kirby 514 repair advice

[liddykitty]

i ment polishing the case, head, exterior in general. i don’t have much in the way of power tools, but i do keep some polishes and rubbing compounds around for jewelry and use around the house. my head has some deep gouges that would need sanding, and then i would likely end up polishing the body by hand. not that thats difficult or anything, just rather time consuming on something this size.

texaskirbyguy:
that’s a nice find, i was sure there would have been some interchangeability over the years, considering how many other parts are swapable between models, but this takes all the guesswork out of it.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

So with a cold drink, good music, and a mildly nice summer evening (first time I had ever said 'nice summer evening'?) I excavated the field coil out of this parts unit.

It started looking like an incinerated nightmare, but all of that crud brushed out with dry brushes - much easier than I expected. It was dust, dirt, and carpet fibres, like from wool rugs. This filthiness was just like my 505 and cleaned away just as good...
I did not find a part number on the field but did not look extremely close - I will look tomorrow. Overall it looks nice - no signs of overheating. It smells of old shellac, but no acrid burned smell.
I would be willing to try this motor set out in the 514.

As for polishing, Mothers mag and aluminum polish is one of the best all-around, easy to find polishes that works great by hand, or with power tools. If you have other polishes around the house, give them a try - they just might do well. I would not bother with the deep scratches - consider them battle scars, or beauty marks! Only you know how much you want it to shine! )

 

[lesinutah]

Rob

That's the right field.
The easiest way to polish a Kirby is to use steel wool. You get 0000 grade steel wool. I uploaded the pic from Walmart.com it's $3.78.
The second pic is mothers mag. Its $5-$7 at Walmart.
You simply go over metal with the steel wool. If you have scratches it usually can get them out. I'd say twenty minutes to half hour at most it would probably get the metal in great shape. Use a cloth(I use micro fiber towels Rob uses Viva paper towels) with mothers mag and maybe 10-15 minutes it will shine just like the 510 in my picture.
The steel wool is found in paint section next to sand paper. The mothers mag is in car washing waxing area.
Its much much easier to polish a Kirby than to take out the motor . Dish soap is probably the best degreaser. If you fill up a small bucket with water and put a little dish soap in it. You basically wash the motor housing and motor.
If you fill a big bucket the motor and everything else can actually be soaked in the water. You can use a regular hose with a simple sprayer if your not into scrubbing everything off.
Les

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

liddykitty

Lydia,

When re-assembling your motor, pay attention to the exact lengths of the two main field leads (the two that you feed the 1/4 dia. x 3" long insulation tubing over), and those for the headlight socket/wire. One will be long and the other short.

As this is a model 514, it (and also models 513 and 515) has the step-type foot switch button and therefore the procedure to hook up the live and neutral wires of the field coil and headlight socket to the foot switch base will be the same as for models 516-Sanitronic VII.

~Ben

 

[kirbyuser]

liddykitty(texas)

i have a nice D-50 or a D-80 or an older model i could send you if you are interested.let me know how your repair goes.it might be nice to have a real nice spare for your home.just let me know.as you can see my cat likes her kirby also. lol !

 

[liddykitty]

awww that’s cute! at the moment i’m in the process of getting parts, but if shif i just might, my house is tiny so as nice as a spare sounds, i really just lack the room. i got to say i love that D-50 though.

 

[kirbyuser]

liddykitty

well it's here for you if you want it.just keep me informed.thanks for the reply.i think you would make a good home for it.i'm sure there's a closet space or corner somewhere it could reside.mine sets out in the living room just waiting to gobble up some dirt.

 

[lesinutah]

Vacuser

That ds50 isn't a DS 650. It looks like a 562 or a sanitronic light. The ds59 has the Kirby logo on the hood that lights up. Its a nice vacuum but one Kirby will be fine.
Les

 

[kirbyklekter]

@ Les,

I've never heard of a ds59 or a ds650. Can you tell me where they place in the Kirby lineup? I also thought the lighted logo on the hood was on the 562,no?

@liddykitty I hope you are able to get your 514 back up and running without too much hassle, they sure are sweet little machines! Billy

 

[kirbyuser]

DS-50 wrong picture

i set the wrong unit out for the DS-50 picture. that's my sanitronic VII.here's the right one.

 

[lesinutah]

Cunny

Nice kelter you caught me with a typo. I stayed he was showing the wrong model. My phone has auto correct. Thanks for contributing to the thread being a Grammer cop. I mean all the information I provided including Rob had the wrong armature, I stated what models would work and I corrected vacuser for showing the wrong model.
You got me on two typos.
I appreciate the feedback but don't be a wallflower and jump out to correct someone when you haven't provided anything productive to the thread. Vacuser knew what I meant. Its nice when people are proactive not reactive.
I don't hop along your Charmaine thread and post anything. I haven't contributed to it and I'm not going to correct anyone on that thread either.
Fyi the lighted logo was only on the DS 50. If you are going to correct me atleast be accurate.
562 was the first sanitronic vacuum. It was the first Kirby to have the bag with the sani pocketand the pocket bag is what Kirby named them. Its the first vacuum to have the bag loop assembly and the bag hanger. It was the first machine with the square emtor with no sweet Aire port. Its the second to last 1 speed 4 amp Kirby. The sanitronic 7 is the last single speed Kirby. 562 is from 1962. The sanitronic 7 was made in 1963 and was the second sanitronic vacuum in the series. The dual sanitronic 50 was the first 2 speed Kirby. It was sold in 1965-1967. In 1965 it was Kirby's 50th year in business. The dual sanitronic 80 was made 1967-1969. It was the last 13" nozzle Kirby other than the heritage series had a 13" nozzle option and the Comvac 1300 was the other exception. The classic 1 was the last vacuum Jim kirby helped design. Kirby bought out a commercial cleaning company named janitronic. This is where the sanitronic name came from and where the first carpet shampoo systems were adopted from janitronic. They made janitronic commercial vacuums inspired by the janitronic company and namesake they owned.
If you correct me educate yourself on the Kirby lineup. You shouldn't correct somebody when you're wrong yourself.
Your welcome for the Kirby education I just provided for you.
Les

 

[kirbyuser]

kirby correction rant

yeaaaa les !!take a breath buddy LOL !

 

[lesinutah]

I hijacked it

It went off topic.
I'd Rob giving her the needed parts.
This tidbit on 513 came from Tristan on YouTube. The 3 amp had the stationery cord hook. The 4 amp had the rotating cord hook.
I do have a 500 series vacuum with no I'd plate. I turned it on when I got it and it sounded very different.
Les

 

[kirbyklekter]

Thanks Les,

for the info on the 5xx's, my question was sincere. Dad always said if you don't know something,ask. Sorry if my question offended you it wasn't meant to at all.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

the liddykitty kirby care package...

I got all the parts together that Lydia needs, as well as a few extra spare parts just because I have a lot of them.
I will get these on their way to her this week.

Anyone need the empty 505-513 motor casing/fan chamber from the part unit I gutted? It will likely get tossed if not.

 

[lesinutah]

I apologise

For being a complete Ace when someone wasn't correcting my grammar but had a real question.
I get emails on how I'm incorrect in my posts. I'm going to name people who have called me Putin the past. I also have read my posts and I myself agree it looked like a third grade kid wrote it.
Kelton from Colorado springs, Vaclab, abc placenta, luxlife, a007kirbyguy and more.
I have never been called out by Billy or kirbykelter and I apologise to him. I'm very defensive in replies. Billy is one of the nicest people on the board. I'm writing I was wrong assuming someone who has never been rude at all and I wish I could delete the the post but it's over 6 hours old. I'm going to assume Billy will direct his questions to more courteous people like Rob and other members. I'm sorry Billy I was wrong and I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings in anyway.
Les

 

[kirbyklekter]

Thankyou Les

What you wrote is very nice and appreciated. I really enjoyed the emails and talking about the muscle cars we once had too.

@liddykiddy, Once your back up and running, is there a chance we could hear it running?

 

[liddykitty]

why sure, i’d be happy to post a short video of me vacuuming.

 

[liddykitty]

Done!

I got it all back together last night, and, sense it was such a popular recommendation, gave it a polish as well. A huge thank you to texaskirbyguy for the parts! i’ll be posting a video later in the day, but i have to wait for the little one to nap first. thank you everyone, y’all were a big help.

 

[liddykitty]

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

liddykitty

Lydia,

Your 514 is sure a good runner, especially thanks to Rob (texaskirbyguy)!

~Ben

 

[madman]

So what was the verdict, ultimately? Field took a dump?

 

[liddykitty]

MadMan

That’s my thought, everything else looked good. that said i replaced both the field and the rotor as i was sent both.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

liddykitty

Lydia,

What is the serial number on your 514, please?

If it is 482227 or lower, its rug nozzle will have the same brush roll with the shorter (1") adjusting screws; if so, this means you cannot straight away install a new 13" brush roll unless the longer 1-3/8" adjusting screws are removed in favor of the original brush roll's 1" long screws. Also, when changing out screws, do not remove both of them at once, since leaving one of the screws alone during replacement will act as a guide.

~Ben[this post was last edited: 8/8/2020-23:40]

 

[liddykitty]

my serial is 470435. i replaced the drum roll back when i first got it, as the original was worn out. i didn’t have any issues that i recall.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

liddykitty

Lydia,

Yours originally did have the nozzle with the 1" long adjusting screws.

Here is where I got the info about the brush roll adjusting screw differences for models 513/514.

~Ben

 

[lesinutah]

Nice

Glad to see you polished it up. It looks as good as it runs.
Your dog was staring at the door and when you started vacuuming he or she had no where to go. The dog then kind of watched.
Could you imagine your dog if you had 2 Kirby's.
Les

 

[kirbyklekter]

Very nice...



Sounds like a healthy motor to me! Thanks for making the video, I know you're busy.

 

[liddykitty]

yeah, poor dog lol, i tried to get her to stay in the kitchen but she wasn't having any of it. i’m glad i took the time to polish it, it turned out very nice. it’s running nicer now than i ever remember it doing, at some point i need to track down some accessories for it.

KirbyClassicIII, it had what i thought to be the original aluminum drum roll in place when i found it, along with a softer grey rubber belt. i guess someone must have put the longer screws in at some point. i would have liked to have left it in place but the roll was so worn out it couldn’t make contact with the floor, so it has a wooden roll now.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

Lydia, your 514 sounds GREAT! You are very welcome for the parts and glad that parts unit helped to save yours. Hearing that motor run really made my day as I was not able to test it with a fan. However, it tested great without and bearings were the best of all the parts units I had. Therefore I had good expectations and this was the outcome.

Good to know you got the handle spring and tube replaced also. You could help several others out and post how you did it without the special tools. This was asked about just recently.
Polishing came out nicely even without power tools.
Great video - talk about a dog being put into a corner, lol!

Again, I love the way that Kirby sounds - a lot like my little 505. Hope it keeps running for decades more. Attachment sets can still be had online or from members here to make it more versatile.