Kirby 509 Project

[chicagomike]

In case anyone wants to follow a 509 restoration project here are the links. It might be easier watching them on you tube then in this posting too - you decide. To watch directly on you tube click on the you tube logo in each video.






https://youtu.be/wHGceEd6P20
https://youtu.be/dV-dBeKlY08

 

[3rdgenvacguy]

509 restoration

nice job, was most interested in the buffing process. Not much on that in the videos. Trying to keep your trade secrets? Just wondered what compound you use to get that final buff. Also if you change wheels. Sisal wheel ending with spiral sewn. Compounds= black emory to white or have you ever used a blue compound. I'm curious about the blue, because I have never tried it.

 

[electrolux137]

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I thoroughly enjoyed these videos!! You did a beautiful job on the machine and I know Walker must have just been beyond thrilled. A great postscript to these videos would be one of Walker when he received the machine and unboxed it, seeing it for the first time!

btw ... Did you know that on the early Kirbys (through the 2C), the numbers on the height adjustment were filled in with red paint?

Also, on the early machines through the 2C, there were thin, red-painted washers inside the screws for the wheels?

Also that on the early machines (until the Model 4C), the rear wheels were narrower than the front wheels... when the company decided to go with all four wheels the same diameter on the 4C and thereafter, they discovered the rear wheels didn't quite fit on the Sani-Emptor side and tended to rub against it.

So what did they do ... they turned the rear wheels "inside out" so that the hollow side faces out. That way, the wheel on the right side doesn't scrape against the bottom edge of the Sani-Emptor.

You can clearly see this in the instruction bookets, and they have been that way on every original-condition 505~515 I've come across. I've always thought they looked odd that way and sometimes change them around, even though it's original to have them backward.

[this post was last edited: 10/9/2015-01:38]

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Hi

Michael. The videos you've made are very good. It must of took a while to upload them.


 


Hi Charlie, As far as I'm aware the Kirby 4C still had the thin wheels at the back. The 505 was the first to have all four wheels the same thicker diameter.


My 4C has the same wheel set up as Bills "Eurekastar's" 4C.


 


Reply 3 in thread 24772


 


http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?24772

 


James

 


 

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

The Kirby 3C I used to have still had the painted numbers on the toe-touch control.

~Ben

 

[electrolux137]

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James you may be right, but it seeeeems to me that some* of the photos in the 4C instruction manual showed the wide wheels in the back.

(*noting how Kirby so frequently recycled photos from previous models)

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Hi,

<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">I've just been looking at the 4C manual and nearly all the pictures in it are of the 2C with all four of the wheels being the same but the thinner style.</span>


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">Even the complete "4C" pictured on page 4, fig 1 shows the back of the 4C power plant being belonging to a 4C but showing it with the same style fan casing as the 2C. As it edging looks flat and not curved as it should be.</span>


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">I'm guessing that's because the designers of the manuals drew the pictures and altered/recycled the pictures as needed. The public generally wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway. Just us collector</span>s

 


James

 

[human]

Great videos. It's a shame Walker didn't live close enough to come over occasionally and help with aspects of the restoration. I'm sure he would have relished the learning experience. Oh well, maybe the videos will inspire him to undertake his own rebuild project in due time.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

chicagomike

Mike,

I really wish for a disassembly/reassembly tutorial for models Classic Omega and III.

Thank you,



Ben

 

[charleskirby66]

Awesome videos, Mike!

Thank you for posting!  This is not only an awesome tutorial, but a great back-story as well.  I'm sure Walker was sooooo stoked to get his renewed 509!