New member Old Kirby 505

[autocomman]

And holy crap that handle spring is a beast. I know there was a tool for it, but I didn't wanna spend the a for a tool I'll use one time. It wasn't too bad, but still...the new spring had quite a bit more tension, and even then it's not like the old one was a light weight haha.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

autocomman

Mark,

Your 505 sounds pretty good so far!

~Ben

 

[lesinutah]

Hey

It sounds good the bearings in bearing plate might need greased.

 

[autocomman]

I cleaned and repacked the bearings. I'll admit they are not as quiet as I'd like. But they turn quite smoothly. Since this will be more of a show piece I'm not too worried about it honestly. If it was gonna be in regular use then yeah I'd order new bearings. But with the cloth bag, no way to hepa it really...then it just won't see normal use.

 

[autocomman]

Well just about there. The seal between the EMPTOR and the fan case isn't thick enough. I got one of the cork gaskets. I found an o-ring as well online but haven't bought it yet...what the right combo of parts? You can see In the pics the gap where the seal is. I repaired the threads in the fan housing as well for the nozzle latch. Muggy weld. It's a product I bought to try on repairing potmetal on an vintage fan I did. It's a really low melting point solder almost. Some weird composite and a special flux. It works surprisingly well, like way better than you think it ever should. I cleaned the hole, filled it and redrilled and tapped it...didn't crank on the screw but it's tight, not gonna come loose. I highly recommend this stuff. You do have the heat the section but the melting point is like 300 350?..so it doesn't take much heat at all to get the job done. It also looks like garbage as it goes on but holy crap is it good stuff.

Bag cleaned up ok, washed it by hand. There is small hole in it, not bad but still...it's pretty worn. The cord cleaned up well, it's actually grey lol. And the belt lifter actually came out decent. I wasn't sure as it's just chromed plastic. Only issue I had on reassembly was I didn't route the lamp wire correctly and had to pull it all apart again to fix that. Otherwise it works well. Just did my living room with it.

What is the correct height of the brush roller? And what's the logic with the height adjustment for the nozzle? Drop it to the floor and up one click?

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

Autocomman

Mark,

The brush roll bristles should stick out beyond the rug plate at least 1/16 of an inch, or better yet, 1/8 inch.

~Ben

 

[autocomman]

Anyone have thoughts on what seals should be between the fan housing and EMPTOR?

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

Autocomman

Mark,

That part number you are looking for is 1880, which is an Emtor O-ring gasket for models 505 to 515.

~Ben

https://www.usavacuum.com/Kirby-Gasket-Emtor-Round-Rubber-505-515-p/013-1880.htm

 

[vacmadman]

Nice Job!

Mark

Your Kirby looks great you've done a very nice job restoring it...well done!

Jim