Malco FST2 Fin Straightening Tool

I initially tried a metal fin straightening tool from Lowe’s (also sold under different brands on Amazon), but it was a total disappointment. Within five minutes of use, it fell apart. The small wire pieces meant to straighten the fins kept getting misaligned, and it was clear that the metal pieces weren’t properly crimped. I returned it as defective and decided to do more research before trying another tool.I came across this new tool and watched a few YouTube tutorials, which was crucial. A tip I found helpful was to avoid forcing the fins. Instead, gently slide the tool up and down in both directions, taking your time. Be patient on damaged/bent fins and work from the edges toward the center, focusing on one section at a time rather than diving straight into the middle of the bent fins. If you encounter resistance, don’t push too hard as you might tear the fins. If the tool doesn’t go through in one direction, try approaching the fin from the opposite side. Sometimes a damaged fin can block your progress, but by alternating directions, you can straighten everything up to that damaged point.This tool worked much better for me, and with a little patience and technique, it got the job done without causing further damage to the unit.I attached a photo with before and after pictures. The before pictures are on top and the after pictures are on the bottom.

Good quality

This can assist you with bending/forming/pulling bent fins on a air conditioner or other device.It's not going to look like new but the aim is to get air flowing through.If the aluminum is badly bent/pressed in, just go for it like a cat clawing at its adversary.Other wise, find the proper size and carefully stroke the aluminum slowly.orfind the culprit and have them do it.

Mine came with teeth bent on two sizes most used, made it not usable

First of all - The gray-colored 'teeth' on the comb look like they're metallic in the product photo. They are plastic. It's not a ding against this tool, as I think this is necessary to minimize damage to coil fins, which are typically very thin and could be more easily damaged or destroyed by a metal comb.That said, the tool's plastic comb teeth are also subject to premature wear and damage if you are too aggressive in your combing efforts. I strongly suggest you try to pre-straighten bent ac coil fins first before attempting to comb them with this tool (more on that below). If you try and drag the tool through a section of fins that are severely deformed or crushed this tool will likely rip some of the fins and make the situation worse while also shortening the useful life of the tool.I have a Lennox exterior AC unit with coil fins that are very closely spaced, requiring use of the 20 or 24 teeth per inch options. During my initial attempt to use this tool, it was immediately obvious that the tool cannot straighten severely bent fins without risk of further damaging the fins or chewing away at the tools plastic comb teeth. To increase the effectiveness of the tool, you may need to pre-straighten the coil fins with a fine-edged tool of some sort. I used a single-sided razor blade covered with a layer of masking tape to avoid metal-to-metal contact. I meticulously picked, prodded, and slid the blade edge as needed to straighten some of the fins, creating just enough space between them to allow the tool's comb teeth to slide between them afterwards. Getting the tool's comb between the fins can require a gentle touch. I found that using a light combing pressure in the direction of the fins allows the tool teeth to gently find their way between the fins. If you use too much pressure and try to force the comb teeth into position, you may end up just smashing fins.Depending on the severity of your fin deformities, the process of pre-straightening and using the coil to dress up the fins can be very time consuming, but your overall degree of success and satisfaction is proportional to the level of patience and care you put into the process. If you skip the pre-straightening and attempt to force the tool through a section of fins that are too damaged, you can easily snag the tool and start ripping out the fins, leaving them shredded and/or damaging the tool. For my project, there were some small areas of coil fins that were simply too crushed to be straightened or repaired by any DIY method. I doubt even a professional AC repair tech could salvage them, but I was able to straighten and dress 95 percent of my bent coil fins that needed attention.Overall, I found this tool effective and easy to use. You just need to take your time, use it with care, and recognize it's limitations.

This was the only one that I could find that the 22 fpi ( Fins Per Inch) rake (comb). My brand new window A/C was accidentally bumped into and a lot of the fins were flattened. Super quick delivery (ordered it Wednesday and it arrived Thursday).I found it worked best by inserting the comb into the fins by the rounded (backside) side of the comb and then pivoting the comb to the pointed (hook) side and SLOWLY but firmly drawing the comb down through the bent fins. It took me about 90 minutes to rake through all the fins. Granted it was not able to completely straighten all the fins (some were pushed tooo far in to come back out) but overall it worked GREAT. I am very happy with the results.The only downside of the comb is it is essentially a one time use. The teeth on the comb are made from a somewhat softer plastic and when finished using it, some of the teeth had broken off. But I guess if the teeth of the comb were any stiffer it may damaged the fins rather than straighten them.

Great idea, poor quality. I bought both of these Malco fin straightening tools because I own a restaurant and have evaporator coils ranging from low boy refrigerators to four 5-ton AC units. Long story short, they tool works well to clean dust and grease off indoor condensers, especially if you spray them with a cleaner first.The fail is when you try and use them to unbend fins. I tried this on my 5 ton AC units on the roof, as a few had pretty bent fins. Basically the heads should be made of a harder plastic or aluminium because the plastic combs were basically shredded trying to straighten out the fins after a couple of passes.It actually made the fins worse. I used the generic metal wire straighter that I purchased form Home Depot and that worked quite well.So I'm going to reserve these for cleaning my indoor condensers on my three door freezer, etc.