Easily repair broken zippers on your expensive purses, leather coats and motorcycle jackets, tents, luggage and mattresses. Don't toss them just because their zippers are broken or jammed. Save enough repairing a motorcycle jacket to pay the next insurance premium!
Hundreds of ordinary people have fixed their zips in a jif by following the tips in this article. As dozens and dozens of "wow! that was easy!" comments from kind gentile readers at the end of this article attest, in a few minutes broken zippers on mattresses, tents, bomber jackets, expensive jeans and coats will be things of the past.
Exposed zippers and visible zipper detailing are all the rage, as new fashion trends have put zips on display: gloves, tops, dresses, skirts, shoes and boots, accessories, totes, bags and purses. More than ever, zippers must look good and work properly.
Zipping a zipper all the way is an everyday activity few people ever think about, because it usually goes smoothly and effortlessly. But occasionally the two zipper halves refuse to interlock or stay connected, often because the small sliding device that marries the two sides of the zipper material is out of alignment.
Types of zippers and how they operate
There are two kinds of zippers:
- Open end, a.k.a. separating, such as the zippers on most coats and jackets. When closing a separating zipper, first one grabs the puller or pull tab with thumb and finger and moves the slider down as far as it will travel, until it hits the box and stops. Then the pin of the free half of the zipper is inserted in the slider until it is aligned and engaged. Then the slider is pulled up, which in turn forces the zipper's many teeth to interlock to create the chain--the continuous piece that is formed when both halves of a zipper are meshed together. Top stops--two fixed devices fastened to the opposite end of a zipper--prevent the slider from coming off the chain.
- Closed end, a.k.a. non-separating, such as are almost universal on pants and the backs of dresses. A closed end zipper has no pin, but otherwise closely resembles an open end style
When a damaged or worn slider does not push the chain halves together just so, the teeth are prevented from engaging one another. New slider tolerances are tight and precise to ensure proper closing action, but with repeated use and twisting a slight widening of critical slider gaps in two separate planes can occur. Often these gaps can be narrowed and proper zipping action restored.
Repair techniques
First, examine the slider from the side, as shown in the images below, Crimp Slider Down Views 1 and 2. If the gap appears to be wider than it should be when compared to a properly functioning slider on another similar zipper, using a pliers very gently crimp on the two sections, as suggested by the red arrows, to slightly narrow the gap. Be gentle and don't squeeze the pliers too hard. It's better to crimp a bit and test the zipper action, and crimp again if necessary, than to torque down hard on the first try. If the crimping action causes the two sections to come too close together, and the slider jams, gently pry them apart just a trifle using a screwdriver blade.
If that adjustment doesn't fix the problem, examine the slider tail to see if it has split (open) ends. If it does, gently crimp as suggested by the third image below, Crimp Slider Sides. Again using pliers, apply a small amount of joining pressure to the two "bottom" or tail halves of the slider, i.e., the end that is closest to the floor when normally starting to zip up a coat or jacket. Two crimps may be necessary: first nudge the sides that are closest to your body when you have the garment on, then adjust the two other halves. Again, it's best to err on the side of caution, and not over-crimp on the first attempt.
Smoothing Zipper Action: How To Loosen or Free Up a Stuck Zipper
Once a zipper is closing correctly, lubricate it. Open the zip and rub a candle or a bar of paraffin or bee's wax on the zipper's teeth (i.e., on both halves). Graphite (e.g., a pencil lead) will also work. Don't overdo it: graphite residue may be messy.
If the zip is closing OK but is sluggish or sticks or jams, run a pencil down both sides of the closed chain where the teeth meet (graphite penetrates anything), and rub wax on the teeth of the two open halves and work the slider up and down, an inch or two at a time, and apply wax to the newly-opened teeth. Wipe off any graphite residue with a dry cloth.
Unfortunately, if the zip's slider is made of plastic, these crimping techniques won't help. Only metal sliders can be adjusted in this fashion.
George Daleiden - I was a science major in college and later a career member of the Institute of Food Technologists. I worked in the processed food and ...
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