Just for your piece of mind, there are no "beans & franks" involved. Mrs. Kazoo volunteers in the uniform room for the Kazoolings marching band. One of the kids has managed to get the zipper on their uniform jacket REALLY stuck (fortunately, with no kid inside). The zipper in question is about 2 feet long and appears to be a metal (brass?). First, it was stuck open. Somehow, my wife and another mom managed to get it zipped closed with a decent amount of force. Now it won't budge, at all. The zipper is totally closed, top to bottom. As far as I can tell, everything is aligned correctly, and there doesn't appear to be any strings or other crud in the pull tab. We've already tried various types of lubricants, which is the innanets solution to the problem. No improvement, no movement, nothing. Any other ideas?
Mndsm
MegaDork
9/14/19 8:36 a.m.
Sort of a last resort, but pry the tab bit itself apart with a small screwdriver- enough to get it off the zipper. More than likely there's some sort of binding happening with the cloth on the outside of the zipper, and it needs to be pulled all apart to straighten it out, sort of like smoothing a wrinkle or chasing a knot put of a chainsaw chain.
This is not the time to use the BFI (brute force & ignorance) method. This requires gentle finesse, as Mndsm suggested.
Once you do get it undone, rub it down with bees wax.
Look at the back of the zipper (inside garment) and see if any material or threads are near the teeth. Cut it back. Find some zipper wax, no kidding, strippers aren’t the only ones that use it. Rub it on the teeth, both sides, get the zipper up or down; opposite of its current position.
Once open rub Zipper Wax between the teeth then inspect the connect mechanism fot lodged threads or misaligned teeth.
Plan B: Have the kid join the golf team....
EDIT: The zipper connector thing is a Glider and teeth are called Elements.
Know anyone who's talented with a sewing machine? Zippers aren't that hard to replace.
Update: Well, we got it. We ended up pulling off the zipper stops at the bottom, attaching a key ring to the pull (pro tip BTW, makes it way easier to apply a little force to the pull) and running the pull off the bottom of the zipper. We could then split the zipper. As best we can tell, there was some frayed/loose fabric at the bottom of the zipper that had jammed up the pull (even though it LOOKED clear while still zipped up).
We've lubricated the track and sown back the loose fabric. We'll do more "testing" before an actual human is put into the uniform. Thanks again for the advice.
Robbie
UltimaDork
9/15/19 9:20 a.m.
Many zippers have a stop in them that prevent them from unzipping by gravity. When you lift the tab, that is supposed to release the stop mechanism, but sometimes it gets broken.
If you don't believe me, try to push your own fly zipper down without lifting the pull tab first. It won't budge.
My guess is you lost that mechanism somehow and the zipper was "locked".
Don't get your hootus caught in a zipper.
1988RedT2 said:
Don't get your hootus caught in a zipper.
Hence the "beans and franks" reference in the first post. 
We've always saved a candle from the church candlelight service and used it on zippers. White/clear so no dyes, works great.
