A Three Dollar Royal!

[toastermike]

Most of my collection has come from my local Goodwill Outlet store. This weekend I found a Royal 801 marked down to $3.00! It was manufactured December 1986, so it appears to be made toward the end of the long model run (1953- March 1987). It was complete except that a hose adaptor was in place of the Adjust-O-Rite belt cover. To my surprise I found it inside the bag when I began to clean it up. After a new belt, a good scrubbing and polishing, it looks and runs great!

A question- I have several 4.5 and 6 amp Royals. Each runs at different speeds. Is this a function of wear on the motors, the brushes or what? This 4.5 amp 801 sounds as fast as one of my 6 amp models, and faster than my 4.5 amp 880.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

toastermike

Mike,

Long time no post! That is a cool find, especially for less than 5 bucks!

Nominally speaking, a 4.5 amp Royal should run 10,450 RPM with belt, and a 6 amp Royal at 11,025 RPM with belt.

I think your problem may lie with the armature and/or the field. Some motors may have been rebuilt over the years, which may account for the slightly higher speed.

~Ben

 

[toastermike]

Thanks Ben, that's what I thought.

Mike

 

[hygiene903]

Congrats Mike!

Great find, and you can't beat the price! Royals have always been one of my favorites, along with other Royal built brands, especially Electro-Hygiene.
Jeff

 

[steve]

What a score!! Really nice polishing job too. I was given a nearly identical "Classic" and would like to polish it. Can you possible give some details on how you did it what machine / compounds you used? I tried polishing mine by hand with Mother's aluminum polish and realized it was going to take forever... Thanks

 

[toastermike]

Thanks Steve! I use Mothers as do many other members. A used Barkeeper Friend powder cleaner first to clean off the liver spots followed by Mothers. Later I will sand down the deeper scratches with sand paper and polish again. I use a polishing wheel on a high speed drill sometimes with Mothers.

Mike

 

[steve]

I have a bench grinder so suppose I could get a polishing wheel. Or a smaller wheel to fit an electric drill. Any idea how many hours it took?

 

[upright886]

Polish

Great find! Makes my $40 Craigslist find look over priced.

I had success with Filtz polish and a cloth rag and 15 minutes elbow grease from dull to even luster/shine.

Take a look at the bottom of this thread.
http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?32811_4

I do not work for Filtz only a long time user.

https://www.amazon.com/Flitz-LQ-045...&sr=8-2&keywords=filtz+polish#customerReviews

 

[toastermike]

I haven't invested a lot of time in it yet. I just did a quick clean and polish, about 15-20 minutes. It will take a couple of hours or so to sand out the deep scratches followed by a final polish.

 

[steve]

Thanks so much, I will go at it piecemeal, already have the Mothers polish.
Will post before and after once finished.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

toastermike

Hi Mike,

I wanted to say that I hope you have had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year's Day!

In response to your 801 sounding faster than your 1983 880 with the same 4.5 amp motor, I wonder if your 1983 608 and your 1987 881 (both also with guess what) also sound as fast as the 801 or slow (more correct) like your 880?

Also to follow up: I forgot to post you the video of my 1985 880 when this post was initially active - its 4.5 amp motor seems to run as fast as your 801:


~Ben[this post was last edited: 1/7/2018-18:31]

 

[gj3476]

Congratulations! A 32 year old royal vacuum for $3! I’m planning on getting a royal vacuum like that one for my birthday real soon! Oops I spoiled it!