SE Razor Handle Thread Adaptation.

[fancontroller]

As you know, most modern razor heads have a male (bolt) M5 screw thread and their handles a female (nut) counterpart. However most SE razors have the opposite, where the bolt is on the handle and the nut on the head.

In the past I've been able to attach a modern DE razor handle to an SE razor by simple using an M5 grub screw attached to the head then simply screwing on the DE handle as usual.

I've noticed that older SE razors have a narrower screw thread their handle, so it gets trickier. I don't know what this thread size is; maybe someone from this parish would know.

:idea: One option would be to retap the SE head to M5 thread and use a grub screw, but of course this means permanently changing the SE head and so no going back to the original handle.
:idea: Another option would be to create a grub screw with a M5 thread at one end and the narrower thread at the other. Is this possible to create :icon_question: Has anyone done this :icon_question:
I was thinking if it were possible to use a die to reduce the thread size on one half of a grub screw.

I'd be interested to hear your opinions or experiences with this.

Shave on, folks.

 

[pjgh]

Re-tap would be the easiest - I did this on one of my old lather catchers. They are tough to drill but be ready when they go through!

 

[Brianpilman]

At a guess it's an imperial thread. Measure diameter and check threads per inch

 

[fancontroller]

Well I decided to take the plunge and re-tap my SE heads to use standard modern handles. Initially I was only going to do one as a test but, as it turned out to be quite easy, I went ahead and did them all.

Here are the converted heads above their original handles. From left to right: Gem Damaskeene 1912, Ever Ready 1914, Gem Junior Bar.
Also showing the 10mm 5M stainless steel dome head allen bolt I used to convert them. I decided to go with an allen end bolt as this has no sharp edges that other bolts have.

I drilled the original hold in the head to 4mm and used a M5 x 0.8 tap to re-thread the head. I then screwed the bolt from the inside of the head. This was easy for the Junior bar as there is bags of room but for the others was a really tight squeeze as there isn't enough room to fit the bolt behind the threaded hole. With a little pulling I could bend the metal a few millimeters to allow the bolt room and easy enough to bend it back afterwards.
If anyone is planning on doing the same I'd recommend a slightly shorter bolt, maybe 8mm, which would have made it a lot easier.

Here's a close-up of the Junior Bar bolt attached.

and fitted to a Cadet handle.

All new handles fitted: Weber Bulldog, ATT Kronos and a Cadet