Question about Royal Model 501

[gmerkt]

I thought I asked this question already, but can't seem to find the post. Maybe I hit the wrong button. Anyway, what I'm asking about is the little hand-held aluminum cased Royal and the later Royal/Dirt Devil plastic case models of similar design.

The older 501 has a bag that turns onto a metal collar on the housing and locks in place with two metal studs. The later plastic models have a slip-on bag.

Questions:

1. Are paper bag liners available to place inside the cloth bags?

2. Are replacement bags still available for the metal 501? If not, is there an adapter made so as to be able to use the later slip-on bags on the earlier 501 with the lock-on bag?

There seems to be quite a number of different model numbers for the later plastic machines, like 08500, 103, etc.

 

[midcenturymike]

Hi Gary,

In response to your questions:
1) Paper bags/liners are available for the metal machines, however I have only had luck finding them at one local vac shop in 3-packs at about $2/bag(If anyone on here knows of a cheaper spot to buy these, please chime in). What I have ended up doing instead is using the paper bags designed for old shop vacs/old metal tanks, and inserting the plastic collar saved from one of the genuine Royal paper bags to hold it in place within the neck of the cloth bag. These tank bags have a much larger capacity, and as they fill the area of the cloth bag better than the tiny Royal bags, run a lesser chance of bursting.
2) I have never encountered a converter to use the Dirt Devil slip on bags within a metal Royal Prince. According to the manual/parts list that came with my Prince, the metal Prince and the plastic Dirt Devil were sold simultaneously within different product lines and price groups, with the respective types of paper bags available for each machine.

Michael

 

[kirbyotronic]

Question: "Are paper bag liners available to place inside the cloth bags?"

Answer: Yes, however you'll need a plastic adapter that attaches to the blower/motor end of the Royal, slip the paper bag onto the adapter fill tube, and reattach the cloth bag.

Question: "Are replacement bags still available for the metal 501? If not, is there an adapter made so as to be able to use the later slip-on bags on the earlier 501 with the lock-on bag?"

Answer: Replacement bags are available, you might get lucky and find a NOS one from a vacuum shop or on eBay, otherwise finding a used one in good condition is very easy. There aren't any adapters to convert a locking bag Royal to use a Dirt Devil slip on bag. There would be no benefit, not only would the red DD bag clash with the blue trimmed Royal, but there's no real upgrade, they're both shake out bags.

The best option is to use the 501 as is with the shake out cloth bag, or purchase the adapter and convert it to use paper bags.

 

[kirbyotronic]

Somebody already answered while I was typing my response, but all of the answers hit the nail on the head.

 

[gmerkt]

Many thanks for the responses. Does the plastic adapter for paper bags come with a package of paper bags?

 

[midcenturymike]

Hi, I'm sorry if my instructions were a bit vague. The bags for the metal machine are paper, with a round plastic collar stitched to the perimeter of the opening. This bag fits inside the cloth outer bag, and the plastic collar sits on the rubber gasket within the metal collar of the cloth bag.

What I do when the Royal bag is full is remove it from the cloth bag, remove the plastic collar from the paper bag and discard the used bag. I then install the aforementioned shop vac/tank bag into the cloth bag, leaving enough overhang to cover the rubber gasket within the cloth bag, and place the plastic collar from the Royal paper bag over top of the shop vac bag within the metal collar of the cloth bag to hold the paper bag in place.
The reasons that I do this are that I can obtain the generic shop vac/tank bags at a much cheaper price than the Royal bags, and their larger size holds more dirt and lessens the chance of the bag rupturing. I think that most of the people on here will agree with me that there aren't too many nastier tasks related to this hobby than emptying out a cloth bag packed with someone else's dander and pet hair. RALPH! LOL!
I hope this helps. The genuine Royal bags work just fine. I just resent paying $2.00 for a bag that needs to replaced after only a few uses, and have come up with this more economical method.

Michael