a few questions on a Royal 880 upright

[will09]

It has the 3 amp motor blue bag and trim . I found it sitting by the trash in the 10 unit apt building I live in some 20 years ago.

All I did was clean the bag and get a belt and some type A bags and clean off the housing. It looks like it is either chrome the motor and fan housing and maybe the brush nozzle.

I didn't do quite the job some have done here.

It's been working fine and I got more bags last week and decided to clean the outside some . I remove the belt and brush and cleaned all of that and noticed the fan was packed with hair and cat hair and cleaned that as well.

The brush is old but I can't tell if it's worn . I know it's wood painted silver.

I never looked close but noticed there is a tube at the rear seems like a metal tube to add oil to a bushing yet there was no cover and it seems like dust is in there. It runs quiet no noise like bearings .

It also has one broken off screw where the motor housing attaches to the brush housing I can probably get that out if I remove the motor.

I am not even sure what the cap that fits over the brush housing does it seems like a diaphram inside like it adjusts something but I don't know how . It has the screw adjustment for the rear wheel fork. I always kept it screwed down close to all the way since the carpet we do have is short but I may try it set higher. It's just another thing I am not sure about.

It has some lever for the handle with 3 notches seems to work if I push up on it and really just noticed it today I just always left the handle lean forward and then tip back on it's own so again not sure what it's function is.

If anyone knows what the adjustments are for please inform me I'd like to know.

I only got into this since the 98 sears powermate canister vac we have began making a loud vib noise and I took it apart and found a ball bearing came apart so I got a new bearing and replaced it and cleaned it out well and put a new belt on the power head . It's a kenmore canister vac blue with a motorized power brush attachment . There is one place called action vacuum in Hollywood that had the bearing and bags and belt I needed.

I know how to repair things of all sorts I do it to save money or I would have just bought a new canister vac but can't afford to do that.

 

[hygiene903]

Hi Will,

Think I can help you out. The tube you found is indeed an oil tube, and you can probably get a cap for it at your local Royal dealer, shouldn't cost much. 3in1 makes a special electric motor oil, and once a year you should put about 6 drops of oil into the tube. Use only the 3in1 Electric Motor Oil, DO NOT use regular 3in1 oil. Also, take a look and see if there is another oil tube toward the front of the motor. Some had both tubes, others had a sealed permalube bearing in the front.
The nozzle cap is called the Adjust-O-Rite. You'll notice a small knob in the center of it. To adjust the nozzle for your carpet, first raise the nozzle a bit with the adjuster knob by the rear wheels. Turn on the vac and lower the nozzle until the knob in the center of the Adjust-O-Rite plate draws in, then you're all set.
The lever and notches are to lock the handle into any one of 3 positions--top storage position, center running position, and low position for cleaning under furniture.
Jeff

 

[will09]

Thank you Jeff

It has the sealed bearing at the other end I can see it.

I had to clean out the Adjust-o-right , there are 2 small holes on the back side so I could see link and junk in there. I tapped it on my hand and then used small tweezers to remove the fuzz bit by bit and used another vac to try to get it all out , seems clean now.

I looked at the brush and it has only two sets of brushes one on each side and on each end there is a bearing cap and I see a number 1 and a number 2 on the rubber seal of each brush bearing cap. Right now it's on number 1 and I have the arrow on the brush at the same side the arrow is on the brush cover plate.

It appears when looking at the brush end caps once the caps are removed that one can see the cap can be placed to move the brush lower or a bit higher. ie the actual bearings have a square projection that is off center with the roller and I put then back the way they were . Once the end caps are on you can only set the brush roller in one way since the ends have a square metal cover that has one open end and the open end must go up or the ends won't clear the metal clips that hold the brush assembly in place.

I took the end caps off because I needed to clean the bearings they had hair and string and dust in there.

I am not sure if Royal made the roller with two positions to compensate for brush wear or belt stretch. Right now the brushes protrude about 1/4" past the cover plate and the belt seems like it has plenty of tension since it's a new belt . I see the new brushes have two sets of brush and have a different end cap still square but notches that should face down.

Mine looks like the original brush as seen on this site from the photo of a new 880 being sold with the box never used. Mine brush looks the same and bristles seem to stick out about the same.

 

[hygiene903]

That's right Will, the positions compensate for brush wear. When the brush wears to the point where it no longer contacts the carpet properly, turn both sides to position 2. When it wears down again, turn to position 3. And when it wears down in position 3, it's time to replace it. But don't worry, you'll have quite a bit of use in each position before going to the next.
Jeff

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

will09

Your machine was made between 1975 and 1980 if it has the 3 amp motor.

~Ben

 

[will09]

thanks again Jeff , Ron this is the serial #

I only know it's an 880 and the serial number is 78G C which is a real large sized C followed by 22291 .

Jeff:

I can see the bristles of the roller almost touch the roller housing when I rotate it and when they are positioned at the cover plate they stick out about 1/4" . The trouble I seem to have since the carpets we have are short pile is I always had the adjustment screw at the rear wheels all the way down so the rear wheels at at their highest point so I can hear the roller contacting the carpet which to me sounded extreme. ie there is no more adjustment indicating to me perhaps the bristles are worn . I looked at a new roller years ago but they didn't appear longer but had dual sets of bristles. The fellow at the vacuum place needed me to bring in my roller to match it up. I never did .

I wanted to remove the 3 motor screws that exist so I could get the broken screw out since only 3 screws are there , I can't say if it was always broken off because I never paid much attention . I just don't know how to get the hinged lamp wires off to remove the housing. They go right through a hole in the roller housing then into the motor preventing removal of the brush housing. Then there is a gasket between the housing and the motor which looks good . I do wonder if it's worth the risk of damaging the gasket just to replace a broken screw.

 

[will09]

I wanted to add since I can't edit

This 880 does not look like it was not used all that much since the cord and bag are in great shape and I've been using it for 20 years. It does work better know that I cleaned all the stuff that was on the fan , it was so packed I couldn't see the blades and I don't recall cleaning the fan in 20 years. Also since the oiler tube for the rear bushing had no cover and I ran a section of tighly twisted paper towel part way down the tube there was lots of crud in the tube , didn't want to run oil down there in fear of the crud getting in the bushing. I really don't want to take the motor apart just to clear the tube. I assume like most oil tubes there is a wick to hold the oil. I know I would need to remove the brushes to get the armature back in place since the brushes have a metal cap held in place by one screw . I can't find a breakdown to see if the covers actually hold the brushes in place or are there to kept dirt out. On my makita circ saws and other power tools I have the brushes are removed by removing a plastic screw .

Anyone know?

 

[jade_angel]

Those screw-in covers on the side of the motor housing do indeed hold in the brushes. Just twist the cap off and the brush slides right out - it's much the same on most Royals (except maybe the newest ones? Not sure.)

The oil tube does have a wick in it, I think.

Also, as far as the brush roll goes, there's a post on this forum somewhere that lists what the right brush rolls are for various Royal models. On a 3A 880, you can use the single-row, double-row or beater bar variants with square ends. The hex-end types won't fit, those are for newer models. The double-row-with-stiffeners version is available, will fit, and will turn, but would put too much load on the 3 amp motor - use it only on the 5.4A version of the 880.

I got a double-row, no-stiffener brush roll from GoVacuum which worked great. I'm still using it even though I replaced the motor with a Royal 671 motor. (I did that because the bearings on the 880 were shot and the commutator was sparking, and the 671 motor was cheaper than replacing the bearings and brushes.)

Also - I modified mine to use Kirby synthetic bags, by attaching a Kirby fill tube. Doing that seemed to improve the airflow some over the F&G/Royal A paper bags.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

Eric,

The 880 also had a 4.5 amp motor - the years of that motor size were 1980-85. My 1985 880 is one of them. I can upgrade to a double-bristle roll w/o stiffeners (2080221000, 2180273000 or 2675221000) and have no problems.

~Ben

 

[will09]

on the 880 brushes

Eric :

Mine has chrome covers that have one screw securing them to the motor housing right where brushes are . I have never removed the covers and can't say if I remove the covers if there are screw in plugs that hold the brushes in. Thinking about it they must just be covers since they are metal and both mounted to the motor housing it seems to me the entire housing would be a source of ground which would be sort of dangerous. I do know a brush itself contacts the commutator and the brush holder of each brush connects to the field and field same leads to the power cord one side through the switch. at least on any power tool or motor I've ever seen. All the photo's of the 880 I've seen don't seem to have these chrome covers.

 

[will09]

On my 880 Royal

I see what needs to be done to get the motor housing off. Since the wires from the lamp go through a hole I removed the cover that has 4 small screws and secures the short cord to the motor housing nad there I saw the wire caps that need to be un-done then I can pull the lamp leads out.

Before I go through all of that I will see if I can drill into the broken motor to fan housing screw since it's on the top and then perhaps get an easy out in there and remove the screw shank.

 

[jade_angel]

Oh, the chrome covers, gotcha. My replacement 671 motor has those. They're dust caps, the actual brushes are secured with screw-in plastic caps that have a copper lining.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

will09: Serial Number

Will,

Your machine was made in July 1978 according to the serial number.

~Ben

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

will09:

"Uh, that's Ben... BEN!"

Anyway, the s/n on your machine says it was made July 1978.

~Ben