human
Well-known member
My name is Human and I'm a vacuholic...
I thought I had my addiction under control until I went out to run some errands this afternoon and stopped by a Goodwill store. They had about a half dozen modern, plasticrap vacs but one old school chrome metal handle was sticking up among them and caught my eye. When I pulled it out, I found the handle connected to a blue Sanitaire upright, model S645 made by Electrolx with an F&G bag setup. They had it priced at $15 and it had enough to likely put the average Goodwill shopper off of it, but an addict like me? No way. So while I did think about it for a few minutes, I realized I had pretty much all of the parts needed to fix it up so I shelled out $15 and brought it home and spent about an hour fixing most of its issues:
•Upper cord hook was broken off—I had a couple at home, albeit in white plastic for my red Sanitaire SC686, so no big deal.
•Spring that holds the bag assembly to the cord hook was all stretched out from being held in place with gaffer tape and twine—I harvested one from the dump bag I took off my SC686. Glad I didn't throw it away. I seriously considered putting the entire bag header from the dump bag on it but that would have required destroying the dowel that was sewn into the blue outer bag so I opted simply to replace the spring and keep it closer to original. But hey, the other is always an option at a later date.
•Had a big, flat, totally wrong belt on it—I have plenty of proper round belts on hand so again, no biggie.
•The cord is a little buggered up—I untangled it and put electrical tape on the bad spots for now. I've got a 30-footer on my eBay watch list for just under $14 including shipping.
•Headlight is burned out—First, I've got to figure out how to take the headlight lens off to get to the bulb—overall, it's a low priority item.
•I broke the bag tube spring, trying to take the full bag out—I've already got a couple on my eBay watch list or I may just try an old fashioned radiator hose clamp.
The bottom line is I totally didn't need it but now I've got it. The machine does run but I've not been able to take it for a proper test drive yet. Once I get a new bag securely into place, I'll see how it performs. In the meantime, it definitely needs a little more of a cleanup. The underside is absolutely caked with dirt and it smells faintly of dog. It's not bad but it is noticeable. The photo below is of the machine after I spent about an hour working on it after I got home. You can see the white cord hook and the taped spots on the cord. One thing's for sure, I will end up spending far less on this one than I did my SC686.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find that vacuholics anonymous meeting and pick up another white chip.
I thought I had my addiction under control until I went out to run some errands this afternoon and stopped by a Goodwill store. They had about a half dozen modern, plasticrap vacs but one old school chrome metal handle was sticking up among them and caught my eye. When I pulled it out, I found the handle connected to a blue Sanitaire upright, model S645 made by Electrolx with an F&G bag setup. They had it priced at $15 and it had enough to likely put the average Goodwill shopper off of it, but an addict like me? No way. So while I did think about it for a few minutes, I realized I had pretty much all of the parts needed to fix it up so I shelled out $15 and brought it home and spent about an hour fixing most of its issues:
•Upper cord hook was broken off—I had a couple at home, albeit in white plastic for my red Sanitaire SC686, so no big deal.
•Spring that holds the bag assembly to the cord hook was all stretched out from being held in place with gaffer tape and twine—I harvested one from the dump bag I took off my SC686. Glad I didn't throw it away. I seriously considered putting the entire bag header from the dump bag on it but that would have required destroying the dowel that was sewn into the blue outer bag so I opted simply to replace the spring and keep it closer to original. But hey, the other is always an option at a later date.
•Had a big, flat, totally wrong belt on it—I have plenty of proper round belts on hand so again, no biggie.
•The cord is a little buggered up—I untangled it and put electrical tape on the bad spots for now. I've got a 30-footer on my eBay watch list for just under $14 including shipping.
•Headlight is burned out—First, I've got to figure out how to take the headlight lens off to get to the bulb—overall, it's a low priority item.
•I broke the bag tube spring, trying to take the full bag out—I've already got a couple on my eBay watch list or I may just try an old fashioned radiator hose clamp.
The bottom line is I totally didn't need it but now I've got it. The machine does run but I've not been able to take it for a proper test drive yet. Once I get a new bag securely into place, I'll see how it performs. In the meantime, it definitely needs a little more of a cleanup. The underside is absolutely caked with dirt and it smells faintly of dog. It's not bad but it is noticeable. The photo below is of the machine after I spent about an hour working on it after I got home. You can see the white cord hook and the taped spots on the cord. One thing's for sure, I will end up spending far less on this one than I did my SC686.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find that vacuholics anonymous meeting and pick up another white chip.
