Kirby Dual Sanitronic 50 restoration!

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Wow, the amount of vacuums you own and have owned, I am surprised you never got a Kirby


I just got one of those myself! It's a very unsuspecting model and collectors often overlook it, but it's one of their better models for sure.
 
Wow!

YUM!! Love that shiny metal and gleaming brown trim!
Commutator looks to have minimal wear and the rest seems to have been cared for for the most part. That was a great resto candidate.
Excellent work for sure.

This looks just like one I had restored 1.5 years ago. It had very similar before and after images, and same style bag. Not sure if I did a thread on it or not...

With as much work as you put into it, splurge for new Kirby bearings so it will run and sound new for another 50 years. All of my restos are treated to new bearings, regardless how the old ones looked or felt. One never knows how many revs they had.

Keep it up!
 
You know it bugs me every time I see one that looks so gorgeous, a friend had given me one years ago and I just re-gifted it later on to someone that I thought needed it more unrestored of course. My very first Kirby to play with was my aunts and that was probably about 1963 and it looked like this. Again that's beautiful! ❤️
 
Hey Kyle

Can you tell us how you get that shine? What is your method? Are yo using a polishing wheel?
 
Thanks all! I really appreciate the kind words!!

FOR THE POLISHING!!

Many people have asked, and I know I have posted written instructions in the past…but maybe some photos will help those.

I use a wet sanding method, which is the only way to truly achieve smooth and CLEAR polish results.

Pre-sanding:
Wipe everything down with all purpose cleaner
I personally go over all surfaces with 0000 steel wool to remove surface tarnish and sticky dirt before sanding, so I am not sanding grit into my metal.
Then I vacuum off all the loose wool/dirt and wipe down with 90% rubbing alcohol.

Wet sanding. Fill your glad container with a dash of dawn/water at whatever temp you please:
400 (if rough/ragged/gouges) Spending a good amount of time here with moderate pressure.
800 (I start here if it is fairly smooth/good condition) Spending the most amount of time with 800, even if I did not start with this level. It will remove your 400 grit swirl marks in the metal
1000 spending the next most amount of time here achieving a very smooth surface and getting out the last of the tarnish
1500 continuing to smooth, and achieving the first step of clarity
2000 additional clarity

Now bring out your mothers polish and 0000 steel wool. Lots of elbow grease here to get out the last of the swirl marking from the sanding.
After going over everything with steel wool, slather extra mothers on your metal

Bring out your (in my case) hand held buffer with a wool pad. Make sure it is clean with no grit.
Go over it once, twice, three times, whatever you need.

Buff off black tar with your microfiber and enjoy your new finish.

FAQs:

No, foam pads don’t work for this, must be wool pads

Can I use a buffing wheel? Probably… i don’t have the space for one, and this works just great for me.

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Thanks for the detailed buffing instructions.
In my restos, I had done everything you did, except one...

I had used the wool buffing wheel on the drill with lots of elbow grease, instead of the 0000 steel wool.

I have a D80 and a 1CR to restore this spring, so I will try the steel wool method to see how it works. It could be a good improvement! I remember my former Kirby guy saying something about using the steel wool instead, also...

I am always glad to learn new things from here that have been tried and proven!
Thanks again.
 
Thanks so much, Kyle

Kyle,

Thanks so much for the pics and the explanation! This would be cool to see in person! I am always concerned about sanding because I am afraid that you might be sanding too much metal away thus compromising what metal is left. Not sure about this though. Has anyone actually ever measured how much metal is being taken off?
 

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