Kenmore High Desert Restoration Facility Contd 2

[DesertTortoise]

I got impatient to get the white Kenmore 4.5 canister back together. A couple of things came together. Number one, we figured out the original motor from the Avocado Bomber wasn't missing any wires after all, the lead from one of the two brushes really doesn't attach to a field, and in fact attaches to ground! We confirmed this by looking at another Kenmore with the same five wire motor. So now that I know that overhaul of the original motor can be completed I took the big Ametek Lamb 115923 motor (447 air watts and 112 cfm air flow, BIG heart and lungs) out of the Avocado Bomber where it was wretched overkill and plopped it in the white 4.5. The motor mount fit perfectly as the photos reveal.

Since the 4.5's original motor had red and blue leads and the 115923 motor two black leads, and since it's been a few weeks since I disassembled it you can see I put the laptop on the table so I could reference photos I took during disassembly. This technique beats any wiring diagram!

Even still, I have never done one of these with the relay and that switches on and off at the hose, so I took a few perhaps ridiculous precautions checking to see it was wired correctly. No worries as it turned out. Nice feeling to hear it breathe deep again.

It still needs a new cord. I was planning to splice a good cord on the stub of the old one using the original reel. However,I may have found a source for an original cord reel and will order that tomorrow. Some little shop in Pennsylvania. We shall see what shows up on my door step. For now I taped over a couple of tears in the old cord just so I could reassemble it and fire it up for testing. I made the usual filters out of Electrolux bulk filter material (though I remembered while taking photos of it I had neglected to cut a filter for the exhaust side, forcing a quick motor cover removal to remedy that oversight). HEPA bag for this vac, I intend to use it in my home.

Last week I picked up a brand new current year Powermate for $37 plus shipping, a store demo where the original packaging was lost. Saturday my favorite vacuum shop will set me up with a wand that fits the new style Powermate swivel attachment and my hose. I am waiting on a set of tools to arrive and to replace the cord before I press it into routine use.

It came out pretty good for a $25 junk pile vacuum.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Don't fret, the Avocado Bomber will live again. I promise. I have a new idea to repair the hinge using a radiused plastic hinge from something like a day planner (oh my)! The motor goes back to the vacuum shop to finish the rebuild, so I am committed to it's further life. I do need to find a DPDT switch and a wiring diagram for it however. And one of those darn red bag adapters!!!

My usual filter improvement to the whimpy Kenmore foam secondary filter. At least Kenmore has a foam filter, the fancy shmancy high zoot Electrolux carpet torpedo I bought at the Starvation Army didn't even have that, allowing a cat turd or puke to pass through the motor and into the rest of the vac. Yum!

You can see the little spring thing on the cord retract button is awfully small for my fat fingers to manipulate. You can also see my cheesy masking tape repair of the degradamatic paper motor protector. Is there a source anywhere for replacements? And how come the green paper cover from the Avocado Bomber shown in the photos, which is now over 43 years old shows ( ! ) no signs of falling apart? WTF, over?

The 447 air watts that Lamb motor is capable of is more than an Aerus Lux Legacy or Classic but less than a Guardian Platinum. Not bad company for an old junk pile Kenmore to keep.

Here are the after glamour shots. Enjoy.

 

[suckolux]

sweet!

 

[bebring]

Good job! Don't let the avocado bomber die.

 

[DesertTortoise]

No death for the Avocado Bomber ! No way. It was sad to see it tucked into that box, it's heart and lungs go to the vacuum doctor in Lancaster this Saturday for reconstructive surgery and I will prowl Orifice Depot on the way home to see if there is a day planner with the kind of hinge I need to make the Bomber whole again.

But I still need the doggone red bag adapter for it!

 

[kloveland]

I had the hardest time trying to get the fan cover off the motor from my Kenmore. It's the same motor that is pictured in photo 1. Mine is a single stage motor. I didn't see anywhere to insert a flat head screw driver to pry off the fan cover. I removed the nut from the fan first. I ended up putting a dent in the cover. Now I’m on the lookout for a new motor. Originally, I thought the fans may need cleaning because my Kenmore was incredibly loud.

 

[DesertTortoise]

The motor in the photo is not the original motor that came with the vac. I took that motor apart to inspect and clean it, and found a rough bearing I cannot figure out how to remove (the brushes were half worn and the motor filthy, hence my taking it apart to inspect).

The motor in the photo is only two years old, bought to replace the dying motor in the Avocado Bomber (which is now in the middle of being rebuilt). It is newer design, more powerful than the motors that came in these vacs and in the A-B it would pull enough suction to flex the lid inward and shake the tools on the lid!. Now it has a home in a vac that has the structural integrity to handle it's suction and airflow. The original motor from this vac is apart and will be my training device to learn how to take them apart and rebuild them.

I have only taken the one motor apart, and getting the fan housings off takes a more refined technique than maybe I have. I used a very small screwdriver and light taps with a hammer to tink-tink-tink away at the lower housing, moving in circles around the perimeter to work the lower housing off without damage. The upper housing wasn't as cooperative and there are a few teeth marks in the edge of the housing from tapping on it. I filed them down as much as I thought I could but they are still visible. I'm not sure that housing will be reusable, and I noticed that stamped into the housing is a warning to never put the same housing back on after it has been removed (one way to get customers to buy parts!).

Does your motor have one fan stage or two? With these, after removing the nut you have to coax the bottom housing off with it's fan, then remove an hourglass shaped intermediate nut on the same shaft before you can get the upper fan housing off. I got that far and am now stuck not being able to remove the lower bearing from the base so I can remove the armature and lower bearing. The upper bearing is also stuck on the shaft and I don't want to proceed further without some coaching.