Eureka Roto-matic motor brushes wanted

[roto-matic]

To Vacuum Cleaner aficionados,
I just stumbled upon your web site www.vacuumland.org and I was wondering if you could help me with something. I have this old vacuum cleaner by the name of Eureka Roto-Matic (model 805). My parents bought this when I was a little kid (in fact, maybe before I was born) and now they have a new vacuum cleaner and I sort of inherited this old Eureka but I really do kind of love it. At one point a year or so ago I noticed the suction power had gotten really weak so I took it to this guy and he put in new seals and after that it was working great again. Anyway, now a few months ago the engine started loosing RPM and then it just stopped. I couldn't understand what could have happened, but my Dad suggested that the brushes might have worn out. Well, after taking the motor out, I think he was right. Now I am trying to find where I can get replacements for these brushes, and although I have spent hours and hours and hours on the internet looking, I don't think these are available anymore (at least in the main places I have tried). They always require that you give the motor number, and I haven't even been able to determine what the number is. I even wrote to the Eureka web site, but got no response of course. Well, I just thought I would ask if anyone here knows anywhere I could go to get some of these carbon brushes or information on getting these. Or should I just give up and resign myself that I can't fix this vacuum cleaner (yea, I know I could just replace the motor with a new model, but then it wouldn't really be the same vacuum cleaner, would it. I like the idea that I have this 50 year old machine that is still working and quite effectively). By the way, I have been scouring the internet for days! There are all kinds of brushes listed but you need to know the motor number, and they all seem to start with 114 or 115 or 116 or 117 or 118 or 119 and are 6 digits. But the only number I have seen on the motor of my machine looks something like this: 4450 115 60 <- and I always assumed the 115 refers to voltage it is expecting and 60 probably refers to Hz.
If I just knew a contemporary motor that uses the same size carbon brushes then that would be excellent!



Thanks for any help anyone can give, its getting awfully dirty in here...

 

[electroluxxxx]

Hello
the motor you have there is an Ametk Lamb Motor, This should be the right style for your motor

hope this helps


http://www.sweetsweep.com/lamobr33.html

 

[roto-matic]

Thank you for responding, electroluxxxx. Yes, I know it is a Lamb motor because written on the fan housing is "LAMB ELECTRIC CO." But there are many types of brushes for Ametek Lamb Motors, right? Now, you include a link to a page for brush number # 33326-1. So what leads you to believe this brush will fit my machine? I looked at your profile and you likely know way more than I do, but personally I am doubtful that this is the correct brush. On the page you linked to, if you click on the picture of the brushes, it gives you a blow up of the brushes (this picture included below). I held my ruler up to it and the carbon brush is 1/4" thick (good) but the height I measure is 1/2" (bad -- the carbon brushes of my motor are only 3/8" in height). Now of course, that picture they are using might not have any relation to the actual brush, I don't know. And of course it would be nice if these damn web stores would actually specify the dimensions of these brushes they are selling. But like I said, really appreciate your responding.

 

[twocvbloke]

With a quick visual comparison of the two images here, I'd say you have the right brushes there, just compare the location lugs, they're in the same places and are the same shape, so, I'd be willing to bet they are the correct ones for your motor...

 

[electroluxxxx]

Carbon Brushes

I have serviced many many lamb motors, and knowing about lamb I am certain these are the correct brushes. the difference about a picture blown up and the real thing is that the picture can sometimes seem larger or smaller than the item in your hand

hope all is well

 

[vac_whisperer]

I dont have any info on eureka motor brushes, but i would like to extend a warm welcome to the forum to you.

VW

 

[hoover28]

carbon brushes

you have the old style carbons, thay are not made any more as an assy with the black holder, but you can still buy just the carbon w spring, you must reuse the black holder and brass sleeve. to to do this you can pull out the brass sleeve from the holder, it can be a bit hard to do with out damege. I have the carbon brushes in stock I think, I will have to look at woork tomarow. feal free to call me at woork and I can send them to you. my infow is in my file

Chris

 

[roto-matic]

hoover28, thanks for bringing this up. Because that is another avenue I am pursuing. If I look carefully at my brush holder, I can see that the plastic holder seems to be made up of 2 separate pieces (I can see scratches on one that stop right where they meet), a front half and a rear half. And yes, I HAVE found on the Internet places that sell the bare carbon attached to a spring and with the correct cross-sectional dimensions, i.e. 1/2" x 3/8". So I thought, if I could just pull that rear half off of the brass sleeve (as you call it), then I feel pretty sure I could insert one of those bare carbon brushes into the original holder, push the rear half back on and viola, I have a carbon brush ready to be put back into my motor. But I have tried and tried and cannot get the two halves apart. One big problem is there is nothing to grab onto on the rear half (except for that one little stub you can see on the top in the photo). But considering how tightly snug the 2 halves are against one another, I don't know. Could they be glued? And the glue held for 50 years? That seems hard to believe. Another possibility I thought of is, what if the rear half has some kind of hooks (i don't know what the correct term is for what I am thinking of) that stick out, that would latch into hook-receptors within the front half. I tried to diagram what I am talking about below. If they did something like that, then I am screwed as far as taking this thing apart without destroying it. Oh, but you say you can pull the brass sleeve out of the entire plastic holder? Well, I hadn't thought of that, maybe I'll try working on that.

 

[roto-matic]

Hey Chris. I can hardly believe it but I did it! I managed to get that brass sleeve out of the plastic holder. And I was totally mistaken thinking the plastic holder was in 2 parts. Now, how does one get hold of a new carbon brush to put in place of the used up one? I thought I knew where to get one but now I see it isn't quite right (Notice that the end plug needs to be circular, whereas the one I saw on the Internet has a square end). Does this type of carbon have a name or a number I could search for? Thanks so much for your help!