Posted by jerry on February 19, 2002 at 10:45:30:
In Reply to: Broken Zipper on Gig Bag posted by Jarrod on February 19, 2002 at 01:22:13:
a guy at the REI repair counter showed me The Zipper Trick once for fixing a framepack zipper. it's for the problem of the zipper not meshing & closing the teeth. i've also done this with my bike panier zipper and can attest it works.
start with the mesher moving part thingy at the very upstream end of the zipper. then with a pliers crimp gently on the 'wings' of the zipper mesher thing, so that it's a little flatter than it was. don't overdo this; approach the perfect point gradually.
if it's ever so slightly too tight you'll find it a little hard to pull the zipper. And, one issue is that sometimes the teeth can still pull apart from behind the zipper even though they now successfully mesh, because you can't quite ever start from the absolute beginning. to fix that, sew across the teeth a few teeth in from the end once you've zipped it closed. sew tight so that the teeth can't pull apart. that'll be the new end of the zipper.
for me this worked ok the first time (framepack) and well the second time. so maybe you'd want to practice on an old less-important zipper. good luck. it should work fine.