G.E. Roll-Easy hose transplant

[aeoliandave]

Well, that turquoise Flobee Pet Groomer hose was begging to donate itself to the Roll-Easy cause. Bound & determined to do the right thing I removed the GE O ring bumpers from the woven hose ends and patiently worked a long thin flexible bit of hardened steel under & around the hose, going in a bit deeper each rotation. This eased and sliced through the rubber cement. I detected that the GE hose nozzles have a shallow raised screw pattern. All that easing gently separated the hose rubber from the metal and with firm grip & twist, the ends came free with no damage to the woven or rubber areas.

So, the woven hose is saved for some other transplant project, having gracefully donated its GE ends.

 

[aeoliandave]

The Flobee hose is a simple rotating snap fit to the Pet Groomer ends and twisted off easily. Cleaned the old rubber cement off the chrome GE ends. The ends' diameter is a hair larger than Flobee end caps so the ends and their shallow screw allowed for a glueless airtight fit that will not/does not pull off, but will unscrew when its time to copper plate the ends. the GE hose ends have their own rotating cuffs. The test is in the suck-o-meter results that give a 56" reading with or without hose.

The 7.5 foot turquoise plastic hose is spiral molded as though it has a wire coil - tho it doesn't - so it has a more authentic appearance than a concentric ring molded hose, and is a color match to the Roll-Easy wheel.

 

[aeoliandave]

Dang, that turned out real good!

So, even tho the FloBee website states it no longer makes or stocks the Pet Groomer, it IS out there in pet groomer shops across the land. Visit til you locate one and offer to buy them a replacement hose from Flo-bee. The groomer blades are so noisy & nasty it's even likely they no longer use it and have it stashed forgotten in a back room - you might get it free.
Or contact Flo-Bee in San Diego direct and route out the warehouse stockpile. I mean, somebody extruded this hose color for them, right?

Happy turquoising, y'all...

 

[arh1953]

I posted several minutes ago, but it didn't show up. If it does, please excuse it. What a teriffic difference, and so simple too! Does that beauty have white wall tires? I never noticed until tonight. I will be FloBee hunting now too.

 

[electrogirl]

Dave,

That flowbee turquoise hose looks incredible on your roll easy. I knew there was a divine reason for the flowbee.

 

[aeoliandave]

Yes, it's posted now, Alan.
Now, there's few guarantees in this life and so it is possible that my Roll-Easy's rubber tire treads came that way or were replaced with gray, instead of the dark turquoise ones shown in adverts and Charles's and your's and Tanya's, etc. But mine are a mid gray and in excellent shape.

I can see there are differences between the 3 versions. The later ones have wider treads on the wheels and appear to have narrower bodies between the wheels? You have both, Alan so tell us please...

On mine, the metal body enamel paint color is a slightly lighter shade than the light turquoise colored plastic (Lexan polycarbonate) used for the hose recepticle & handle bezel, the hubcaps and on the floor brush half of the two tone floor tool.

The crevice, upholstery, brush, rug half of the floor tool, and the main wheels are molded from a dark turquoise.

 

[aeoliandave]

Here it is as arrived before cleaning

The ambient and sun light & shadows play tricks with the color values. Here's a few more shots that show the colors more truthfully.

 

[aeoliandave]

Closeups showing the gray tire on the dark turquoise wheel with lighter hubcap.

 

[aeoliandave]

hose recepticle bezel

 

[crevicetool]

Great job there kid!!!

That new hose looks fine...That is such a unique machine. No doubt I will have to get one. I know they are becoming rare!!!

 

[charles~richard]

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeautiful!!!!! Really makes a difference in the overall appearance doesn't it!

I wonder if that cloth hose was standard "fit-all" hose stock. I have a hose that came with a Kenmore "atomic bomb" tank and it's identical -- also very close to the old cloth Kirby hose except that the Kirby hose has two red stripes and one silver stripe.

 

[aeoliandave]

That could very well be, Charles. It is still very flexible but leaks a bit. The ends came out so cleanly - most of the rubber cement stuck on the metal and the few bits I was able to pick off the weave - it clearly shows the inner construction of the hose. Very similar to cloth wrapped player piano hosing, except for the thin wire coil, which I cane see is the second inner layer. Rubberized canvas lines the two ends for about 3".

Because the ends are clean and the weave rolls back, this is the hose I'm going to latex tomorrow and report on how that goes. No danger of fouling up metal ends and someday there will be a vacuum in the collection that deserves it.

 

[arh1953]

Acute powers of observation and keen intelligence tell me

Dave, my tread on the '57 are dirty grey. I don't know how I missed that. According to Charles~Richards excellent Roll-Easy sendup, the two later models have the convex bodies, the middle model has the copper plated bezel and dark turquoise tires, the last one has grey tires, and silver aluminum bezel. There are other differences I'm sure, the main one being the later ones are narrower from side to side. And the last model has what would become the low profile floor tool that would be found on the Cord-Reel, from 1959 and up.

 

[arh1953]

SORRY

CONCAVE BODIES

 

[petek]

Well Dave it certainly looks good. I was certainly happy to have had the chance to play with it. When I get an hour I'll upload that video of me vacuuming the Roll Easy way LOL

Who made all these hoses anyways? I'm assuming most manufacturers outsourced them or did they?