GEM MicroMatic OC disassembly

[Charun]

Interesting. And thank you. Um, what do you do in the real world?

SR

What do you mean? My occupation? I'm a taxi driver.

I picked up 2 of those today along with 2 Ever-Readys, 2 Valets, and 1 Treet at a flea market. Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with them.

Give them a good cleaning, and put them to use?

In the interest of science, please send one to @Charun! Awesome thread.

Thanks, glad you like it. Hope it is of some use to people.
Not sure how it would contribute to science tho.

 

[Charun]

Almost forgot to follow up; got a test shave, and the razor works beautifully, except the blade sits too far from the edge like suspected and this probably causes the little tugging i experienced. Just need to file the stoppers down a bit.

But the taking the razor apart and putting it back together didn't do any harm, and makes more thorough cleaning/polishing possible.
I'd like to hear from others; if any of you did this, let me know how it went, or if you have any suggestions how to make it more simple.
Any other feedback is also welcome.

 

[Feather-man]

Haven't found my own MMOC because - the top caps frequently are marred. Why is this ? Also, many many sellers don't even show the top of the cap in their photos. Got something to hide???

 

[spidey9]

The proper shaving angle to use with a Micromatic is with the cap right against the face. So, it is not surprising that after years of use the plating on the cap wears off.

I don't think that most sellers are trying to hide anything - I think that they're just clueless. It amazes me how some sellers will put up a couple of poorly focused pictures with bad lighting that don't show much at all and expect the item to sell.

On the other hand, this is how bargains can sometimes be found, if you're willing to take a risk.

--Bob

 

[Feather-man]

On the other hand, this is how bargains can sometimes be found, if you're willing to take a risk.
--Bob

And if you don't mind waiting. Which I don't.

Am tempted to buy one that's down to mostly brass. For a low low price.

 

[Charun]

I think i remember reading about the MMOC's gold plating being done wrong; brass plated straight with gold without nickel plating it first, or something like that. That's probably the biggest reason that pretty much all gold MMOC's are flawed. Brass is also very soft metal, and nickel plating isn't really that durable i think it's a miracle that there are still so many good condition MM's around.

Also if you consider that these are about 100 years old, and it doesn't affect the usability, i think the plating is no issue at all.

I'd recommend getting a cheap worn-to-brass MMOC for use, and either re-plating it, or hunt for a pristine one to keep as a keepsake/showpiece.

 

[Feather-man]

I'd recommend getting a cheap worn-to-brass MMOC for use, and either re-plating it, or hunt for a pristine one to keep as a keepsake/showpiece.

Agree. The replated ones can look astonishing. But I might just keep it as is worn to brass. I like that look.

 

[spidey9]

One nice thing about picking up a worn-to-brass one is that you can wail away with Maas, Brasso, etc. without fear of damaging the plating. The brass will take a really nice shine, although it will require regular maintenance in order to keep it that way.

--Bob

 

[StubbleMeetsSteel]

OK, here goes. First i'd like to state that i will not take any responsibility if you break the razor you are working! These are the steps i took, and had no issue with the razor afterwords, but there's always a possibility to damage something.

Tools i used:
Hammer
Punches
2 small flat head screwdrivers
Vice with rubber jaw pads (do not use an un-padded vice!)
Pliers


First thing you need to do is take the lid off. Look at the hinges from the under side, and you should see a thin washer-looking metal part on both sides between the deck and the lid. On one side this part is pressed to the rod that moves as the TTO is twisted, and on the other side it's loose. I found it's easier to pry the hinge out of the hole in the lid on the side that is loose.
On my razor it was the one on left when looking at the razor blade side facing me, but i can't be sure it will be the case on all MM's.

Open the TTO slightly, so that the lid is a little open. Next you want to take a very small flat head screwdriver, and pry the lid from the side that has the loose hinge so that the hinge pin comes out of the hole. You might want to help this by pressing the pin with a small enough punch as you pry the lid. Now the lid should come off nicely.

If you can't get it this way, you may want to try to stick the screwdriver between the hinge and lid from the inside if you can.

Now your razor should look something like this:

Next step is to take the deck off the handle. I did this by sitting the razor in an open vice, so that the deck is supported from the under side as close to the handle, without the handle actually touching the vice. Take a punch that is smaller than the squares you can see in the former picture - a double headed square punch just a tad smaller that those on the razor would be idea, but i didn't have any, and used a regular round one witch is why you can see the round dents in the razor.
Open the TTO completely, to take most of the suspension off the spring inside the handle. Gently start tapping those squares with a hammer and punch, switching sides frequently, and you'll see the handle starting to come off.
If you want to minimize any marks on your razor you might want to do this another way; put the razor in the vice upside down, so that you can access the bottom of the deck. There's two dents on the deck either side of the handle. You might be able to get the deck off by tapping on them in turns with a punch, but IMO there's a greater risk of bending the deck by doing so.


Be careful not to lose these small parts inside the handle that open and close the lid when twisting the TTO! Big white towel under the razor works nicely.
There's some tension in the spring, so be careful it doesn't go flying.

Now the deck should be off, and look something like this:

Here you can also see the loose hinge better. Make note witch way the rod is, so you can put it back the same way - don't know if it matters, but better safe than sorry.
Now you can pull the rod connecting the hinges out.

Next well take out the TTO knob from the handle. This is done by opening the locking ring in the handle:

You'll want to twist the TTO knob to closed position, so that the rod inside the handle rises up, and the locking ring should move freely. Best tool to open this type of locking ring is small "squeeze to open" needle nose pliers, witch i didn't have, but i managed just fine with two small flat head screw drivers, that fitted in the opening on the ring and pried the ring open.
The ring is brass, so it is very easy to bend.

Now you can screw the knob out of the handle, and you can go about cleaning, plating, or whatever you'd like to do to it.

Here's all the parts, so you can make sure you haven't lost anything. Especially the small ball headed spring guide is easy lose.

Assembly is practically just going in the opposite direction;
Screw the TTO knob back, put the locking ring in the handle, and squeeze it in the groove in the TTO rod. You don't need to get it really tight, as the inside of the handle is shaped like a funnel, and as you open the TTO all the way it will tighten the locking ring around the rod.
Slide the hinge mechanism rod back to the deck the way you took it out.
Next you'll want to set the handle in a vice so that the plane on witch the deck sits is horizontal (the handle on a slight angle in the vice), and make sure that the TTO is opened all the way. Put the spring loaded mechanism back to the handle and place the deck in the correct place making sure it's on straight!
Now you need to put the deck back on the handle. I used pliers and a hammer for this, but a hydraulic press would work way better if you have access to one.
Place the pliers on the deck, so that it sits flat (you might want to use tape on the pliers to avoid any marks) and the hole in the pliers is around the blade alignment bump in the middle of the deck. Gently tap the pliers with the hammer so the deck starts going down.

Before tapping it all the way, make sure that all the parts in the handle are still in the right place, and that the hinge mechanism in the deck is at this position:

Otherwise it wont work correctly, and will wobble when the lid is open!
If the deck won't sit tight, you'll want to tap the square pins with a punch when the deck is in place to make them expand and take hold of the deck (kind of like peening the pins on a straight razor). When tapping go around the edges of the pins, so that the punch hits both the pins and the deck so it goes all the way down to it's plane. Do this while the razor is still on the vice.


Twist the TTO so that the hinges point up from the deck. Insert the loose hinge in it's place and put the lid on so that the hinge pin is in it's hole, pry the lid over the other pin with a screwdriver and slide the pin in the hole.

That should be it!
Hope my ramblings made sense, English isn't my first language.

You don’t still have these micromatic disassembly pictures do you please?

 

[HoosierTrooper]

You don’t still have these micromatic disassembly pictures do you please?

He hasn’t been back since 2019, doubt that he’s going to answer you.