Do Kirby's get along ok?

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

Hiya!

Terry - I used a number of things, LOL -- but most of all a lot of elbow grease! Never-Dull "wad" polish, was one -- I think it's loose cotton with some type of chemical compound. That, and Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish. Basically, I worked it until the feel changed from rough to smooth.

However, I don't consider the Sanitronic to be finished. What I want to do is follow Pete's footsteps and use the compounds and a buffing wheel. I've a cheap drill press that I'm going to employ to replace the elbow grease and speed up the process a bit -- bearing in mind though, that to do the job right, three key ingredients are time, time, and time. Hey Pete, would that "foreign sounding name" be Tripoli compound?

Below is a pic of the motor housing, along with the nozzle belonging to the previously mentioned Premier Duplex. I staged the tool and GE badge to give you an idea of the difference.

The 'Dup is going to be a bit more work than I thought. Looking through the openings in the motor housing, I saw more filth than a XXX-rated porn site. Seeing that, I decided to pull it completely apart. If I want to show this off, I don't want the presentation going down in a blaze of glory complete with flames and smoke.

:-)

Cheers,

John
 
addendum

I didn't make it clear in the above message: I started the process on the Duplex with the Never Dull and Mothers, but am switching over to the compound and buff method, using an electric drill and buffing wheels for power.

John
 
Very nice Kirby machines John! The TechDrive is definitely the smoothest self-propulsion mechanism on any vacuum, IMHO. You sure turned the Dual Sanitronic 50 into a beauty!

And it looks like the Premier is coming along really well...much better than it looked in the eBay pictures! Great work!
 
Upright and canister

The trend in building of homes today (and remodeling) is to get away from the W-W carpet and go to hard floors.Or at best only some rooms in the home are carpeted.This is now declining the need for uprights in the US.That may be why Sharp is phasing out their upright cleaner line.When I did some Tr-Star demos did do a few demos in homes that had the "mixed" flooring-thats where the canisters are very nice.The prospects LOVED that bare floor tool more so than the powernozzle tool.whats was strange is this prospect had a very old simplicity upright vac.She loved how the Tri-Star cleaned her bare floors.She did trade in her old machine.the home I live in is one built in the early 70's when W-W carpet was popular.The carpet is original and with all my vacuums taking a try at it-its now very clean-Dirt meter tests on the Kirby and others show much less dirt in it.When I first moved in-the amount of dirt in the carpet filled 2 paper Royal upright bags.Was trhe very fine grey-black sand we have here.I got a trade in vac from the beach area here-a Sebo-the sand in its bag was white-beach sand.
 
Wow Greg, your G4 really turned out great! Didn't realize yours was the 80th Anniversary Edition either!

One thing I have been meaning to do...take my G5 in to get tuned-up and polished before summer's out, and clean the Rug Renovator attachment. Next time I'm in Houston...
 
filtrete vac bags

Those are taking over by storm!! other vac makers are using them.Riccar,and Miele use them now.All of Mieles new vacs use them.There is a new Miele dealer here and it was fun getting to know him-and try out his machines.He has the full line of Miele machines on display at his store.-including an upright designed for hard floors-the Miele "Art" series vacs.
 
Hi John, I have used Never Dull and Mothers as well and you are so right, it takes lots of elbow grease and it is a very dirty job. Have you ever tried Autosol, it is a polish that you can only get from Kirby. I have heard good things about it but have not tried it yet. I think it might be worth-while to invest in a good buffing wheel. Looks like you are doing a great job on the Premier. Be sure to take some pictures when you are done. Terry
 
Autosol

Terry,
Autosol used to be available from ESSCO and they would get it from Kirby directly. The last time I ordered it, it was subsituted with Flitz, another metal polishing compound. I called ESSCO and they said that was what Kirby had sent them. They seemed to think that Autosol may not availble any longer. However, interested parties can call Kirby directly on their 800 number as inquire to the parts department.
Kirby uses or did use Autosol to polish machines on rebuild. It does a wonderful job and can be used on a myriad of things for polishing. In addition to a lot of elbow grease, make sure you use really old towels and be careful about washing them--------unless you want a silverish, oily ring on the inside of your washer and around the agitator! I speak from learning the hard way.
Charlie
 
Thanks for the information Charlie!! Wouldn't you know when we find a really good product that works that they decide to take it off the market. I must make a call to Kirby and see what they have to say. Also might be good to check local Kirby dealers as they may have some in stock. Terry
 
Flitz

Many of these polishes are similar compounds of petroleum distillates that remove the tarnish. I have a couple of tubes of Flitz and it's no better really than the auto car polishes or Nevr Dull wads. Key really is to have a big polishing and buffing wheels on a bench grinder, but an electric drill is ok, just takes longer. John you were correct, the other stuff I have is called Tripoli, both rouge and tripoli are mild abrasives probably with petroleum distillates and wax in them.
 
I am an idiot.

I let an old Sanitronic go at an old (literally) neighbor's estate sale because the floor nozzle was missing, and it only had the hose attached to it. I was eyeing some tools nearby, when a lady bought it for a fiver. Just as she wheeling it away, one of the family members running the sale said "wait a minute, I think there's some part of it still in the garage." The color drained from... well my whole body, as he produced not only the floor nozzle, but an entire tool kit as well. I still have welts on my forehead from dope-slapping myself. However, I am getting an old Hoover Aero-dyne model 51 cannister with tools and sprayer jar, and an Electrolux model G, with Powernozzle from my grandparents for nothing, so score on my part!
 
Ouch!

Oh man, that must have hurt watching that Sanitronic go. But the Electrolux and the Hoover sound awesome! You ARE going to post pictures, right?

And, hey, if it makes you feel better, my Sanitronic is back in action. I say back in action, because I really royally majorly screwed up. I vacuumed my couch and love seat, then hooked up the suds-o-gun to foam the love seat and couch for a cleaning.

Notice the sequence?

Notice the step that's missing?

I didn't, until I pulled the trigger on the suds-o-gun and nothing came out. I still had the hose in the vacuum, not on the blower. Smoked the front bearing. DAMN!

I have a parts machine, so it donated its front bearing to the Save The Sanitronic fund, and its back in business. I'm still kicking myself, how stupid could I be?

I used the opportunity to clean the old dust out of the inside of the motor, spiff up the rotor where the brushes make contact, but am still kicking myself. Grrrrr....

John
 

Latest posts

Back
Top