Designgeek
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2004
- Messages
- 865
Okeydoke, youse guys are definitely starting to "get to me" (in a good way
.
I spent a couple of hours yesterday cleaning up the old 2-speed Kenmore canister vac and putting it back in service. Now I'm sure some of the purists in the crowd will be appalled with this, but:
Removed the old tool caddy (had a piece of plastic broken off, with a sharp edge), plugged up the resulting holes with standard-sized hole plugs, most of which can barely be noticed. Scrubdown interior and exterior, scrub the rubber strip between the lower & upper housing with Bon Ami to get the scuffs off, check motor compartment for any loose wiring, clean off the line cord, soak the filter and rinse out accumulated dust, replace bag, tweak the suction hose connector slightly (it's not the right one for this machine, but it basically fits), and test.
Gee that was really easy! Didn't even have to replace anything internal. And it works like a charm and even looks decent. Nice and quiet. Low-speed setting is even quieter and still provides excellent suction, easily sufficient for picking up dust from hard surfaces, slurping up cobwebs, etc.
I presently have a double-hose on there, consisting of the hose that first came with this machine (which is not original) attached to a hose that came with the Hoover noisy-vac (which is of slightly narrower diameter). Going from a narrower hose to a wider one probably causes partial loss of suction (cubic feet per minute divided by area of the circle, or something like that). On the other hand, the long hose was helpful in staying at a distance from the noisy-vac, and has its advantages in terms of not having to unplug the machine and move it around as much. Hmm. Contemplating getting the materials from which to make a nice long hose without any discontinuities in it, or alternately, removing the smaller diameter section and just using a shorter hose (suggestions?).
The attachment set is not original, except possibly the floor brush and the crevice tool, but it all works, and this was primarily a practical exercise rather than a historic restoration exercise (I wanted a quieter vac and there it was). However, I do know how to restore equipment to 100% factory-new condition, having done that with "antique" telephones over the years. (I should post a before-and-after photo of an English GPO 232 telephone that I restored, as an example.)
I suspect I'll be attempting a couple more appliance repairs & resurrections in the near future. Hanging out around here has definitely changed my attitude about appliances from the rather passive one of "if it works, good, if not, I have to count on someone else to do something about it" and "some day I'll buy a more efficient one" to a more active stance of "DIY fix-or-modify", which is more in keeping with the geek attitude about technology-in-general.
. I spent a couple of hours yesterday cleaning up the old 2-speed Kenmore canister vac and putting it back in service. Now I'm sure some of the purists in the crowd will be appalled with this, but:
Removed the old tool caddy (had a piece of plastic broken off, with a sharp edge), plugged up the resulting holes with standard-sized hole plugs, most of which can barely be noticed. Scrubdown interior and exterior, scrub the rubber strip between the lower & upper housing with Bon Ami to get the scuffs off, check motor compartment for any loose wiring, clean off the line cord, soak the filter and rinse out accumulated dust, replace bag, tweak the suction hose connector slightly (it's not the right one for this machine, but it basically fits), and test.
Gee that was really easy! Didn't even have to replace anything internal. And it works like a charm and even looks decent. Nice and quiet. Low-speed setting is even quieter and still provides excellent suction, easily sufficient for picking up dust from hard surfaces, slurping up cobwebs, etc.
I presently have a double-hose on there, consisting of the hose that first came with this machine (which is not original) attached to a hose that came with the Hoover noisy-vac (which is of slightly narrower diameter). Going from a narrower hose to a wider one probably causes partial loss of suction (cubic feet per minute divided by area of the circle, or something like that). On the other hand, the long hose was helpful in staying at a distance from the noisy-vac, and has its advantages in terms of not having to unplug the machine and move it around as much. Hmm. Contemplating getting the materials from which to make a nice long hose without any discontinuities in it, or alternately, removing the smaller diameter section and just using a shorter hose (suggestions?).
The attachment set is not original, except possibly the floor brush and the crevice tool, but it all works, and this was primarily a practical exercise rather than a historic restoration exercise (I wanted a quieter vac and there it was). However, I do know how to restore equipment to 100% factory-new condition, having done that with "antique" telephones over the years. (I should post a before-and-after photo of an English GPO 232 telephone that I restored, as an example.)
I suspect I'll be attempting a couple more appliance repairs & resurrections in the near future. Hanging out around here has definitely changed my attitude about appliances from the rather passive one of "if it works, good, if not, I have to count on someone else to do something about it" and "some day I'll buy a more efficient one" to a more active stance of "DIY fix-or-modify", which is more in keeping with the geek attitude about technology-in-general.
