Royal prince hand vacuum

[keldrin]

So, received a royal prince hand vacuum today. Needed a new belt, after putting one on, works great. Brush is good on the 1 position.
Two questions
1) does anything need lubricating on this 40 plus year old hand vac
2) the rubber gasket seal for the vacuum bag is falling apart. Anyone have suggestions on replacement
And the bonus question
The manual (which is complete but falling apart) states the vacuum does not require a liner. Is there a liner for a prince 501 vacuum? And if there is, should I use it.
Will try and post pictures tommorow.

 

[keldrin]

I am leaning towards using weather stripping to replace the gasket seal

 

[centralsweeper63]

I think weather stripping should work as long as you are careful and use good strong glue. Check the brush roll bearings, these are at the brushroll ends. If you can find out how to open it up ( I am no help there sorry) you should probably check the carbon brushes, front bearing and rear bearing. Hand wash the bag in a mix with dishwashing liquid and water. Also check for any obvious damage. Hope this helps.

 

[cheesewonton]

I think weather stripping should work as long as you are careful and use good strong glue. Check the brush roll bearings, these are at the brushroll ends. If you can find out how to open it up ( I am no help there sorry) you should probably check the carbon brushes, front bearing and rear bearing. Hand wash the bag in a mix with dishwashing liquid and water. Also check for any obvious damage. Hope this helps.

I think it preferable to use a little laundry detergent rather than dish detergent. It is gentler and rinses out better.

 

[centralsweeper63]

whichever you prefer. I just had some dish liquid on hand.

 

[tylerhawkins84]

So, received a royal prince hand vacuum today. Needed a new belt, after putting one on, works great. Brush is good on the 1 position.
Two questions
1) does anything need lubricating on this 40 plus year old hand vac
2) the rubber gasket seal for the vacuum bag is falling apart. Anyone have suggestions on replacement
And the bonus question
The manual (which is complete but falling apart) states the vacuum does not require a liner. Is there a liner for a prince 501 vacuum? And if there is, should I use it.
Will try and post pictures tommorow.

If you look up Ubergreenguru on here he makes new gaskets that he claims are identical to the OEM. If the gasket is just compressed no longer making a good seal I have removed them using a hairdryer and then adding a layer of thin automotive trim double sided tape and then re-attaching it and that has worked well for me. Royal did make paper toss-out bags for these (Type H) but they are no longer made and pretty difficult to find but they do turn up on eBay.

 

[centralsweeper63]

That is interesting to hear.

 

[keldrin]

The gasket is falling apart.
The type H bags are no longer available. Was wondering if anyone has tried using the dirt devil 103 BAG ADAPTER that makes it compatible with type J bags. I know it was made for the dirt devil hand vacuum, but wondered if it might work with a royal prince.

 

[keldrin]

Ubergreenguru hasn't logged onto vacuumland since 2023. Might be a long shot getting a reply from him.

 

[centralsweeper63]

I wonder if anyone has his email privately.

 

[human]

So, received a royal prince hand vacuum today. Needed a new belt, after putting one on, works great. Brush is good on the 1 position.
Two questions
1) does anything need lubricating on this 40 plus year old hand vac
2) the rubber gasket seal for the vacuum bag is falling apart. Anyone have suggestions on replacement
And the bonus question
The manual (which is complete but falling apart) states the vacuum does not require a liner. Is there a liner for a prince 501 vacuum? And if there is, should I use it.
Will try and post pictures tommorow.

Yes, Royal did offer paper liners for the Prince 501; however, they're hard as hens' teeth to find anymore. Unfortunately, the liners for the later Dirt Devil handhelds, which are readily available, are a totally different design and will not work with these older metal machines. We're fortunate the belts are the same for both machines.

 

[keldrin]

I wonder if anyone has his email privately.

I sent a email. Since the email is specific for the gaskets, not sure if he will check it.

 

[keldrin]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1274545615...Ig1oraemVVOe0u3dlJpE1T8l7j|tkp:Bk9SR5iXn-XFZg

That's the link to the dirt devil adapter

 

[kirbyman65]

I know the bearings wearing out is a common issue with these. I wish I knew of a way to fix it.

 

[centralsweeper63]

Interesting that it is a common problem/fault.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

My 1982 Royal 501 has the original six-blade aluminum fan (1-157004-000) in it, but during 1983 or '84 they replaced it with the plastic one (1-502004-000) so we don't see many of these 501s out there with the aluminum fan.

~Ben

 

[centralsweeper63]

Fans seem to stick around for a very short period of time. They are redesigned and replaced very quickly it would seem.

 

[keldrin]

Pictures

 

[keldrin]

Manual

 

[keldrin]

Vacuum

 

[keldrin]

More

 

[keldrin]

Found this odd message on Amazon questions and answers.
these bags will work with the original hand held dirt devil if one of these conditions is met. 1. If you have the bag adapter for the original dirt devil hand vacuum (These are scare, costly, and hard if not impossible to find.) 2. You can make your own bag adapter out of a piece of cardboard that you shape just right, and it will work half-way decent inside the cloth bag. I have done the second method and use type G bags with my hand held dirt devil model 103 ( that is from the late 1990s). If you can use the Vac bags type G with the cloth bag on the outside; it will greatly cut down on dust, that can barely come out of the cloth bag by itself. You have to shape your piece of cardboard to where it fits the rectangle part of dirt devil where the air blows out the back(making sure that the air blow out of your wedged cardboard piece. It must be wedged tight in vac or it will come lose in cloth bag. . The other end of your cardboard must fit inside the type G bag opening. Then, you have to pull the cloth bag onto the Vac. This vac can be used with only the cloth bag, but it is messy to clean and dump out the the cloth bag if you only use the cloth bag. The type G bags used as I stated above with the cloth bag; will keep the dirt and debris mostly in the paper type G bag, and your cloth bag won't become so clogged by dust and dirt. Using dirt devil hand vac with only the cloth bag will emit some dust into your room and your air in the room. see less

 

[keldrin]

The original 103 adapter looks like this

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

More

Built in December 1985.

~Ben

 

[centralsweeper63]

I think I saw someone on here that recently posted about a 3d printed bag adapter that takes oreck- buster bee bags.

 

[keldrin]

Oh, and it has a plastic fan, not metal

 

[centralsweeper63]

I suspected that based on the date of manufacture mentioned by Ben.

 

[keldrin]

When i get around to full disassemble of the prince, I will take a good look at the bearings, and grab pictures.

 

[keldrin]

I did to, but decided to look anyways

I suspected that based on the date of manufacture mentioned by Ben.

 

[centralsweeper63]

I look forward to photos.