aristocrat doors out of alignment. break out the pliers? or back away slowly?

Not wanting to clutter the acquisition thread with door woes, I'v taken the liberty of starting a new thread.
My new €10 barn find was a real bargain. the inside of the case is a no-go area but the plating on the razor itself makes it the best in my humble collection. There was a little bit of soap and water residue that I toothbrushed off before I soaked and ultrasounded it. No gunk in the bottom of the ultrasound at all. Only problem is, the doors open unevenly. The blade gap actually looks good on both sides. I think the bar where the end caps attach is slightly bent. but I cant be sure. Is this an easy fix? or will I do more harm than good?

any advice appreciated.

It's hard to tell with just a side view. Can you post other views of the doors closed. From the top, fronts(both views), and bottom.
Also, does it fell like it's catching, when opened and closed?

are these better?

ive just notice that the center bar doesnt look quite straight, might be my eyes, but it looks a bit twisted, as in - from one side it points up, while on the other side it points down. (last 2 pics)

edit: almost forgot, the twist is stiff, but smooth. i dont feel any changes when going from closed to fully open. one side seems to open later, then goes a bit floppy.

When you say they don't open evenly, are you talking about half-way or all the way? IME all Gillette TTOs open one door ahead of the other from fully closed to the first couple turns.

after about the first full twist they start to differ. and one opens a lot further than the other, its also a lot floppier.

edit. I just double checked. both are equally floppy. one rattles sooner than the other, simply because it opens earlier- which confused me

If you look at the second picture you posted, you'll notice that the tab at the bottom of the door assembly comes in contact with the safety bar before the left side, which is why that door opens earlier. That safety bar, at some point in its recent past, made a sudden, sharp impact with a hard surface....probably the floor when it was dropped. There are a few threads on here explaining how to straighten a bent safety bar. Just remember to go slow and only a bit at a time until its straightened back out.

It's not the safety bar, please don't tweak that, they rarely get knocked hard enough to bend.

Try adjusting the end cap -- http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/374569-Rocket-Issue

There is probably just extra tention/pressure on the pivot points of the door(end caps) that sticks. The one that sticks can be tweaked outwardly with the door in or out. I prefer out. They pop out without tools. Just use wrapped pliers or nylon tipped pliers.

nemo said:

It's not the safety bar, please don't tweak that, they rarely get knocked hard enough to bend.

Try adjusting the end cap -- http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/374569-Rocket-Issue

Click to expand...

+1

View attachment 596742View attachment 596746

Thanks for the help guys. The only thing that bothers me is that the inner middle bar that holds the blade seems to be out of whack. Slightly raised on the right in these pictures. Cloud be the doors that are out of course. Ill have a look at end caps tonight when i get home.

it doesnt look dangerous to use as it is does it? Can i still shave with it?

No pliers, please. Just some gentle thumb pressure. You can always ratchet up, but can't ever correct a mistake made in haste.

That is totally safe to use as is.

I think Ive got it sorted. It seems that the bottom plate (with the diamond) along with the end caps are bent. Possibly due to someone tryint to open the doors without using the twist.

Ive got it 95% perfect, Im hoping the other 5% will kick in when i try to straighten the end cap tomorrow (sort of things)




heres how I did it. Along with a bit of thumb tweaking.


added bonus pic>





did anyone know the base was plastic? vintage? or does the rust at the bottom hide the 'made in hong kong' label?



Edit

: just shaved with it. I found it to be quite agressive. Not alarmingly, but above a slim on 6.

Jas101 said:

I think Ive got it sorted. It seems that the bottom plate (with the diamond) along with the end caps are bent. Possibly due to someone tryint to open the doors without using the twist.

Ive got it 95% perfect, Im hoping the other 5% will kick in when i try to straighten the end cap tomorrow (sort of things)


View attachment 596955

heres how I did it. Along with a bit of thumb tweaking.
View attachment 596956

added bonus pic>



View attachment 596957

did anyone know the base was plastic? vintage? or does the rust at the bottom hide the 'made in hong kong' label?



Edit

: just shaved with it. I found it to be quite agressive. Not alarmingly, but above a slim on 6.

Click to expand...

Man, that case is the other side of NASTY!

At the moment it is, but....

Nice progress on the fixing. I found my #66 to be quite mild. Perhaps due to the base plate being bent a bit on yours it's more aggressive than usual.

End caps only take a few seconds to fix. Wrap those pliers. Don't use new pliers with sharp edges. It will cut through tape, and cloth, if those are the routes you choose.

Update: doors are now spot on. Daltongang gets the manhug. I wrapped my pliers in painters tape, as ive had pliers bite through with electrical tape before now. If you get in close you can see one side of the t bar that holds the blade is maybe 0.5mm gigher but im going to pretend its not there for the moment. If , in time, it starts to mix my mellow i might have another go pushing it on the kitchen counter.

jacquers has worried me a bit.im hoping it was my technique.

Maybe mine is defective and too mild Now that I've looked again and searched this thread I don't know where I got the idea that the base plate on yours was bent, so my apologies for that. I would check mine against the Slim I have, but it has a blade gap issue I haven't fixed yet. You can always double check what the blade gap should be and correct it with the butter knife fixing method (although I would try to wrap the knife to prevent damage). According to the list the gap should be about the same as a Slim on 3. But that doesn't mean the same aggressiveness as they vary slightly in head design and other factors come into play such as amount of blade exposure. Or... just leave it and shave with it as is

Jas101 said:

Update: doors are now spot on. Daltongang gets the manhug. I wrapped my pliers in painters tape, as ive had pliers bite through with electrical tape before now. If you get in close you can see one side of the t bar that holds the blade is maybe 0.5mm gigher but im going to pretend its not there for the moment. If , in time, it starts to mix my mellow i might have another go pushing it on the kitchen counter.

jacquers has worried me a bit.im hoping it was my technique.

Click to expand...

I just double checked and mine seems to have the same issue with the door alignment and needs the end caps tweaked like yours did. So mine can't be used as a reference. But as I said in my previous post you can double check the blade gap and make sure it is even on both sides.