Dirt Devil Hand Vac Motor Question

[oldskoolguy]

Hello all! I am in the process of refurbishing my beloved rare green Dirt Devil m08510 (the more rare 2.6 amp version) back together. But I have a question: I noticed that there is this foam ring with some kind of adhesive on it. I still have the motor from my junked 3 amp m08510 and it doesn’t have that. Is it nesscessary to keep it on? Does it make any difference? Do any other G S Electric vacuum motors have this? I mean I don’t want to take it off and then find out I need it. I have a picture included for reference.

 

[broomvac]

Yes, absolutely keep it. It seals the fan chamber from blowing dirt around the motor. It also provides some support for the motor, too.

If the bearings are fine, there is no need to open up that motor.

Good luck!

 

[huskyvacs]

A related question to these hand vacs - is blue sparks from the motor normal, or is that a sign that the carbon brushes need replacing? I have a black 2-speed model, and when on low speed it still runs, but it sparks a lot and smells of ozone. High speed seems normal but again with the smell.

 

[madman]

Oldskoolguy - You could always replace the foam if it's deteriorated.

huskyVacs - You get ozone whenever you have sparks, so that's normal. At least assuming you're smelling it because you're shoving your nose in the motor. Brushes shouldn't spark a lot (ideally not at all, but they do because of reasons). Mostly likely yours sparks more on low speed because the armature is spinning slow enough to allow that partial contact for a longer period of time.

You could always just pull the brushes and see how worn they are.

 

[huskyvacs]

@ MadMan

It blows the smell out with the air from the motor, And you're close enough to the machine to smell it anyway as it's a hand vac. This summer I'll have to see if I can get one apart and do a tune up on it. Never done it before so I have no idea how, but hoping it won't be too hard. I have one of the earliest models of Royal vacs that is pretty well knackered that I bought for $9 to practice both with repairing and polishing.