This auction just ended and the FatBoy went for $41.00. Look at the picture and see how misaligned the doors are. Has anyone been able to fix this type of defect? From what I know, it is the one thing that is really difficult to repair on Gillette razors. BTW, I did not buy this.
Why you have to be careful on Ebay
- Thread starter Blondie
- Start date
It is actually fairly easy to fix. Nine times out of ten this is caused by a bent safety bar. It is quite easy to bend a safety bar back into alignment.
Asylum, You need to be careful though too. I won a long handle adjustable and the doors were not straight (Unable to tell with the pics). Turned out the door hinge was bent and could not be made 100% straight.
It's been discussed before, ebay is buyer/seller beware. You will get some nice stuff & some mediocre stuff on there. I have had mostly good experiences, but also had a couple bad ones which I just chalked up as the price of using ebay.
Precisely my experience. And I buy nearly anything on eBay (including my last two used cars!). The disappointments have been fairly minor, but homework is mandatory.
D
damonsax
i am the winner of this shaver. it is a bit bent out. either one side is too high or low. any ideas on a fix?
I just watched a mint Fat Boy sell for $162 on Ebay today. Looked very nice but that's a lot of clams
Pick up a feeler gauge at an automotive store. It is for checking the gaps in spark plugs and things like that. There is a blade gap reference in the wiki here, pick a number, see what the gap should be, then make the gap on yours as close to that as you can by bumping/pressing the bar, and make sure you get it even all the way across. Good luck!
Hold your horses here: before you start bending anything as dramatic as the safety bars, unscrew the razor and you may well find that the internal rod is bent. That's real easy to straighten out. See here for complete instructions:
http://vintagesaws.com/fatboy/fatboy.html
http://vintagesaws.com/fatboy/fatboy.html
Just a heads up, knocking the safety bars straight is going to be far less work than a full disassemble, and will be less likely to cause permanent damage. I can also almost guarantee that the internal bar is not bent.
IMHO YMMV ETC.
Agreed: knocking the internal rod straight is as easy as can be. A dis-assembly involves simply unscrewing the bottom plate. The rod assembly then just comes right out, and no further dis-assembly is needed. If the rod is bent, you can see it clearly and just bend it back into shape with your hands.
You won't know if the rod is bent until you take a look at it.
Seems like a prudent course to properly diagnose exactly what is out of whack before trying any fix. If a disassembly is required for that, then so be it. If OTOH, it can be observed that something external is off, correction is warranted. You just don't want to compound a problem by bending something that is really correct, then discovering that the problem is compounded.
Also worth noting that there are two types of Fatboys, one which can be unscrewed like in those directions, and one that requires you to uncrimp a pressure set ring at the bottom. If I remember right someone posted directions that included a #5 socket and tapping until it came loose, then re-crimping it to get it to stay on. I did one this way and it was very noticeable when it was re-assembled.
It is clear to tell that this is a bent safety bar by the pictures. Look at the apendage hanging from the top under the safety bar compared to the one on the other end. Easy fix.
For fixing bent safety bars, see here:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=100227
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=100227
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