5 life hacks for repairing zippers using available materials
Over time, the zipper on your clothing, shoes, or bag breaks, wears out, or begins to malfunction. You shouldn’t immediately run to the workshop and pay money to fix minor defects. A minor breakdown and even more significant lightning damage can be repaired independently and this does not require expensive materials, a lot of time and high qualifications.
How to restore the connection between the pin and the zipper tape and return the fastener to working order
Due to careless handling of the pin or its wear, the zipper begins to diverge immediately from the lower stops following the slider, although all other elements of the fastener are in perfect order. Is it really necessary to change the entire zipper because of such a “trifle”?
It is possible to restore it. To do this, use scissors to remove the “fringe” on the braid in the area of the pin.
We cut out a rectangle from polyvinyl chloride, commensurate in length with the pin, and use special glue to glue it to the braid at the level of the pin, pressing it with tweezers.
For quick and strong setting, spray it with hardener.
We round the bottom corner of the plastic cover and remove excess glue.
But the reason for the divergence of the zipper may also be wear or deformation of the slider.
We replace this element of the fastener with a new one, attach the keychain to it and now the zipper is completely restored.
How to eliminate the slider from getting stuck when trying to unfasten a zipper
Sometimes the slider moves tightly along the teeth of the fastener or even gets stuck in some position without the ability to move either up or down. In this case, you need to inject a little universal WD-40 under the slider and move the slider several times in one direction and the other.
You can also rub the zipper teeth along the entire length with soap and move the slider along the entire length of the fastener several times.
How to restore the functionality of a zipper using a small piece of plastic
If, when moving the slider to close, the fastener links do not engage with each other, then the working part of the slider may have become bent or worn.
This defect can be easily corrected by pressing the slider on both sides with pliers.
But first, to guarantee the engagement of the fastener links, we turn the clothes inside out, remove the lower thread stop and place the slider above the removed stop, where the zipper links are completely unworn. Next, in order not to pinch the working parts of the slider, before carrying out this operation we place a piece of hard polymer, for example from a plastic bottle, between them.
How to make zipper stops without buying them at the store
In this case, you can use a blind rivet.
We knock out the tubular core from the rivet body and cut it longitudinally with a Dremel, and then cut off 2 small pieces of equal length in the transverse direction.
We put each of them on the braid behind the last link with slits and squeeze it with pliers. Now the slider cannot jump out of the fastener.
How to keep a jeans zipper closed
Using pliers, straighten the spring of a regular pin and shorten it to the required size.
We install a pin reduced in length instead of a standard keychain on the slider, fasten the zipper, and attach the pin to the button.
Now the zipper will not be able to unfasten spontaneously until we unfasten the pin.