An Unusual Find...Vintage Kenmore Range Hood

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Test fit.

 

 

Only the shell of the hood is being used to locate bore holes correctly. When it was removed or should I say, yanked from it's former home, some of the panels are a bit off. Easy fix.

 



 

I'm only using 2 screws to hold up the front, hence the gap. That will be corrected with a couple of screws.

 



 

 

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Getting ready for the final install. I removed the mosaic tile from behind where the hood will be. I will use the salvaged tiles in other areas. The tiles where installed back in 1967.

 



 

 

 

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Junction box, blowers and vent installed. The vent and blowers were not painted since they will be hidden. But they were certainly cleaned. New foam was also installed from blowers to vent surround.

 

 

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I just noticed I installed the blower motor backwards. DOH!

 

 

[combo52]

Blower Installed Backwards

Louie that reminded me of when we were having Sears install a complete new kitchen in our house in 1966. The hood was very similar to the one you are restoring except it was vented up through the cabinet, the installer commented that we finally got a quite one. After they left for the day one of my brothers noticed that the blower assembly was installed blowing to the rear, so we turned it around and pointed out to the installer the next day that the fan was not all that quite LOL.

 

After a few years of constantly replacing the two incandescent light bulbs every few months I modified the hood to hold a 24" florescent light bulb and never replaced the bulb again till I redid the kitchen in 1988 [ I also cut the power consumption down to 1/4 the former usage ].

 

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Well I reinstalled the motor, so now it will suck correctly. I finished putting the new contact paper on the hood. I still need to paint the raised lettering. After that is done, I'll spray clear lacquer on it for protection. 

 

Before:



After:



 

 

 

 

[ovrphil]

Good job Louie, so far…even if you reversed that motor(have done worse, in my experiences, lol). Did you remove contact paper to the left of the wood grain contact-vinyl/paper? Is that white with star pattern available for replacement or is that a metal panel you'll be reapplying?

JohnL- funny story about the reversed motor. %^p

 

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Thanks Phil. That wasn't contact paper to the left of the wood grain. It was a plastic diffuser for the work light. It's in great shape. I will be reinstalling it tonight. Getting close to the finish line.

 

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Closer and closer...

 

 

First power up, everything is working as it should. I tried to paint the raised lettering but it was next to impossible to do a neat job. So I left it as is. I sprayed clear lacquer over the contact paper though.

 


 

 

[ovrphil]

Louie, it's looking good. It's not easy to just paint lettering without masking it off. But it looks good anyways.
One more question - this is 42" and your space is 44"? So your vent is really an inch over the edge of your stove if it's a 40 inch Caloric, right? If so, once you get this completed, could you take a photo of the stove and hood face-on, too? (if you have room in your kitchen). Nice job.

 

[ken]

Louie

You can do the lettering with an ink roller (brayer). They are available in varying widths. I use them to restore vintage license plates. Even though the lettering you need to do is much smaller the principle would be the same. You don't want the paint too thin or too thick. Don't use too much pressure. I don't imagine it would be necessary to make more than one pass to do those letters but if it were let the first coat dry before doing the second.

 

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Thanks Phil! The hood measures 41 3/4" wide. The width of the space above the hood is 44". The range is 36". I could have had a 40" range and still have space left over. Unfortunately, the kitchen is too narrow for me to take a full front on picture. I am hoping to finish the hood tonight.

 

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Wow Ken, thanks! I should had thought of that. Even though the tag looks OK as is, I would had preferred for it to be painted. Now here's the rub. It's been lacquered. Would the ink still adhere to it?

 

[ken]

Well the clear lacquer is nothing but a clear paint so I don't see why the paint you would use for the lettering wouldn't stick. To be sure though you could very carefully roughen the surface of the letters with a fine sandpaper.

 

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Thanks again Ken, I will definitely try this!

 

[ovrphil]

Scan the lettering. Cut out around the letters. Attach with museum clay(it comes off easily) or use a rubber glue that will come off by rolling your fingers around it. But you could make this mask, use that roller(good idea Ken) and prevent any over-paint around the lettering. It might be more work or difficult in concept, but the idea of making a mask would keep the paint on the letters. Maybe someone else can clarify this idea or come up with another similar. It might be easy to just roll it on, lightly, and remove anything with an artist charcoal paper stumps. Just some ideas. I'm sure you'll get it to work, Louie - and you can always sandpaper the lettering or rough it up with a fine nail file(cheap-o paper ones).

Phil

http://www.dickblick.com/products/gray-paper-stumps/

 

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Gulp! That's sounds a bit too complicated for me Phil. I will try the brayer method, if that doesn't pan out, it stays as a clear tag. Thanks anyway Phil!

 

[ovrphil]

Understand, Louie…but cheering you on.

 

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Testing dual, squirrel cage fans. Runs well, 2 speeds. Next will be installing the filters and the cover.

 



 

 

 

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Installed the charcoal and mesh filters. Eventually they will be replaced with new ones. Painted and installed the filter/motor cap. One thing left to do, paint the letters and it's done.

 



 



 



 

 

[combo52]

Charcoal Filters For An Old Restored Range-Hood

Hi Louie, these may be impossible to find for an older hood, but you can usually open up one end and just replace the charcoal granules and they will be as good as new, to really keep these filters effective you need to do this at least once a year and maybe every 3 months.

 

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I thought of refilling the charcoal eventually. The aluminum filters are a bit beat up but serviceable for now.  See you next Saturday John!

 

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I give up. No technique I have tried gave me satisfactory results. The problem is those damn letters are so slightly embossed on that aluminum tag, it's virtually impossible to do a neat job. I tried the brayer, a small stamp and a paint pen.  I used different consistencies of ink. I used the lightest touch. Nope. So, that's it, it stays as is.

 

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It's finished...finally

 

 

After almost two years, It's been totally disassembled, cleaned, painted, polished and put back into service.  One less hood that had to be manufactured.

 















[this post was last edited: 3/17/2015-04:30]

 

[ken]

Very Nice Louie

Sorry to hear the brayer didn't work but I can see how the letters would be difficult. Not only one less hood that had to be made but one saved from the scrap heap too.

 

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Thanks Ken!

 

[ken]

Use it in good health!

 

[ovrphil]

Very very nice, Louie(applause)

 

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Thanks again Ken, and thank you Phil!

 

Now it's Ultramatic time!

 

[stricklybojack]

I think

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it looks better without painted lettering..great work. I wish our apartment, and even more so the guy below us, had a hood for the stove. Thank god he doesn't smoke. Apparently there are no laws regarding this in NYC. In a gut rehab it would be high on the list of to do's around here.
Getting grease out of that mesh is murder. I second the charcoal refill idea. Also perhaps the mesh can be bought and cut to fit. I think buying replacements gets pricey if i recall correctly.