ATT Slant Blade Alignment

I don't think I've ever spent as much time worrying about whether my blade was properly aligned than during today's shave. I placed the blade over the two small posts and screwed the baseplate into the handle. I always hear a couple of clicks, could this be the twisting of the blade?

I looked at the blade and the gap was pretty drastically different from the left to right. I started over and this time I pressed the center of the blade down against the top cap and it stayed put a little better. There was only one click this time and the blade looked much more even. Is this a problem that many have to deal with?

FWIW, I got a fantastic shave, noticeably better than the last few. The audio feedback was much louder and the blade just felt different on my face. I think this may be the first time my blade was aligned correctly for my dozen or so shaves I've had with this razor. I'll continue to monitor this situation as I'm genuinely interested to see if I've been doing something wrong this whole time. Of course, your feedback is encouraged...


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Which slant are you talking about? The Merkur slant should have the blade edge parallel to the top cap. With the others the alignment may be different but I don't own any of them.

Bob

The title of this thread refers to the ATT slant. It appears that the second paragraph nails how the blade should be loaded. I wouldn't be worried about alignment because if there was a defect in this head you could have done damage to your face. The only razor that I am aware of that has absolutely no loading concerns is the iKon Shavecraft 102 slant. As long as you line up the notches of the top and bottom plate it's impossible to misalign. 

Ops, going blind in my old age. Never had a problem with the Merkur so far but it is the only DE I bother to check just in case.

Bob

I was wondering the same thing with my ATT S1 slant but I'm sure as long as all the posts in the top cap are in the right spots on the blade I don't think it can be misaligned. I was surprised the first time how much this razor crunches down the razor (that clicking sound you mentioned). I get the smoothest shaves by far with this razor, doesn't even compare to most of my other razors.

I couldn't get my blade to look as even as it did in the above shave, it wasn't nearly as smooth as my last.


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Can you post a pic?

All the ATT razor heads are like this, even the unslanted plates. You have to pay a bit more attention when loading the blade. I always load mine and check it before each shave!

(05-24-2015, 09:39 AM)Justino_14 Wrote: I'm sure as long as all the posts in the top cap are in the right spots on the blade I don't think it can be misaligned.

Most DE razor blades have holes that are a bit larger than the posts over which they fit.  One may speculate on the reason for this:   is it to make it easier to drop a blade over the posts, or is it to compensate for manufacturing tolerances of the razors, over which the blade maker has no control?   The slack that those larger blade holes provide is sufficient -- on razors like the ATT that have normal diameter posts, or razors that have smaller-than-normal diameter posts -- to allow misalignment of the blade relative to the top cap and safety bar or comb.  

KAI blades have slightly smaller holes than the blades from most (all?) other blade makers, and you occasionally will see a complaint -- or a one-star review on Amazon -- that a KAI blade would not fit on the complainant's or the reviewer's specific razor.  See, e.g., this comment.  If you have difficulty getting proper alignment of a blade in your slant razor, therefore, you might try putting a KAI blade into it and see if the KAI blade aligns correctly.

I'll have to look at the razor again but for the most part there is not much wiggle room at all for the blade once you set it on the posts (at least for Astra SP blades). Another factor is how the base plate attaches to the top cap. There is a razor like the EJ DE89 which has some wiggle room when you simply just attach the two together, thus there may be slight differences in blade exposure depending on what position it is tightened down in. With the ATT, there is next to no wiggling between the base plate and top cap when they are attached. I've never used KAI blades so I have no comment about that.

(05-25-2015, 07:49 AM)sir_mike Wrote: All the ATT razor heads are like this, even the unslanted plates.  You have to pay a bit more attention when loading the blade.  I always load mine and check it before each shave!

+1.  It is the one thing that I dislike about the ATT razors.  I wish it had big pins, like an Old Type, etc...

The best way to load blades into the ATT heads is by inverting everything. Start with the cap smooth side down, load the blade, seat the plate, wiggle it a bit to ensure the pins are in their corresponding holes and then, still upside down, screw in the handle. Use a towel if you're concerned about cutting yourself. 

Fwiw, I check alignment on all razors/blades, even ATT's. normally I push the blade down tight into the cap, then hold both in place by the ends, reassemble, tighten handle down almost to snug, then realign still holding the blade & cap together by the ends. Never get that crunching anymore on the ATT's, and blade gets perfectly aligned.

(05-29-2015, 08:16 PM)repete66219 Wrote: The best way to load blades into the ATT heads is by inverting everything. Start with the cap smooth side down, load the blade, seat the plate, wiggle it a bit to ensure the pins are in their corresponding holes and then, still upside down, screw in the handle. Use a towel if you're concerned about cutting yourself. 

+1. This is exactly what I do. I've tried pushing the center of the blade down before putting on the base plate but I really don't think it makes a difference.

I put mine in the cap and hold down the tabs on the sides with the blade in the pins. Then put the cap on while holding the cap upside down and screw in the handle. This keeps the blade aligned with the pins.


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Just a follow up pic. This is how my blade looks when loaded. I guess it's just the slant cap that does this.


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I remember talking to Stan about this right before the S1 / S2 heads came out. He said that the head is designed so that the blade exposure is supposed to be uneven. But FWIW, I too load the blade by inverting everything.

If you're getting rough shaves it most likely isnt the uneven blade exposure, but something else like the blades themselves, or even the razor as a whole

My shaves have been fine. Any irritation is probably due to the fact that I'm testing out different blades after 1 1/2 years of Astra SP blades.

If anything it could be my OCD that's causing me to worry.


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