Hoover Model 29 help

[rogerleonard]

I recently acquired this wonderful Hoover Model 29.

The bag spring appears to be outstretched or maybe not even the original appropriate spring.
What do I do about fixing or replacing this spring?
Where would I find a replacement?

Also, how would I go about smoothing or buffing these scratches.
The vacuum works beautifully.

 

[vacuumlad1650]

Go to your local hardware store, they should have springs. Fine one that is just a little bit shorter than the distance from the spring loop on the handle to the bag slide.

 

[madman]

Scratches look pretty deep. Is the hood plastic or aluminum?

 

[huskyvacs]

This vacuum being from 1950, the hood would be bakelite. I've never heard of getting that much damage out of bakelite, and bakelite is so delicate you might just have to leave it, shows its age.

You might be able to carefully fill some of the deeper gouges in with some plastic compound? Like maybe a little bit of bondo or something similar in a tube you could pack in with a putty knife. If you take the hood into a hardware store or maybe an automotive shop to match the color, it would look like a patch I am sure but might tidy up the appearance slightly. Or plain filler and then some touchup paint color-matched in a little brush on bottle.

Not sure if it would work but that's what I thought up, because I had the same thoughts when I was wondering how to fill deep gouges on a Kirby's metalwork.

 

[hooverboy81]

It’s not Bakelite

The model 29 and 62 introduced Hoover to a new foray of VERY early soft plastics. It is definitely NOT BAKELITE! You need to proceed with caution before going crazy trying to remove scratches! Check your email! I’ll post a picture of my 28 nicely polished!

Happy Hoovering!