours later, but for my first few shaves it did still smell of WD40.
However, it operated beautifully. Smooth as silk.
WD40 won't hurt your Slim. My Fatboy looked just fine afterwards. It's showing off it's shine to my Mamba here...

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[Spang]

so how do I fix it?

any advice on freeing up the stuck ring without pulling the whole razor apart, or using chemicals that might damage the gold?

I have had a few stuck adjustables that didn't respond to the usual treatments of long term soaking, various soap scum solvents, WD-40, etc. My fix of last resort is PB Blaster penetrating oil, which is a mechanic's staple for frozen bolts and mechanisms. PB has always worked for me when nothing else did. But, judging by the smell, it is a pretty nasty solvent, and I don't know what effect it could have on the gold finish. I've never had any issues with PB on nickle plating, but haven't used it on gold. The way I use it is to put just a very small amount, a few drops, down the opening where the T-bar comes through the plate and let it gravity down into the mechanism. Tail stand the razor for several hours, or overnight, and in the morning things are usually freed up. A few times, I've needed two doses. With care, one could probably avoid any solvent contact with the exterior finish of the razor, but it would be a gamble. Also, if you try this, I suggest doing it outside as the smell of PB is pretty strong and not exactly pleasant.

On the other hand, setting 5 generally works for me! Good luck.

 

[Legion]

I have had a few stuck adjustables that didn't respond to the usual treatments of long term soaking, various soap scum solvents, WD-40, etc. My fix of last resort is PB Blaster penetrating oil, which is a mechanic's staple for frozen bolts and mechanisms. PB has always worked for me when nothing else did. But, judging by the smell, it is a pretty nasty solvent, and I don't know what effect it could have on the gold finish. I've never had any issues with PB on nickle plating, but haven't used it on gold. The way I use it is to put just a very small amount, a few drops, down the opening where the T-bar comes through the plate and let it gravity down into the mechanism. Tail stand the razor for several hours, or overnight, and in the morning things are usually freed up. A few times, I've needed two doses. With care, one could probably avoid any solvent contact with the exterior finish of the razor, but it would be a gamble. Also, if you try this, I suggest doing it outside as the smell of PB is pretty strong and not exactly pleasant.

On the other hand, setting 5 generally works for me! Good luck.

I wonder what the active chemical solvent is? Does it smell like a dry cleaners shop? Could be a heavy organic solvent like Perchlorethylene. That might work...

 

[KeenDogg]

Will the indicator spring depress? It can be done with a toothpick. If the rise will push up, do so. Then, get some dawn and pour it between the riser and the dial. Let it drip down in. Then, put it in a coffee mug with the doors open to help it stay upright. Pour more dawn down the dial and into the end. Allow to work for 10 minutes. Put the hottest water you can from the kettle without boiling it right onto the dial as you fill the mug. Wait for it to cool, try to move it, and repeat. Keep doing that and it will free up eventually. Gunk is most likely what is holding it. Certain shave soaps become like varnish over the decades. Best of luck!

 

[Spang]

I wonder what the active chemical solvent is? Does it smell like a dry cleaners shop? Could be a heavy organic solvent like Perchlorethylene. That might work...

I checked the label but it doesn't tell me anything I can actually understand. The California warning on the label lists a few different substances described as petroleum distillates and one as an aromatic hydrocarbon. The label also has a caution that PB may "affect" (code for "melt", I assume) some plastics. The smell to me has an almost gasoline-like character to it.

 

[Demolition]

I checked the label but it doesn't tell me anything I can actually understand. The California warning on the label lists a few different substances described as petroleum distillates and one as an aromatic hydrocarbon. The label also has a caution that PB may "affect" (code for "melt", I assume) some plastics. The smell to me has an almost gasoline-like character to it.

Here's a list of the ingredients in PB B'laster:

Naphthalene (mild solvent; the main ingredient in mothballs)
Naphtha (solvent)
Hydro-treated light petroleum distillate (a mild paraffinic solvent; leaves a film of lubricating paraffin behind)
Hydro-treated heavy naphthenic petroleum distillate (mineral oil; a lubricant)
Ethoxylated phosphated dinonylphenol (a detergent; breaks down dirt/grease extremely well, but is also extremely toxic!)

Assuming that those are all of the ingredients, then none of them should hurt the gold. In fact, naphtha is often recommended for cleaning gold plating. I use it to remove tarnish from gold-plated audio jacks, guitar hardware, etc.

However, it will melt plastic and remove coatings like lacquer or shellac. It will also dissolve the paint from the dial numbers.

 

[skibik]

Do you have any friends that do any reloading for pistols/rifles? They may have an ultra sonic cleaner that you can use or borrow. After seeing photos of disassembled Fatboys and how crusty they are inside I would have to get that thing cleaned out if it were my razor. I do have my own US cleaner and they do work nice for cleaning up things. Besides empty brass cases and razors I recently used it for cleaning my watch band since it came with a watch stand to keep the watch itself out of the solution. They can also be used for jewelry also. Just a thought.

 

[Saxonbowman]

The problem with an ultrasonic cleaner is that they will remove the paint from the numbers. I had this happen on a Fat Boy that I cleaned. Otherwise they work great.

WD-40 is basically kerosene, so I’ve heard. You could try that. OTOH whatever is sticking is probably soap scum so a long soak in a mild detergent might work.

 

[skibik]

I don't think I would try WD-40 but that is just me.

You want it to work you need to take it apart and clean it. My friend brought me in a Fatboy to work that he recently purchased and the seller sold him a paperweight. So I decided to see what the ultrasonic cleaner would clean. Three 10 minutes cycles with an hour soak between the first and second cycle and 10 minutes or so between the second and third cycle. The dish soap/warm to hot tap water solution was a touch cloudy but that might have been from the 3in1 oil he used to try and loosen it up. Since this is an F4 it has the press on retainer on the bottom and not the threaded one so not meant to be serviced. Well I decided since the adjuster didn't work, the knob for the butterfly doors was was loose I more or less destroyed it and dismantled it. There was some quite large chunks of gunk stuck inside the handle body(had nothing to do with the adjuster not working) in between the area of pushrod for the doors and the handle body. The texture of this gunk I don't think there is much that would dissolve it outside of a chemical bath that would likely strip everything. If it has the serviceable type retainer(2 small holes and a thread pushrod, my J4 Slim has it) on the bottom I would either take it apart or send it to someone that does this and have them take it apart and cleaner it and fix it. Just my thoughts.

 

[xiletero]

Warm dawn water and repeat and repeat. Don't force the dial else the spring will break.
You can try a few drops of mineral oil (doesn't hurt anything that I know) then back to warm water.....
Or scrubbing bubbles (NO bleach)
I think I might have used Ballistol on one but not gold.....just standard Slim (worked OK)

 

[been around]

I found my old slim that I last used in the early 70s. I had the same problem since it was stored in an unheated garage in a junk box for almost 50 years. I opened it up and suspended it in a small glass. Every day I'd put an eyedropper of Baby oil down the shaft and into the handle . a few days later there was a lot of crap in the bottom of the glass and it worked like a charm. The mechanism is as free now as it was when new. The nickel was still in good conditiom. a little Mother's pre wax cleaner and it looked great. Patience, don't force anything

 

[FarmerTan]

I found my old slim that I last used in the early 70s. I had the same problem since it was stored in an unheated garage in a junk box. I opened it up and suspended it in a small glass. Every day I'd put an eyedropper of Baby oil down the shaft and into the handle . a few days later there was a lot of crap in the bottom of the glass and it worked like a charm. The mechanism is as free now as it was when new.

Really excellent idea!

 

[JWCowboy]

Back in my younger days when I wore gold chains and rings

I think we need to see one of these back in the younger days pics with gold chains/rings.....