How to remove cooling fan of Rainbow E-2 Single speed?

[vinci]

I have a Rainbow E-2 single speed that I'm rebuilding. I need to replace the top and lower bearing of the motor (G type). The cooling fan won't budge. It sits on top of the shaft and I'm counter holding the shaft with an 1/8 hex bit. Is the fan supposed to be turned counter-clockwise or clockwise? For the old D series Rainbow the fan is to be turned clockwise to remove, but not sure about the E-2 series. Also, how is the bottom plastic removed so that I can access the lower motor bearing?

Thanks for any pointers.

 

[electroluxxxx]

The fan is pressed on and should not be removed. The one thing about these is that they were meant to have carbons replaced and they were meant to be cleaned. Not rebuilt. You can pry it off by using 2 flat bladed drivers but run the risk of not being able to get it back on. Are the bearings bad or are you replacing them just because? It’s not too common for these to have bad bearings.

 

[vinci]

Yeah, it's 19 years old bought new and I'm doing the very first main teardown replacing old parts. The bearings actually feel ok. I'll just do a good cleaning of the motor and replace the carbon. Thanks a lot for your insight.

 

[vinci]

I don't need to replace the carbon, really. Looking at the rainvac website, it says "If you need to replace this, then there is a very high chance that you have an armature issue. Please call technical support with any questions you may have."

So a cleanup of the motor suffices at this time since the unit has no issue as such.

 

[electroluxxxx]

I’m actually a rainbow service tech...
If the rainbow has been heavily used depending on use the carbons could need to be replaced depending on length. These were very well known to have motors go. Just make sure to check the length before putting it back together that way you can see if they will need to be replaced sometime in the near future.

 

[vinci]

Pardon my ignorance but they appear to be ok, but I will defer to you to be sure. Thanks for your help. I made sure to keep note to put them back into the original side after cleanup.

 

[electroluxxxx]

They look great!

 

[vinci]

Cool, thanks. The vac was heavily used in its first 10 years of use. Nowadays I use it on my vehicles and between the professional house cleaners schedule. How is the lower motor stage black plastic housing removed? I just want to do better cleaning. I could just rely on compressed air to clean that area if this is a non-removable part. Thanks!

 

[vacuumdevil]

Glad to see other people encouraged him not to ruin the vacuum and remove the fan!

 

[vinci]

There're two screws holding down the lower motor black plastic housing. I closely inspected the lower motor bearing and cleaned the motor housing properly. The bearing rotates quietly.

 

[vinci]

Surprise! The fan easily slide off clean after a bit of WD40 and waiting for a while. I applied a tiny bit of JB weld upon reinstall of the fan.

 

[electroluxxxx]

We highly advised against removing the fan as those fans ARE NOT meant to come off. Well at this point hopefully your JB weld holds up

 

[dysonman1]

I made the mistake, ONCE, of removing the cooling fan from an E series motor. Thought I had it pressed back on correctly. Customer returned time and again complaining about the motor's thermostat tripping - overheating. Since the fan is pressed on at the factory, the stating torque routed out the hole in the middle of the fan. Glue didn't hold up. Nothing did. I finally had to bite the cost of a brand new motor for the customer.

 

[vinci]

I called RAINVAC and tech support said JB weld is the factory recommended reinstall process when pressing the fan back in. Will hold up just fine.

 

[electroluxxxx]

Oh that’s right! Because I work in a rainbow office doing all of the repairs I know nothing, and because Tom owns a vac shop he knows Nothing either... why bother asking for info when you can just pick up the phone and call RAINVAC. They don’t even have a rexair account anymore. I service HUNDREDS of E-series machines a year, I think I know what I’m talking about. Besides JB Weld is not a factory fix as they would never agree to a statement like that.

 

[dysonman1]

I was looking through my binder of factory service updates to the service manual and I don't see anywhere that Rexair recommends removing the cooling fan from an E-Series machine. Rexair's factory service manual only covers replacing carbon brushes and the revolving fan stage. They don't recommend replacing bearings, armatures, field coils, etc.

 

[vinci]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disrespect or water down your valued advice to a Rainbow E series owner simply seeking info to rebuild a vac that has and continues to perform wonderfully. Thanks for your advice but curiosity got the better of me - I'm a software Engineer and that is the order of the day. The vac is all put together and looking refreshed and working great! On to the next 20 years, ha!

 

[madman]

WE HIGHLY ADVISED YOU NOT TO...

have the stones to repair your own machine, and maybe learn something in the process. God forbid that happens. What a nasty attitude to have about this. Especially here, a place dedicated to vacuum knowledge. Come on now. You could've just said 'hey it might not stay on now.'

The fan looks like aluminum. If it fits loosely back on the shaft, well that's probably because you wiggled it off and ovalled the hole, as opposed to pulling it straight up, which might've proved difficult without a specialized puller tool. I would've held the fan and tapped the shaft through it with a hammer. Still, it's soft aluminum. If the hole is deformed, you can gently squeeze it with some pliers, but don't overdo it. That should do the trick, assuming the JB weld doesn't hold.

You can only learn by doing. Vinci, don't let these guys intimidate you. Learning is important, sometimes that comes with mistakes made. Part of life, friend.

 

[kazbear]

Bearing bad

I see that the Fan is not supposed to be removed. So I won't. However, the bearing is shot (pulled out ball bearings and metal shavings. The bearing on the other end is fine). So if I cant replace the bearing, is my next option to replace the entire motor?