If you could re-engineer any machine in your collection, what would you change about it?

[superocd]

Here's what I would change:

Sanitaire/Eureka F&G upright (SC886, SystemPro S675):
- Go back to a cast aluminum metal base
- Steel fan chamber insert (for non-Quick Kleen) or steel Quick Kleen cover, cast aluminum or Amodel fan
- Steel motor/bearing plate and motor frame
- Improve the sealing surface where the bag meets the discharge, the motor seal and Quick Kleen seal, or rather, eliminate the gaskets altogether and employ air duct sealant (I've used air-duct sealant on my S647 and 643 to seal the motor to the base)
- Heavier duty cord wraps bolted to handle, with upper cord wrap hook able to pivot to facilitate easy cord removal

(643)
- Hex-end brushroll rather than the extinct square-end for sure, or just keep the square-end setup for later machines

Hoover Convertible (JCPenney Convertible, Hoover Model 1010, Hoover Model U4004)
- The field coil and bearing is removable from the motor/bearing plate via bolts instead of rivets
- Bearing plate and motor frame is made out of steel rather than bakelite
- Eliminate the male/female power connection at the handle fork/bottom of handle and just have a plug connector pigtail coming out of the motor a la Royal
- Bumper is easily removable/replaceable

Royal (880, 884, Preferred Series 6103f):
- Hole in armature a la Kirby to facilitate easier shaft/fan removal by inserting a pick or thin screwdriver through the shaft
- Handle is bolted to handle fork rather than clamped
- Easily removable/replaceable bumper

Kirby (Avalir):
- Steel motor frame and bearing plate rather than plastic
- Keep the cast aluminum lower base rather than going to plastic

Kirby (Heritage II Legend):
- Mini emptor made of cast aluminum rather than Lexan
- Easily removable/replaceable bumper
- Better reinforcement for handle stop on motor shell to prevent leaning

Kirby (Dual Sanitronic 50/Sanitronic 7):
- Disposable bag system (note - I've added a Mini Emptor/discharge tube to both and added zippers to both bags to facilitate disposable bags)
- Easily removable/replaceable bumper
- Better reinforcement for handle stop on motor shell to prevent leaning

What would you change about your machine(s) in your collection?

 

[eurekaprince]

For my Miele C3 canister, I would definitely move the power pedal to the front of the unit like the old Eureka canisters had....right under the handle grip. This way, it would be easier to step on in normal use, and would be easier to access by hand when the cleaner is stood on its end for stair cleaning and cleaning in high cabinets.

I would also replace perimeter bristles in Miele's combo carpet/floor nozzles with a single strip of bristles along the center of the nozzle, thus allowing pickup on both the forward stroke and back stroke.

 

[hoover300]

Hoover 543 and 300: Make the fan case/body of vac in a more durable metal. My 543 has a crack in the corner of the brush housing, and I have seen several coffee cans on here that have had parts shattered in shipping. Also, soft plastic(much more durable) wheels like on a late 500 series Kirby.

Eureka F&G: Kevlar fan like on a modern Kirby. Make the bag coupler out of metal so it doesn't crack, same goes for the fan case. Also, replaceable cord hooks like on a Sanitaire, and Philips head screws.

Electrolux G(I don't own one, but this needs to happen) Metal hub soft plastic wheels. The original hard plastic ones are always broken.

Electrolux XXX: Removable wheels


Kenmore/Magnetic/Bee Vac Super Junior: Hole in fan spindle and rotor to remove fan, motor brush holders attached to the stator by more than just the wires

Hoover Elite: Metal fan case, kevlar fan

 

[human]

Interesting thread...

I think I've managed to fix a lot of the things on my machines that I would consider flaws. I up-fitted my Kirby Heritage 1HD with a Heritage II mini emptor and fill tube to eliminate the dump bag as I also did with my Sanitaire SC686, adding an F&G setup. I've also made a minor modification to the hose for my Eureka "Ironsides" canister so I can use it with an Electrolux wand and power nozzle, although I would ideally like to have the Eureka accessories like it came with originally or in a fantasy world that the Eureka would have accessory couplings identical to those used by Electrolux.

The only other fantasy item I can think of is it would be nice to have a Discovery II style Electrolux twin-motor upright with a power head based on say a PN4 power nozzle instead of an Omniflow. I'm just not a fan of the little extension. It's on the wrong side for a left-hander like me but I don't really want an outrigger on the the left. I just prefer the square PN2 and PN4/4A nozzles. While we're on the subject of Electroluxes, it's a minor thing but it would also be nice if the Electrolux canisters and uprights used the same bags.

 

[elecroluxmodel1]

A Kirby...

I would reengineer a Kirby because sometimes you don't know weather your Kirby is on or off. So I would put a flip switch on the handle with labeled on/off.

 

[kirbyuser]

reengineer

the fan of the 500 series kirbys.would make it much stockier.

 

[vacuumkid47]

Kirby Strain Relief

On the Generation series, change the cord strain relief because I replace too many with shorts and broken, exploded power cords on the Ultimate Gs

 

[tolivac]

Go back to the metal fans in the G type Kirbys-the plastic fan deforming when used as a "compressor" mode is unacceptable.With the tapered fan blade configuration in newer Kirbys the blades would be stronger to impact from hard materials.Seriously Kirby could go to titanium fans since this metal is becoming cheaper now.Now worry of fan breakage there!

 

[tolivac]

BRING BACK THE METAL ROYALS!!!!!!!!

 

[kirbyrama]

Re- Engineer Older Kirbys

The later 500 -series and early Sanitronics would have 2 speeds,handle fork more like Classic and later, longer hose and flexible shaft, suction relief valve on swivel hose end, disposable bag with fill-tube, more basic attachments, more Handi-Butler accessories,zipper on back of cloth bag, more detailed instructions, and a quieter motor.

 

[cgross]

If would give the classic Hoovers such at the 1060 bags with tubing that goes to the top of the bag rather than at the bottom. I am actually told such bags exist and am trying to get one. I would also have a separate motor for beater brushes so I could turn them off and use the vacuum on the floors. Finally, I would use aluminum or some other light metal for the hood rather than the plastic.

 

[cheesewonton]

For Swedish Electrolux vacuums through the D745 I would re-engineer their wonderful old two stage suction motors so they could be rebuilt easily. Electrolux pressed the fan on and the screw heads holding the field to the fan housing are underneath the field, making the motors impossible to disassemble to clean the fans or to replace the bearings and carbon brushes. It's a shame because they are a high quality motor and should be able to be serviced.
There are no replacement motors sold for them in 100 - 120 volt form that have the six fins on top to prevent the motor from spinning as well as the post for the spring that pushes the motor down against it's rubber seal. Domel sells a 220-240 volt drop in replacement motor but there is nothing for the few of us with these machines that run on 100 - 120 volts.

 

[cheesewonton]

Three other dreams.

Schoettler needs to sell a synthetic microfiber dust bag with a closed top. The angle of the bag lid on Patriots allows dirt to pile up over the top of the open top Stormy bag. When you open the lid dirt goes everywhere and it is almost impossible to remove the disposable paper bag without dirt falling into the cloth inner bag and the inside of the vacuum. I end up taking the vacuum outside to the trash can and tipping it upside down to remove the Stormy bag. PITA !!! They sell a close top paper bag called the Hybrid bag but it leaks more dust than the Stormy bag. Terrible. They need to sell a closed top synthetic microfiber dust bag. I can make-do with the bags Vortech sells for the XR-3000 but they are hard to find. Along with that Schoettler should change the spout that pokes into the dust bag from the big rubber hose they use now to something a little slimmer.

Same story for the Metrovac Evolution canister. Metrovac only sells a paper disposable dust bag and it is leaks like a sieve. I trim down the mounting card of a Vortech XR-3000 dust bag to fit but that is time consuming and the Vortech mounting card is just a touch thicker than the mounting card on the Metrovac bag, making the lid latches difficult to close and possibly / probably putting too much strain on them. Next bag I am going to try squeezing the card edges with a pliers to squish the cardboard down a smidge and see if that helps.

Last, a synthetic HEPA CU2 dust bag for the Hoover Hush Tone would eliminate the only shortcoming of that otherwise excellent vacuum cleaner. Use the same material Hoover sells in their house brand Style S and Style Y bags and you have an out of the park home run. I trim the mounting card of a genuine Hoover Style Y bag for now, but the Hushtone bag has the opening offset to one side and the bag is a bit smaller than the Y. I make the Y bag work but it takes some effort. With all of these it would sure be nice to just open a package and put a bag in the vacuum without ten minutes of detailed scissor work and keeping a pile of old mounting cards as templates.

 

[vacerator]

Eureka steel canister vac electric hoses. The hand grips had no swivels. This made the hoses tear faster. The later crush proof hose was better, but still no swivels.
I think the Hoover type wire reinforced hose was more flexible even without swivels. I don't like the final Eureka hoses that did swivel. Cheaply made.

 

[Absolute Rainbow]

What about... a handstick?

 

[cheesewonton]

Eureka steel canister vac electric hoses. The hand grips had no swivels. This made the hoses tear faster. The later crush proof hose was better, but still no swivels.
I think the Hoover type wire reinforced hose was more flexible even without swivels. I don't like the final Eureka hoses that did swivel. Cheaply made.

Here is a tip. You can buy a Miracle Mate hose with a Plastiflex central vacuum hose handle, pry the canister end out and replace it with a Eureka canister end. Then replace the upper wand on the Eureka power nozzle with a central vacuum upper wand with cord control. You will have to file the cord opening in the cord control for the rectangular plug Eureka used but that is simple to do. Now you have a modern hose, you eliminate that pig tail connection from the wand to the hose and you gain an off-on switch for the power nozzle.

 

[human]

Okay, this one's not in my collection and a big part of the reason it isn't is because of this design flaw: the classic Hoover Convertibles needed zippers on the outer bags instead of snaps. I recently walked away from a nice Convertible because almost all of its snaps had pulled out so the outer bag had to be held closed with safety pins. I have a similar Eureka upright that has a zipper on the bag, and lots of other brands as well. Why couldn't Hoover do that. It's not like Eureka, or anybody else had an active patent on the zipper. Having been patented in 1851, it was long expired by the time electric vacuum cleaners were even a thing.

 

[vacerator]

Here is a tip. You can buy a Miracle Mate hose with a Plastiflex central vacuum hose handle, pry the canister end out and replace it with a Eureka canister end. Then replace the upper wand on the Eureka power nozzle with a central vacuum upper wand with cord control. You will have to file the cord opening in the cord control for the rectangular plug Eureka used but that is simple to do. Now you have a modern hose, you eliminate that pig tail connection from the wand to the hose and you gain an off-on switch for the power nozzle.

I have a Plastiflex cv electric gas pump handle hose. When I use my Eureka Vibragroomer power head from the 1279/89 canisters, it's a bit too short for me. The Eureka steel grip is a few inches longer.

 

[auslux708090d2d]

If would give the classic Hoovers such at the 1060 bags with tubing that goes to the top of the bag rather than at the bottom. I am actually told such bags exist and am trying to get one. I would also have a separate motor for beater brushes so I could turn them off and use the vacuum on the floors. Finally, I would use aluminum or some other light metal for the hood rather than the plastic.

My constellation has a cloth bag, had a sympathetic owner who looked after it (still has the cardboard tool display lol) any ways I recently removed the suppressor and was surprised how clean it was with only using a cloth bag, but if I could change anything about it I would like it better sealed with possibly a celebrity motor for extra power on carpet but that is really being fussy!!

 

[auslux708090d2d]

Okay, this one's not in my collection and a big part of the reason it isn't is because of this design flaw: the classic Hoover Convertibles needed zippers on the outer bags instead of snaps. I recently walked away from a nice Convertible because almost all of its snaps had pulled out so the outer bag had to be held closed with safety pins. I have a similar Eureka upright that has a zipper on the bag, and lots of other brands as well. Why couldn't Hoover do that. It's not like Eureka, or anybody else had an active patent on the zipper. Having been patented in 1851, it was long expired by the time electric vacuum cleaners were even a thing.

I can remember the wife of a appliance repair shop sewing new zippers on the Hoovers back in the 1980s lol

 

[cheesewonton]

My constellation has a cloth bag, had a sympathetic owner who looked after it (still has the cardboard tool display lol) any ways I recently removed the suppressor and was surprised how clean it was with only using a cloth bag, but if I could change anything about it I would like it better sealed with possibly a celebrity motor for extra power on carpet but that is really being fussy!!

Some Connies can use the nice genuine Hoover synthetic HEPA Style S bag. I know a vac shop that put a Dimension 1000 motor in a Connie. It rode so high it was always flipping over. Sometimes too much is just that.

 

[kirbyuser]

the intake nozzle on the 500 series kirbys.the shaft from the fan has hardy any room for larger debris to pas by.much larger intake nozzle.

 

[panasonicvac]

I own a few Amway uprights that you can still buy new today as the Workhorse from WMJ Refurbish. I'm surprised they hadn't done some changes yet that I think needs some addressing. While I do like it's cyclonic design, it's definitely not the best I've seen. When I'd vacuum with mine, even before it reaches to the fullest line, my filters get dusty. When it was known as the CMS 1000, it had some kind of shroud. If that helped in anyway, I'd bring the shroud back along with the tool caddy the CMS 2000 had. I'd also change the material of the foam pad filter, it'd shrink whenever I'd wash mine out. Actually I'd go ahead and put a better pre filter on as well as put a post filter on if it doesn't affect performance because they don't have many layers of filtration for such a pricey machine or may as well put in a more powerful motor if it'd help out. But I like the energy efficiency of the motor and the way they sound. And I'd put a seal to wrap around the filter tray, this person would put weather striping on his.