DE Gillette Super Click featuring Fusion Flexball- something old, something new

[ErkRusselReserve]

The concept of the AP Penny Shaver really rocked my mind. Single edge shaves taking advantage of the decades and millions of engineering hours in the Fusion Flexball system? Wow, that sounds amazing and I ordered it immediately. However, the carts took a dogs age to arrive. During that time I concocted another idea- what about a DE shaver that exploited the Flexball and all those hours?

So I am introducing the Super Click with Fusion Flexball Technology. It is simple really- cut the handle off the Super Click and super glue to head to the Fusion cart. If you align them correctly, the Super Click brackets on pretty well. I was a little afraid to use too sharp of a blade, so I went with the Gillette Wilkinson Sword from India. Sharp but with enough blade feel to be safe if things went wrong. It shaved astonishingly well. The razor finds the correct angle as you use it and it adjusts to your face. I will use a my preferred Bic CP next and the shave should be even better- glassy face.

Some of the feature of the contraption:

Vertical alignment- ala a Schick injector, Kai Gold-S and Kai Young-T, "riding the cap"
Forward pivot- ala Mach III and Leaf
Flexball- ala Flexball
Torqued Blade- ala DE, I think this adds some rigidity, and the extra angle might be a feature
Microfins- ala Sensor Excel, although they are hard plastic and I am not sure if they are used at such an angle
Choose your own blade- fun and customizable
Engineering- FTW

I also did a half face shave with the Penny Shaver. It was also a good shave, but got a weeper and I feel alot more razor burn a hour of two later. They do state in their literature that the first shave is a bit rough. So maybe a bit of stropping would have resolve that. Have to see how future shaves fare.

Some issues:

How long will the super glue hold up? Should I use some E6000 glue to reinforce the attachment?
Is the exposed blade on the top a hazard? I covered the extra blade at the top of cart with glue, but the top DE blade could be a risk. I might need to glue on a flange on top to cover the exposed blade.
Will this kill me? I don't think so, the articulation springs probably prevent that, but baby steps.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Did a PM shave over the half face that used the Super Click Flexvall this morning. Was a pleasure with a fresh new Bic Chrome Platimum.

This razor is heresy, but damn is it groovy!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

First full shave with a Bic Chrome Platimum. I have to say, wow! The best shave of my life so far. I'd give it a 9.6 out of 10. 2 pass with buffing, WTG and ATG. There is still some room for technique improvement. The second shave with a Bic is said to be sharper than the first, so we shall see what tomorrow holds. Medium+ aggression today, I feel properly shaved. On the edge of overshaved, but not.

The shave is extremely close, but it also feels very safe. The angle and the pressure finds itself. I don't know if I can get "Mr. Glassy Face" as there is too much articulation in the shave, but that is probably a good thing. It handles my problem areas, -under the chin, corners of mouth and cowlick, with ease. Face feels soft and supple. I feared the razor may kill me, but now I think it might be the safest razor I have.

This is a heretical device, modern features, but consumer friendly as well. They do not want you to have this!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Day two with the Bic CP- almost a perfect shave and no irritation at all. Still dialing in the technique, but a few hairs away from BBS. Day 1 of the Bic CP is definately less smooth than Day 2.

DE plus 100 years of engineering, who knew? This is such an epic shave that I am considering getting the handle that shakes. It MUST be better, right? Lol

 

[FarmerTan]

I for one am happy to see this contraption! This is on an "Edison" level of invention-ism, with a little bit of the Wright Bros. thrown in.

I used a Mach 3? I think on vacation last month with that same "angle of attack" with the blades. It was a free sample I believe that I have had for years but was afraid to use.

It was astonishing how quickly I caught on with the angle. Good luck with the experiment my friend!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Thank you for your kind words. I think the torque on the blade and not having the stacked blades makes the Super Click Flex divergent from multiblade carts. It is very blade forward, and even though the head is comically unweildy, it can shave under the nose quite precisely. This is due to the pivot being right at the blade. It feels a lot like a Super Click, but it dances.

I just ordered the chromed out Limited Edition Proglide handle. I hope it has additional weight. The shave is already superb, maybe more weight could make it better. I don't see the Power version on the market here, but I will be stateside in few months, so that will be an opportunity.

Beyond the razor handle, there is also the 20ish types of DE blades I have in my box of dangerously sharp fun. Next up will be Wizamet!

 

[ERS4]

I have tried putting half a De blade inside the SUPER CLICK and it is still equally stable, maybe it will help you.

I just put half a DE blade on the open cap, line up with the middle post, and cover the baseplate.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Thank you for the comment. That is interesting. I will give it a shot. The torque from bending the whole blade is quite nice. But perhaps there is still a bend on the 1/2?

Also, I did a full shave with the Penny Shaver and I didn't like it nearly as much as the Super Click Flex! Way to bitey. Maybe when the blade on the Penny head smoothes out a bit it will improve?

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Third shave with my Super Click Flex with a Bic CP. What a great shave. This time with the Limited Edition Proglide handle. It is longer than the standard design and maybe a bit heavier. The base affixes to a magnetic stand which is rather neat. The extra length allows for more leverage while also being a bit more in the way. I'll see which one I like more.

Below see a pic of my two Proglide handles. Left is the standard with the Penny Shaver head, right is the Limited with my DIY head.

This is a cool experiment that is more than functional. After some use, it seems the head finds an angle that is a natural angle for the Super Click, and you can also line it up right under your nose perfectly. One thing I liked about the India Gillette Guard was that it worked really well around the angles of your mouth and chin. This does an even better job than that.

My Broman MkII remains vaporwear, but my desire for it wanes by the day as this is an awesome razor.

You should make one! Pick up a cheap Flexball handle and a Super Click and have at it!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Second shave with the Limited Edition handle, this time with a Minora Yellow Stainless. Wow, the extra handle length is great for leverage. The edge of the blade is a far away fulcrum.

One hell of a shave! I can’t recommend DIYing one up highly enough.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Today was a Wizamet blade. Quite nice. Bic is still the champ though.

I found a 4 pack of Proglide heads from 2012. Should I do a PIF giveaway of customized heads?

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

After trying a couple blades including Bic CP, Nacet, Wizamet and Minora I think the sharpness of a blade is very helpful in such a rig. As carts tend to skip, a sharper blade will slice more and seemingly skip less. The Wizament I used today was not the sharpest blade to begin with, and it has lost its edge. Still a pretty serviceable shave, but the skipping was noticeable and required more buffing.

To be further tested.

 

[kingfisher]

This is a special level of crazy.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Over the past few days I had shaves 1, 2 and 3 with a Kai Blade. I figured it was time to stop messing around. And let me tell you, it was ultramega bladefeel town. So much so that the first shave was a bit painful at times. But no blood and no razorburn. Kais seem to be reverse Feathers, they get sharper as you use them and super rigid. Shaves 2 and 3 were much smoother than 1. As Kais are pretty spendy, I think it was ~$4 for a five pack, I will go to the bitter end with this blade.

The rigidity is a real feature though. I bet they would work very well in a non-torqued razor like a Twig. Snapping them in half is like ripping a dollar in half, so I had trepidation to do so, lol.

Also, my cart is now on version 2.0. The Proshield flat front lube strip blocked the drainage ports of the Super Click. This was not a real issue as I swish the razor around in the basin, but I think it is a potential hygieneand corrosion issue. It seems there was some build up in the reservoir.

Luckily, I found some forgotten Fusion (Proglide?) carts from circa 2010 in a drawer. These have drainage ports that line up with the Super Click drainage ports. Now it is free flow city!

The blade after the Kai will be a Feather. That will be the true test of the my rig.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

The shave with the new 2.0 is extremely wet, much wetter than the 1.0. It kind of shocked me. The head of the Super Click has open chambers inside where water can accumulate. As one shaves with the 2.0, it flows quite readily due to the open ports. So, 2.0 is the "double open comb version" of the Super Click Flex!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

After trying various blades and having uneven performance, I loaded up my 2.0 with a BIC CP (my preferred blade) and had a wonderful shave. It made me wonder, why mess around with other dance partners, this one is the best!

Smooth and sharp, single blade gliding across the skin, cornering hard, shaving hair off at the surface. I recommend you build a Super Click with Flexball Technology and loading it with a BIC!

Edit- Next up will be testing a cold water shave as well as a Feather

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Now up to version 3.0. I have dismantled the 1.0 and removed the soft rubber and goo strip bits from the cart. After glueing it back together it has superior flow as with the 2.0 and likely even better flow as there is more empty space overall. The head is also slightly lighter which may or may not provide a performance improvement as the spring would be a smidge more effective.

After the fact, I noticed the there are metal clips on the back of the cart that can be opened. This would seem to release the metal back blade apparatus while maybe allowing the blade element to also be removed (but they may be locked in with tabs). The clips may provide an important glue anchor point, so it may be bad to remove them. Only v4.0 will let us know!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

This is version 2.0. You a see the space under the blade for drainage. 3.0 has removed the rubber parts for even better clearance. The white is from Super glue vapors reacting to the plastic as well as soap scum.

 

[BradWorld]

Great thread. I have a free promo flexi new in the box somewhere floating around. May have to try this. I have a ton of Click razors too.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

When I first started this project, I just wanted to see if such a contraption could work. So I slapped the two things together and, by Jove, it did. However after getting some shaves under my belt, I have found that improvements can be made.

Last night I took apart 2.0 and deconstructed it as much as possible. I removed the rubber, goo, blades and metal parts. All that was left was the hard plastic structure. To this I glued the Super Click. However this time I glued it higher up. High enough that the blade would be behind the forward pivot. In 1.0 to 3.0 the blade was a bit in front of or even with the pivot. This made it a “push” shave, similar to Atra. It worked fine if a bit uneven, but the M3 and after are engineered as “pull” shaves. See Leaf vs Twig in this world.

Last night I did a 12 hour shave with the 4.0 and this morning again. Once I get a full 24 hour shave I will have a better opinion on their differences. But, in general I think the “pull” shave is mighty fine.