Printed Brush Strip Adapters for Concept and Celebrity

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abobotek

Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2024
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13
Location
Redmond, WA
Frustrated with inability to find either replacement brush strips or a complete brushroll for my Celebrity QS, I designed a 3D-printed brush strip adapter. It holds a Eureka VGI brush strip and slides into the original Celebrity QS agitator, with the combination replacing an original brush strip. The original brush strip for the U3237 is PN 48445017 and has green bristles.

Will this work for the Concepts? I'm not sure. For my Concepts, the PN is 48445015 and the bristles are orange. I can's see any notable difference between these two original brush strip other than the bristle color. Perhaps the bristle length is different.

These adapters are now in test. Concerns are that they may not be durable and that they may not sustain the heat of a long vacuuming run on a warm Summer day. For starters, The prototypes were printed using PLA, which is neither the strongest nor most heat resistant of plastics. A few weeks of test may tell. Fiber reinforced nylon may be easily substituted, adding strength, resiliency and an extended temperature range.
 
Nice!

3d printing can be a solution to some unavailable parts. I had a local guy print off a new endcap for my dirt devil platinum force when the original broke. He suggested using a reinforced resin for it due to better heat resistance. It was called rigid 4K

I love seeing this sort of creativity from people. Making new solutions to old problems to keep machines running.

blackheart-2024110206010406183_1.jpg
 
VGI brush strip haircut

Tests went well! The carpet is clean and the Meile salesman is unhappy that I'm still using my Hoover Celebrity QS.

There was one complication - the bristles were too long and rubbed on the housing. So we made a trip to the barber shop. A Wahl clipper with a #2 guide comb (1/4") gave it a perfect vacuum-show model haircut.

Attached is a photo of the brushroll end with an original Hoover green-bristle brush strip in the rear, and the adapter in place ready for a Eureka VGI brush strip in the front.

abobotek-2024110217400501935_1.jpg
 
Awesome!

This is great to see, as so many Hoovers with Quadraflex agitators have been retired solely because the brush strips were no longer available.

IMO, the Concept One grooms plush carpet better than anything. The Quadraflex PN also cleans beautifully, though I never really warmed up to Hoover canisters (or their central vac hose kits). I still think the Quadraflex was peak Hoover power nozzle design...much better than the ones before or after.

I believe the only difference between the Quadraflex PN brush strips and the Concept One brush strips is stiffness...the green bristles are softer (and perhaps a bit shorter) to put less stress on the smaller PN motor. The orange (or newer tan) bristle strips on the uprights have a length and stiffness closer to the Eureka VG1 strips you are using.

Do you have any plans to sell the 3d printed brush strip adapters?

One last thought...I wonder if it's possible to incorporate the same type of brush stiffening "rib" that the original Quadraflex brush strips had...as I believe this is one of the reasons they worked so well.
 
I came up with this idea years ago with sheet metal shims, but never pursued finishing it lol. I found that a Windsor Versamatic brush strip fits in place, but needs a ziptie in between the brushroll core.

This is a great solution. Keep it up!
 
Plans to share

The VGI adapters survived about 2600 sf of carpet vacuuming this weekend with no signs of distress. So far all is good. I have only replaced 1/2 of the brush strips as I only bought one pair of VGI strips, conservatively avoiding buying what might go quickly to the trash. The vacuum vibrates more now; the brush roll is unbalanced. I expect this vibration to end when all four brush strips are replaced.

Four more pairs of VGI brush strips are now on order. This is enough to finish the Celebrity and also equip one of my Concepts. Hopefully the three brush rolls are uniform, and the adapter will work equally well on all three.

As far as production goes, I'm not sure that I want to go down that rabbit hole. 12 years ago I made a few speaker grills (CNC drilled ABS, molded over plywood and then hand-trimmed to size) for some vintage Allison Acoustics speakers I was restoring. That was about 700 pairs of speaker grills ago, with most sold through Etsy. I'm making grills chiefly to help others who love their vintage speakers, and keep their gems out of the dump. But it takes time and the revenue is not a game changer.

I'm thinking more about posting the design on sites where others can either print the adapters themselves, or pay a printing service to produce them. This way the adapters will be available and I won't need to create them. But the first task is to ensure that they are durable and work well with different brush roll and brush strip production runs.

A few questions:

1. I don't know much about vacuums and brush strips. The VGI was picked because the dovetail body doesn't require thin rails, so it seemed more likely that a plastic (rather than cast metal) adapter would work than with VG2 or similar. Narrow plastic rails to hold a brush strip might not hold up. But the VGI has a fairly large dovetail that requires the adapter to be thin at certain points, and there's little room to add a beater bar. Does anyone know of a different brush strip that might be more suitable?

2. Is anyone interested in testing out a set? If so, please message me.

Regards,

Alex
 

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