Fatboy Problem

Today is our 12th anniversary, and my wife surprised me with a G2 Fatboy she bought off the 'bay. She paid too much, there's some brassing and the colored paint is not all there, but it appears to be mechanically sound; TTO is good and I get clicks at all the numbers

I dialed it to 7, slapped a blade in there and knew I had a problem. The blade exposure looked tiny. I dialed it to 9 and was unable to really detect a difference. I dialed it to 1 and was able to tell the difference between 1 and 9, but only because I have sharp eyesight. Comparing it visually to my slim adjustble, Fatboy 9 looks a bit less than Slim 1.

Just to be sure, I shaved with it. Barely any cutting at all, and that only at a very precise angle.

I suspect that this has been disassembled, cleaned and reassembled incorrectly. Anybody have any other ideas, or links to how to calibrate or even just disassemble this Fat Sissyboy? (no offense meant to any sissies)

Ouch.... that's a pity.

There's a perfect tutorial somewhere (it's mentioned here on the forum) how to dissemble the Fatboy.

I hope you can fix it yourself.

(Searching for it now but cannot find it)

When you dial 1 thru 9, make sure that the adjustment plate moves up and down with the dial. I wonder if that plate is frozen. If it is, WD-40 might help (don't use much - it can affect painted numbers or the painted black ring just below the numbered dial). What I have done with gunked up Gillette adjustable razors is to soak them, use Scrubbing Bubbles, and see what loosens up.

You may not have to strip it down. Just a thought.

Doug

Here it is. Feel free to ask if you have any questions

Since yours is a 1961 model, use this guide to remove the bottom cap

Doug_in_NNY said:

When you dial 1 thru 9, make sure that the adjustment plate moves up and down with the dial.

Click to expand...

No, but I could not detect any such movement on my perfectly functional Slim either.

Wait...I think the answer is yes, though it is difficult to detect in both razors, mostly because I am adjusting it with the doors loose to help the spring survive.

Where I can tell the difference is by looking at the bottom of the razor at the bottom of the rod. In the slim, there is about a 1mm difference between 9 and 1, with 1 being closer to flush with the barrel. On the Sissyboy, there is no real detectable difference.

I've pored over the pictures in those tutorials (Thank you very much, GreekGuy!) and in my mind, the adjustment dial accomplishes its work simply by positioning itself upwards or downwards on the threads of the barrel and thereby changing the barrel length. The Sissyboy definitely moves up and down on these threads, but still no adjustable love.

Since the rod is of fixed length, my best guess is that it is not seated all the way in the barrel. It would take maybe 0.5mm to make this thing shave, but I don't want to uncrimp that endcap if I don't have to. Would it be bad if I tapped the rod gently to see if it would move into the barrel further?

Do different years/models of Fatboys have slightly different rods?

From what I can tell, all adjustment mechanisms move and move correctly on this razor, but it just seems like the rod is a touch too long for it. There is a lot more vertical movement in the floating head above the adjustment ring when it is open, than there is actual floating head movement when the TTO is tightened.

Not sure if that makes sense, but I have convinced myself this razor is working fine but is built from incompatible parts.

Do the gaps looks proper? Might want to get some feeler gauges before you start disassembling anything.

Gap between blade and guard? No, not proper, that is the issue. On 1, it is basically on the guard. On 9, it is barely off the guard.

Gaps between the floating head and the adjusting ring (when open) appear to be proper. This is why I think the rod is a misfit that is too long; when you tighten it up, the barrel+ring+head length is not enough to raise the rod and blade off the guard.

Could just be that your guard is bent. I'd adjust that to the proper measurement first before disassembly but that's me. Might solve your problem in itself. Especially if it came in an envelope as opposed to box in the mail.

The guard looks right; right-angles across the adjustment plate, and the problem is on both sides.

The only thing I could do there is bend both sides down and I am not confident I could make that adjustment even and correctly. Thanks though.

The adjustment dial may be in the wrong position. If you push the little spring in with the dial on 9 or 1, you can adjust the dial by going directly to the 1 from 9 making the razor adjust 9 more places, or from 1 directly to 9 to move the adjustment dial down.

If you look at the 8th picture on the following link, it kind of explains it better.
http://vintagesaws.com/fatboy/fatboy.html

Hope it helps.

AnB_Daddy said:

The adjustment dial may be in the wrong position. Hope it helps.

Click to expand...

It did! That was super damn easy and now the 1 is more aggressive than the old 9, and the new 9 looks like about the same as on my Slim.

Thanks a ton! Looking forward to seeing how this shaves tomorrow now that I have some blade showing.

Donmuerto said:

It did! That was super damn easy and now the 1 is more aggressive than the old 9, and the new 9 looks like about the same as on my Slim.

Thanks a ton! Looking forward to seeing how this shaves tomorrow now that I have some blade showing.

Click to expand...

My first FatBoy I bought had the same problem. Glad you were able to fix it.

For those of you not exactly following, or not wanting to go read the link. This is what I did:

1. Dial the ring to "9"
2. Manually depress the spring (red marker)
3. Continue moving the dial to "10" (which is "1")
4. Release the spring

Compared to the old 1 - 9, I now am adjusting from 10 - 19.

Glad it helped.