Grounded in fact, zipper is a device which has two flexible metal or plastic strips with the interlocking projections which get open or closed by pulling a slider along them.

“How to Fix a Separated Zipper on a Backpack?”All the parts of zipper including slider, teeth, stopper, and fabric must be up to mark to equip you with perfect zipping performance.

Well, if any of these parts get damage, the zipper won’t work properly. As far as the backpacks are concerned, the zippers are used on them to perfectly bind the edges to keep your material safe.

No doubt, they are excellent to serve you in all situations.

But sometimes the zipper gets separated, and you might ask the question “How to Fix a Separated Zipper on a Backpack?”

To be honest, the answer is quite tricky. You must need to go through a complete process to fix your separated zipper. In order to assist you we have designed this guide in a step-by-step manner. Just follow the steps to make your job done.

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How to Fix a Separated Zipper on a Backpack!

How to Fix a Separated Zipper on a Backpack

Now its time to fix the separated zipper on your backpack. Let’s read how to do the trick in short time with less effort. Remember to follow each step carefully to repair your backpack zipper like a pro!

1. Double Check the Zipper Slider

For most of the times, the sides of the zipper got separated and when you try to pull them with slider they won’t get back together. Why this happens? Well, the most common reason is that the slider might be damaged.

The best way to spot any flaw in the slider is to see if its openings are stretched. The truth is that when you use a zipper frequently, the slider opening starts to stretch a bit. As the opening become wider, less pressure will be put on the zipper tracts and hence they will stay separated.

Steps to Fix Widen Slider:

  • Firstly, you need to grab a pilfer which will do the trick for you
  • Remove the little iron placed at the bottom end of zipper and take off the slider
  • Now with the pilfer, equally close the two sides of slider to make it look like the original shape again.
  • After repairing, put back the slider
  • Finally, put back the stopper tooth and you are done!

2. Scan the Whole Zipper to indicate any Problem

Another reason of separated zipper is the bent or broken teeth. Sometimes, the teeth on the zipper misaligned and hence your zipper won’t work properly.

If the zipper on your backpack has plastic teeth, you can straighten them with fingers as pilfer might damage the or break them. But if the zipper incorporates metal teeth, you are required to use needle-nose pilfer to straighten them to ensure smooth sliding.

Steps to Fix Misaligned Zipper Teeth

  • The very first thing you need to do is to remove the stoppers from either side of zipper
  • Then remove the slider from the opened end
  • Spot any bent or twisted teeth
  • Grab a pair of piler to straighten them
  • Put back the slider and check your work!

Can I Fix Missing Teeth?

If the zipper on your backpack is made of metals and missing teeth are near the top or bottom end of stoppers, then you can fix it. You can simply do it by changing the location of stopper to get normal zipper.

But what if missing teeth are in the middle of zipper? Well, here you might find it hard. As the missing metal teeth are demanding to replace. The only way to replace them is to use the brass clip which takes lots of work.

3. Check the Zipper Fabric

Grounded in fact, another reason of separated zipper is the fabric damage. Although its not very common but you might encounter it.

As the slider touches the fabric, so make sure that the fabric hasn’t caught any hole and threads are not widely spaced to stuck the slider.

We recommend you to scan the whole zipper fabric to spot any flaw and fix it first to get rid of separated zipper on your backpack.

Steps to Repair Zipper Fabric

  • Spot any hole in fabric
  • Grab a needle and thread
  • Fill the whole with the thread
  • Squeeze it well to level the filled hole and rest of the fabric
  • Move slider to check your work!

4. Reinsert the Slider

If you have taken off the slider to check the zipper teeth, slider accuracy, or to spot any problem on the separated zipper.

Then you must have to put the slider back. Believe it or not, placing the slider back isn’t that easy as it seems. But you can follow the following steps to make your work much easier.

Steps to Reinsert the Slider

  • Pull off the stopper or last teeth of zipper
  • Now to put back the slider, you must know that the zipper was open or closed when the slide came off.
  • If the zipper was open, the slide the slider on the fabric in an upside-down manner in a way that the slider is faced away from the zipper.
  • If the zipper was closed, then slide the slider on the fabric such a way that the right side remains up and the slider is faced towards the zipper.
  • Next, you need to tug on the sides of zipper above the slider. Jerk both sides of the fabric above the slider and continue this process until you feel a click. This will be the direction indication that your slider is perfectly back to zipper teeth.
  • Lastly, you need to check whether the slider is performing well on not.

5. Put the Stopper Back

After inserting the zipper back, you need to put back the top stops. Is it seem impossible to put back the stopper in the natural way? Well, not now! You can follow the following steps to make your work easier.

Steps:

  • Place top stop at the exact position on the zipper
  • Gently squeeze the stopper on to the zipper with plier. Here, make sure that the stopper is perfectly snug and won’t move or come off while moving slider.
  • Close the zipper and squeeze the square tab to close the gap at the bottom of zipper.
  • Check it well and you are finished!

6. Sew the Zipper Ends

While taking off the slider, you must have unsowed the zipper ends to repair the separated zipper on backpack. After completion the process, now it’s time to sew the zipper ends so that the slider wouldn’t slip away from the zipper.

For the proper and easy zipper end sewing, you can follow the following steps.

  • Hold back the fabric which you removed while taking off the zipper
  • Turn the open end of fabric towards zipper
  • Place the zipper ends inside the fabric pouch
  • Take a needle with thread
  • Stitch the fabric near the top of the pouch through all layers
  • Check that all ends are completely closed and you’re done!

Tips to Fix the Separated Zipper on a Backpack that Come off on one side

Sometimes, both sides of zipper become unequal and as a result the zipper got separated. You can take help from the below mentioned tricks to fix one-sided separated zipper on a backpack.

1. Use Lubricants on Zipper Teeth:  

For most of the times, lubricants greatly assist to reposition the zipper ends. And the backpack zippers can excellently take help from the lubricants to work again.

What kind of lubricant do you need? Well, you are free to use anything like crayon wax, petroleum jelly, or even liquid soap. But make sure that the material inside your backpack is safe, and the used lubricant won’t stain the bag or zipper.

2. Don’t use your teeth to squeeze the zipper:

The great tip of the day is that never ever use your teeth to fix zipper on your backpack. Most of the people start squeezing zipper slider using their own teeth as pilfer.

By doing so you might damage the zipper to a point where it can’t be repair anymore. So, avoid doing so.

3. Use Masking tape to lock zipper ends:

Out in the open, most of the people aren’t good at sewing and hence they can damage the zipper ends or can end up in flaws. So, here you got a trick.

Try to use masking tape to cover the ends of zipper on your backpack. This tip can help you on travel when even you don’t have a needle and thread. But make sure to leave ample space while putting masking tape to provide the smooth area for slider to work.

Final Words

Zippers on backpacks are designed to make our lives easier during traveling or storing things. But sometimes, the zipper on backpacks got separated. Then how to fix a separated zipper on a backpack? Well, the above whole discussion is the right answer to this question.

We described each and every step which you need to face during fixing of a separated zipper. It is always advised to read and get proper knowledge of zipper fixing on a backpack as it can save you from any unexpected tension during a long travel.

Have a look and repair your separated backpack zipper by yourself!