Loose handle on Dial A Matic

[bee-vac]

Picked this Hoover model 1140 Dial A Matic up at a thrift store. Runs pretty good, I just can't figure out how to tighten the handle. There's a screw located in the back that says to "tighten screw firmly" but this does nothing. Any input guys?

Sincerely,
"Loose and Confused"

 

[3rdgenvacguy]

Rivet under handle is loose

When you take the screw completely out and pull the handle out, usually the wires need to be unhooked under the switch plate, you will see the top of a rivet head when looking down the hole in the bag housing. The other side of the rivet is inside the bag compartment and appears as a rectangular head at the very top, right in the middle. To tighten this rivet is not real easy. We used a large shaft out of an old washing machine. You need a shaft that is 3/4" to 1". Tighten this shaft in a vise, and insert the entire machine upside down over the shaft. The shaft goes where the handle originally went. Do not get the handle wires pinched between this shaft and the rivet head. While one person holds machine vertically, upside down, another person repeatedly hits the rectangular rivet head with a 1/4" punch and hammer. You have to smack it hard and around 20 times or so. After removing the bag housing off of the large shaft you will see that the head down inside has flattened out. Sometimes the screw itself gets worn out, from being loose and rocking back and forth you will see grooves worn into the screw.

 

[bee-vac]

Wow

Thank you 3rdGenVacGuy. I'll give this a shot.

 

[3rdgenvacguy]

loose handle

I remembered that on your model which is not self propelled, the handle has a plug so the wiring will disconnect at the bottom of the handle without removing the wiring under the switch plate. Self propelled models do not have this plug. There is also a plastic piece under the handle that has to pull out in order to get the shaft against the rivet head. You pull out the plastic piece and pull the wiring out of the way of the rivet head. It is somewhat tight because the wiring is fairly short coming out of the main body. On the self propelled models, you would have to undo the wiring at the switch plate, and undo the self propell cable from the grip. In the 80's and 90's, we tightened hundreds of these handles. The punch that you hit the rivet head with could be as simple as an old agitator shaft cut down, which is what we often used.