New member with a Rainbow D4SE problem

[DrSteve]

Good day everyone! I recently acquired two Rainbow D4SEs. Both work--I thought I would rebuild one of them. I replaced the bearings and ran all the parts through the dishwasher. When I put it back together (no problems with reassembly) it ran beautifully, with drastically increased suction...for about 20 seconds. Then it just seized up!

Upon disassembly I discovered that the spider was contacting the flange and had melted! The built-up melted plastic is what caused it to seize.

What did I do wrong? I'm tempted to disassemble the other working unit but I'm a bit hesitant until I know what the error was.

I have a new spider coming...

 

[ultralux88]

Well, thats an interesting problem, could you post some pics, if I have something to look at I can probably help figure this out.

 

[DrSteve]

Thank you...

Here are a couple of pictures. The first shows the installation with the spider nut removed. The second one shows the trashed spider and the flange. You can see the mark on the flange where the spider was in contact with it. The melted plastic built up on the flange--you can see a little bit of it still on there. There was a lot more but I scraped it off before it occurred to me to take a picture.

Cheers--Steve

 

[bikerray]

When you put all this in a dishwasher was the spider in there on the drying cycle and close to a heating element? Did the spider warp? Was there any corrosion on the flange that the spider could rub on? Are the spacers in correctly, this could cause the spider to lower enough to cause it to rub.

Just a couple of ideas

 

[eurekastar]

If the baffle plate isn't tamped down and seated properly, it will bind against the spider.  You might check that.  I always just install a brand new one, because the old one can easily get bent when removing it.  The baffle is the round silver looking thing under the spider. 

 

[DrSteve]

Thanks Bike and Eureka!

When my new parts arrive I'll make sure I have the spacers and baffle plate. I "think" the baffle plate is OK.

I thought if any of the spacers and such were not installed correctly then the motor housing wouldn't go together. Am I right...?

Cheers--Steve

 

[DrSteve]

Oops I meant to say I'll make sure I have the spacers and baffle plate installed correctly...

 

[eurekastar]

I think you'd still be able to put the motor together.  The only problem is that things would rattle around in the fan housing and you'd notice that pretty quickly. 

 

[DrSteve]

UPDATE: The new spider arrived today. I disassembled the motor all the way and reassembled. The vacuum works like a champ! I took a good look at the old spider today--one part of it seems to have melted more than the rest of it. Maybe it was warped a bit or not in straight?

Thanks again--now to replace the power cord and bearings on the other unit, then rebuild the (not sure what they're actually called) carpet and furniture power heads, and see if the aqua-mate works...

:-D

And now for a celebratory glass of wine. Cheers!

 

[super-sweeper]

LOL don't spill any wine, or else the Aqua-Mate will be seeing an premature test on your carpets!