Gillette "Slim Boy" Question

[edders]

Finally got round to asking this. I bought a Gillette off Ebay a few months back. Nice razor, good condition. I think it is uncommonly referred to as a "Slim Boy" as it looks like but is slimmer than the Fat Boy. Anyway, Fat Bot locks when tightened and has to be loosened to reset the 1-9 gauge. The Slim locks but you can set the 1-9 with it in a locked position. Obviously I prefer the latter situation but is it normal? I thought they all locked.

[guitarslinger]

I have 3 slims.

They all adjust in the locked position.

I assume this is normal and fine.

[edders]

Thanks. I suppose that then begs the question why the fat locks and the slim doesn't!

[CJBianco]

I think they are all designed to lock, but the mechanism is worn over the years on most razors. That's all.

(Of course, I could be wrong.)

Christopher

[MotoMike]

I think if you look at the razor design you will come to the conclusion, as I have, that the doors should be loose when adjusting.

If you look at the floor of the blade chamber, there are four elongated pedestals that the blade sits on. When you turn the adjusting dial these pedestals move up and down. This is what sets the distance between the safety bar and the blade. Less distance less aggressive, more distance more aggressive. When the razor is in use the doors do two things. They clamp down the blade to hold it firmly in place and they flex the blade so that it has a bow in it. If you look at the blade from the end as you lock it down you can see this happen. This bow creates the design blade angle. The bow is the same whether at 1 or 9. So by setting the adjustment and then locking the doors you have the blade properly placed, safely clamped and properly flexed.

Locking the doors first and then attempting to adjust allows one of the following scenarios to play out.

If the adjustment is low say at 1 and then lock the door down it leaves no room for the pedestals to raise and establish the proper blade to safety bar relationship. Even if you can turn the dial, the blade will not move correspondingly.

Alternately, if you have it set high say at 9, and lock it down and then set the adjustment lower you could at a minimum relax the curve and establish a less than optimum blade angle, or if you relax it enough you could allow the blade to move around. A loose blade can cause some very bad results.

That’s my take on it

[paydepst]

I think if you look at the razor design you will come to the conclusion, as I have, that the doors should be loose when adjusting.

YEP!!

[duna]

Very nice explanation. Thanks motomike!
In practice, both the Slim and the Fat Boy can close and adjust, and the resulting aggressiveness and angle will be 'somehow' usable, but that's unpolite on the razor, forcing the mechanism.

[Christoph]

You must mean the Slim Adjustable, which is an all around good razor.

[MotoMike]

You must mean the Slim Adjustable, which is an all around good razor.

Right on Christoph, right on. I just picked up another slim adjustable and my first FB. There is at this point, no logical reason for me to keep getting them, but I just can't help myself. the Gillette FB and Slim are works of art. I must admit I find myself just eyeballing them in admiration.

[singlemalt65]

This explanation might fit nicely into a sticky on how to operate the adjustables. It seems to pop up frequently.

Bruce

[prewt]

Agree, this is very helpful. I don't know where it was that I first learned how to adjust my razor properly, the video or a post. I don't know if you can damage the razor by doing it improperly, but I am not going to find out on mine.