Robinair18403 Fin Straightener, White

This came today, and I immediately put it to work. My air conditioner fins were pretty dinged up from the previous owner. It wasn’t putting out very cold air, and after the shop said it was charged correctly and working, I started digging in to see what was wrong. The ac condenser and other radiators were plugged up between them, plus the fins were dinged up. After cleaning the condenser and radiator, the ac improved. After I straightened the fins, the ac is now putting out cold air like it should.Note: be patient, it takes time to do this. Here is what I found works best:1) For fins that are very bent, I carefully used my pocket knife to pre straighten.2) Go slow and use a gentle rocking motion as you comb it out. This helps get the fins spaced properly.3) Go over the damaged area several times until the fins are spaced evenly.4) Push it in as far as it will go. You do have to pull out a bit to get around the pipes. By going deep, the tool pulled out lots of sand and small gravel, as well as bug parts from between the fins. I’m putting a screen in front of the condenser next.I was concerned I would break the teeth, but they held up well, even with moderate pressure on them.Well worth the money and a couple of hours time compared to replacing the condenser. Great tool.

A little tough to get the hang of, but the right technique will come with practice. A little tough to always ensure the teeth are aligned with the fins properly. Did really make a difference for my window AC though went from 30% mashed flat to 98% open fins.

I found that the handle wasn't necessary. More control without it. Proceed slowly and with caution. The fins are very fragile. Moving from bottom to top worked best for me. It only took 5 minutes to complete.

I purchased this fin straightener to straighten the fins on my 20 year old RV air conditioner unit. Roughly 30% of all of the fins were bent to some degree due to hail storms over the years. My finned condenser measures approximately 12" x 24".First of all, this is not a miracle tool. It takes time and effort to complete the job. Second of all, it will not straighten out badly bent over fins. Finally, due to the geometry of the tool (having a different comb every 60 degrees around) it is impossible to straighten the edge fins because the frame where the unit is supported interferes with the next comb to the right or left.To get to the edges the user can hacksaw off the surrounding combs or (as I did) order the Allstar ALL10680 Radiator Fin Comb Kit to complement this one.If you order the Allstar ALL10680 Radiator Fin Comb Kit, use it only on the edges when necessary because it wears out quite quickly.After spending roughly 2 hours on the roof of my RV I estimate that I was able to straighten 75% of the bent fins. The remaining 25% that were bent couldn't be straightened because they were too badly bent over.Both tools were completely worn out by the time I finished.My AC now works significantly better. Between the two tools I spent about $26.00 - far less than the radiator shop would have charged.I would not recommend a metal comb. It might be so aggressive that it would cause unintended damage or (worse yet) puncture the tubing.

I don’t usually review stuff but I thought this little summer miracle was deserving.After searching the stores near where I live for a fin comb like this one and finding nothing, I turned to google. Finding a review on a blog(?) that recommended this comb, I headed to amazon and put my 2 day shipping to work.I was skeptical that this comb would be effective and worth the 5+ coffees I could’ve bought instead. I mean, if it really did work well, wouldn’t those big stores be carrying something like it? Apparently not.I spent about an hour and a half on a Saturday afternoon combing out the fins on an old and abused 5k BTU window air conditioner of ours. Aside from a few major gashes, the fins are now beautiful. I couldn’t believe how well something so cheap and simple worked. ( See before and after photos)TL;DR: you probably won’t find one of these at your local mart or depot, but they absolutely work as long as you have patience and some time.Tip: What worked the best for me was gently wiggling/walking the comb up or down through the fins. Combing gently straight through after you have the major dings fixed gets the fins all nice and even again.

While this won’t straighten fins on some radiators that are bent at a hard 90 degree angle, it will do a decent job of straightening the fins that aren’t bent like that if you take your time.

My use case: condenser with about 15 fins per inch.Initially tried a different colorful comb set on a large keyring. That failed miserably as the slots for the fins were too narrow to allow the fins to enter the tool and the plastic was quite hard *causing* dented fins.This Robinair set has larger gaps and softer teeth. This tool immediately entered easily and straightened dents due to hail. It seems to be built well and hopefully will last years. It's a value whereas the cheaper tool did not do anything at all, for my condenser.

Works well but go slowly! Purchased and used on a small window A/C condensor to straighten the air exchange fins after being damaged from objects striking it. The 'comb' has many sizes in one tool, measured in 'fins per inch' so carefull select the size by placing the comb to the fins. Once you selected the correct size, start at the top and slowly pull the 'comb' down the fins whereby straightening them back for maximum airflow and heat transfer. This may take several passes to get the results desired but it does work as can be seen in the attached photos. This is not an expensive commerical tool being plastic but should last for many repairs around a home, RV, etc. At a reasonable price, I'd recommend this tool.