Bill
You made a good point in your final video. The Kevlar Cloth bag wouldn't be necessary if using the TriStar HEPA Cloth bag, as the HEPA Cloth material would capture all the dust & keep the Kevlar Cloth bag clean. BUT, using just the rubber seal from the Kevlar Cloth bag is still a bad idea.
First of all, go ahead & try closing the bag door on your TriStar with just the Kevlar Cloth bag in place with no paper bag. Notice how the door won't latch firmly down? It's because you need the cardboard seal from the paper bag to make a complete seal. It's how Interstate Engineering intended the vacuum to be used. The only way you could use a Compact or TriStar with just the Kevlar Cloth bag as a shakeout bag is if you saved a cardboard bag collar, put it on top & close the bag door. In addition, the metal rim on the Kevlar Cloth bag & rubber seal actually support the cardboard bag collar so it cannot collapse & leak dust & dirt.
As far as your relying on the cardboard bag collar & the rubber seal to stay in place & not move or leak dirt, that would be foolish. Watch your "TriStar CXL Baking Soda in the Carpet Test", at 7:54 in the video, as well as in your last video, see how cracked up & broken your cardboard bag collar is. That cardboard bag collar is INFERIOR compared to the bag designs that the TriStar copycats use. Patriot, Airstorm & the bag for the original green Vortech Force use a much wider cardboard bag collar compared to the TriStar cardboard bag collar, & Miracle Mate made it a complete cardboard bag top. Vortech Force also later copied Miracle Mate's bag design for their latest XR3000 model. You might also be interested to know that Home Care Industries, under the various names they sold under & other names they manufactured for, made a generic TriStar paper bag with the same style wide bag collar Vortech Force originally used, which is still available today. So, Bill, even TriStar's competitors knew & considered the cardboard bag collar to be flawed & fixed that part of the design when they copied the TriStar. You're asking for trouble relying on a rubber seal & that flimsy cardboard bag collar that easily cracks & breaks to make a complete seal, & more importantly, stay in place & not leak dirt.
As for your claims in the video "TriStar - Will Removing The Pre-Motor Filter Mean The Bag Sucks Into The Motor?" - you claim that the pre-motor filter is no longer required & the bag couldn't be drawn into the motor? Well, that test you did was with a EMPTY HEPA Cloth bag. Furthermore, the Kevlar Cloth bag wasn't in place along with the pre-motor filter to hold it back from being sucked into the motor. Try performing that test again with a FULL bag & I'm pretty sure the TriStar will pull that bag at least a little bit towards the motor. Protecting the motor from dust particles isn't the only reason Interstate Engineering intended for that pre-motor filter to be used.
If you insist on using the HEPA Cloth bag by itself in your TriStar, I would suggest using it with the pre-motor filter & using the metal ring in your first video with the rubber seal to support the cardboard bag collar & greatly reduce the chance of the cardboard bag collar giving way, leaking dirt & dust & causing a issue.
And by the way, in your last video, "Compact/TriStar Single HEPA Bags Usage: High Performance Versus Safety", make sure in the future you use CORRECT information when making statements about Electrolux. You stated that Electrolux canisters never used a post-motor filter for decades? Well, that's true for AMERICAN canisters, Bill, NOT the Canadian canisters! Electrolux Canada, right from the very start with the first canister imported from Sweden in the early 1930's, has ALWAYS had a post-motor filter. Furthermore, it was only from 1955 to about 1985-86 or so that Electrolux USA did not have post-motor filters on their canisters. That changed with the introduction of the Electrolux 2100, a design that started with the AP100 in 1973 in Canada. You also stated in that video that Electrolux never used a pre-motor filter & only the bag? BUT, you conveniently forgot that ALL Electrolux canisters in America & Canada have a screen, whether plastic or metal, built into the back of the plastic bag chamber that ensures the bag does not come into contact with the motor & any large particles are caught. And before this, all metal bodied canisters that used paper bags had either a metal or plastic perforated bag chamber that ensured the bag did not come into contact with the motor. So, through design, that DID act as a pre-motor filter. Also note that, for about 10 years now, Aerus does make a charcoal pre-motor filter for all Aerus & Electrolux canisters that use Style C bags for canisters with the plastic bag chamber.
Kenny & Devin - You guys are right, using a Simplicity Freedom upright bag with a bag topper in a AirWay or Vita Vac is indeed a bag modification. The difference here between it, a Electrolux & the TriStar with this bag modification, though, is the AirWay & Electrolux both have bag cages that support not only the bag, but the bag collar. As far as I'm concerned, that's the one HUGE mistake Bill has made using just the TriStar bag with the rubber seal.
Rob
