Hoover keymatic slowly coming back to life

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ricky5050

ricky5050

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
670
Location
Durham Britain
Hi guys

This Sunday was again sunny and as I've had a free Sunday I decided to have a tinker with my Hoover keymatic 3224. I've had about 4 years but only last year managed to get a new door boot for it.

ricky5050++8-5-2013-11-47-6.jpg
 
Transit brackets

My machine still has its transits brackets I've left them on as the spin clutch pulley isn't working , it slips and squeals so I removed that belt and thought I'd try it to wash only.

ricky5050++8-5-2013-11-55-25.jpg
 
Washing

With only the wash pulley going the machine is extremely quiet. It filled and washed on a pre wash / rinse cycle and drained fine. The hot water inlet valve is stuck open and there is a little leak near front. Not sure if drum join , or pressure vessel. That will have to be investigated later.

ricky5050++8-5-2013-12-03-5.jpg
 
Well Done Ricky

how lovely to see this old beauty going again its the exact model my parents bought about 1968 how I remember the noises it made :o)

Austin

Ps Good luck with the spin clutch.
 
Classic Washer

Great video of an old classic washer. Did kind of notice that the turnover was somewhat marginal. In previous video's, I had witnessed much greater rollover of clothes. The white item just kind of circled on top. Is this normal?
Hugs,
David
 
Turnover

Hi David I still have the transit brackets in place which holds the drum upright , it hangs on a thin cable , a bit like the brake cable from a push bike and has been known to snap as I knew it couldn't spin I left the brackets in place to try it out as its not had water in for 40 years. If the drum was free it would probably sink down and change angle and give a more vigorous turnover. The load was only 1 tea towel and a few rags, the keymatic as also sold on the fact the wash did circulate rather than drop n flop like a bendix, the impellor at the back would stir things up on certain cycles. ( not working at mo as connected to spin pulley)

Cheers Richard
 
Keymatic

Hi Richard

Good job on the work in progress, its always great to see these old machines up and running again - especially as its a 3224, the first version. Hopefully when Matthew (keymatic3203) sees this he may be able to offer some assistance on the spin clutch.

Actually, if you look at the videos from Chestermike, Gary (Electron1100) & myself (admittedly all of the same machine) the wash action of yours does not look a great deal different, even if the wash drum has not lowered.

Al
 
Cheers

Cheers Al , yes after looking at another on you tube they do tend to wash in a circular motion which I have to say looks very good and perhaps gentler on clothes ? Mine may have filled with water more had it been allowed to sink down.

Re the spin clutch , its either the pulley is worn and slips over the clutch rollers, or the clutch rollers are worn and don't grip, it even slips when turning by hand. I do have one more new part the brass hub both pulleys turn around, but thought I'd have one last search for a new pulley and or clutch rollers before I dismantle that bit.

The sump hose although not leaking is stiff and I feel were it to be moving with a swinging drum may split, does anyone know of something that can be rubbed in to rubber to keep it supple and soft ? ( this is not a fetish outfit question ! Lol not with my shape any way !!)

Thanks again

Richard
 
Hi Richard

Have you had these clutches apart before? The rollers and springs inside are very tiny and I believe that your problem might be either just needing a good clean, or perhaps the spring is broken. The roller is spring loaded and if the spring fails, the pulley will turn either way without driving the drum. If the spring has broken you might find that the spring from inside a ball point pen would be similar diameter and strength, it would have to be cut to length.

There is a slim chance I have a spare set of springs and rollers, I'm sure I kept a set years a go but I have looked for them in the past and can't find them.

I used to have several of these Keymatics, one restored to as new, one converted to run from 12 volts DC (not automatic) and two or three for parts. Unfortunately when we were moving house the Keymatics were a casualty of the move - we didn't have the room to keep them. I donated the restored one to the Salvation Army thrift store nearby, I thought they might use it for a window display. The others went to the rubbish tip...sorry! (my long term regret...) Shortly after disposing of these machines I found out about this website and joined up - till then I didn't know any one else was interested... I did keep a small stash of parts but I can't find them now...Since then I have found another almost complete machine but its motor had already been removed when I found it. It is in my shed waiting for restoration...I do have spare belts and I might have a spare inlet valve or two.

First thing I'd try is wetting the inside of the pulleys in WD40 or Inox spray to try to wash any gunk out of the roller clutch. If you can get it working that way it will save you a headache disassembling the pulleys/clutches. If that works I'd then lube the clutches with motorbike chain spray grease. WD40 will wash the grease out (along with dirt), you need to replace the grease to prolong the life of the clutches.

Good luck with it.
 
Glycerin used for lips and chapped skin is

brilliant at restoring some rubber hoses you have to be quite liberal with it and you will have lovely hands after wards lol and flexible hoses !!

Austin
 
KEEEmatixs

Brilliant Ricky to see another one coming back to life, these are the most fascinating machines to me, all mechanics and switches.........I just love them

I am sure mat did a repair/replacement job on Jons (deeprinser) keymatic sump hose, some times the valves unstick after a bit of use, but if you handy with a craft knife you can dismantle the valve and you will see the rubber bung has swollen and this stops it sealing, I paired this off carefully and got it working more by luck than judgement but worth a try.

Keep up the work really pleased about this
Gary
 
Hi thanks

Hi thanks guys!

I have had the clutches apart, I was told grease on them stopped them working so cleaned it off they looked complete, I'm guessing now they'd benefit from some grease! I'm going to keep the hunt up for new rollers and a pulley. If I can get the inlet valve working and leak fixed it may be fun to use it as a washer only and spin the clothes separate until I get the spin clutch fixed.

Ill try the glycerin too! Thanks guys for all your comments !

Ricard
 
Thanks Richard

Thanks for getting back to me about the turnover! Looks like they would be very gentle. Good luck on the parts locating!
Hugs,
David
 
Wow. Well done Richard on getting it up and running and fantastic that you have the transit brackets for it. There wasn't much of that door boot left cor. Looks like a great machine to work on and if you follow Austins tip you'll end up with better hands than you started with.

Look forward to following progress with this

Steve
 
Hi Ricky

Great to see you've got this lovely machine out, replaced the door boot and got it tumbling.

I know weve talked before on here about the problems with the spinning, and agree with Gizmo about possible solutions. I have been thinking today about what else you could do. provided its not just a matter of lubrication, and I think from earlier efforts some time ago it wasn't. could you determine if it's the pulley or the rollers thats warn.

I was just thinking also that if the pulley was ok, then removing the rollers would enable you to have pulsator action as well as tumbling. Then if it were a matter of finding new rollers then would dismantling a suitable taper roller bearing offer a source of rollers.

Also if its the pulley, then the centre is a phospher bronze bush, which could in theory be replaced, though in practice I don't know how easy that would be.

One other thought, when the machine is full and the tub is free to hang on its suspension, the water level is just below the door opening. It fill to 2/3rds when the tumbling starts then continues filling, submeging the pulsator.

I only say this as untill we got the valves working, I had only been filling to the first level and therefore thinking the pulsator wouldn't be very effective, which when under the water level certainly is.

Anyway these are the thoughts following an afternoon of daydreams, I'm sure we all know the sort!

All the best when you next have a chance to have a further look

mathew
 
forgot to say

That pusator cluch drive plate and housing look brand new, and I did notice the `patented round the world' clothes peg to hold the brake off, though I didn't have you down as the type to use plastic pegs, not very 60's lol.

Just great to see you've been enjoying it.

Mathew
 
keymatic spinning

Hi Richard good progress has been made. What i remember about the clutch is that if there is any play in the pulleys then the bronze/copper bush will be the culprit. There are 4 slots in the bush with the clutch rollers and spring mechanisms. The spin pulley will have play when moved from side to side, hands at 9 o'clock and 3 o clock. Obviously this one wears at a different rate to the wash part of the bush due to the speed difference. The bush is connected to the tub drive shaft with an allen screw.
The bronze bush is a softer metal than the steel pulleys or clutch rollers so tend to wear sooner.
Nothing is too difficult to get repaired !!! It may need re machining. Darren
 
Darren

you've jogged my memory now, your right, it's the sleeve over the drum shaft containing the rollers is the bronze bearing material, whilst the cast pulleys are machined out.

I've been trying to find the old thread from a few years back when we changed the bearings in one, to find some photos of the parts.

mathew
 
looking at...

....this machine, I think of something like a British Westinghouse, and they look like awesome washers- did these have a dryer to match it too? Enjoy! Robert
 
I'm new to this forum. Came accross it trying to find the capacitor specifications for early Hoover Keymatic as the one I have is very corroded and the specifications printed on it are illegible.

Assistance would be very much appreciated.

Keymatics were very cleverly designed machines, mobile, minimal water use and facility for heating the water. All handy features for small accomodation in London at the time, the market, I have been told, which it was aimed at by Mr. Colston.
 
Keymatic

Unfortunately I cannot help with the capacitor specification although there are those who should have the knowledge when they see the thread.

I believe that you are mistaken about the marketing of the machine as it is likely that Charles Colston (effectively the "founder" of Hoover UK) retired before the Keymatic was even on the drawing board - I think the comments you refer to were actually about the Hoover A307 single tub machine for whom its compact size was one of the marketing features as can be seen in the film below



This was indeed a very valid point as the vast majority of UK kitchens that emerged in the housing boom of the 1920s and 30s were absolutely tiny, so storage was a real issue. It was only when post WW2 when housing regulations were changed to specify kitchens of a more useful size, particularly in public housing.

And that continued at least until 1958 when the Hoovermatic was introduced, and as usual with Hoover, very heavily promoted, as can be seen below



Actually as its stands the slant fronted Keymatic had about the same practical "footprint" as its main competitor at the time the English Electric Liberator, the Parnall/Thor models although it was rather smaller than the Bendix machines.

Much as I love all the Keymatics I don't believe the slant front was necessarily a clever design, more of an interesting one, and in many respects over-engineered for what it needed to be - and as a consequence they were not noted for reliability. Unfortunately I do not know enough about the machines to say how much the design of the Keymatic was influenced by the Westinghouse Laundramat machines to which it bears some similarities although very much smaller.

There was no equivalent dryer for the slant front Keymatics, and indeed Hoover did not manufacture dryers until the introduction of the "matchbox" series of machines in 1972/73, the matching dryer to the wide body Automatic and Keymatic machines was manufactured by English Electric, this model having its design origins in (surprise surprise) Westinghouse models

Al
 
Thank you for clearing that up vacbear58.
'Twas only word of mouth info I had received.
Was also told that the Pye Colston dish washing machine was designed by the same chap, so wonder if this is incorrect also.
 

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