Sanitaire S645: Old School But Not Exactly Old...

[human]

Project complete!

So the cord arrived earlier this afternoon and although there was other stuff I needed to do, I just got excited and had to stop and install it. As it turns out, the hardest part was getting the strain relief installed. This was because the new cord is slightly heavier gauge—17awg vs. the original's 18awg—so it has a slightly greater diameter. Once I finally persuaded it to go into place, it was smooth sailing from there.

In addition to changing out the lower cord hook as described above, I also swapped out the light gray height selector knob for a black one I had that matches the both the new cord and the power switch. It's not exactly how it came from the factory but it looks pretty nice. The only thing left that I could possibly do at this point is to replace the brush strips but except for a little mashed down spot on one of them, they're nowhere near the point of needing replacing.

I'll post some photos tomorrow.

 

[human]

Picture Day...

Now that the Sanitaire project is completed and it's not raining, I dragged the blue S645 I've been working on and its sibling the red SC686 out onto the deck for a photo shoot. Even though the blue one is some 30 years newer, it's amazing how little they really changed over the years.

Looking at the blue one, you can see some of the modifications I made including the larger white cord hooks, the longer and heavier black replacement cord and the black height adjustment knob. I don't know why but I just like the look of the black knob better than the light gray one it came with, especially with the black cord. I measured the cord hooks last night and the white ones are about half an inch longer and a quarter inch wider from the handle than the remaining original dark gray one. They easily accommodate the 40-foot cord, which I think would have overwhelmed the smaller dark gray hooks. All in all, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

 

[suckolux]

Nice job there buddy! As usual, I agree with everything you have said and done there it's an improvement!

 

[lesinutah]

Weird

The newer has a light, plastic and no vents. The older metal has vents but no light.
The small differences.
There a nice tandem.

 

[human]

Both machines have vents, just in different locations. The older one with the metal hood has them on the sides and the newer one with the plastic hood has a vent at the top. The blue machine's hood seems to be the same as the tan Eureka in reply #5 of the thread below, while the gray machine in the initial post of that thread has no vents at all.

https://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?41279_5

 

[lesinutah]

Vents

The underside in the sections between the wheels there is vents there.
I wonder if vents are how they release a new design.

 

[human]

Both of mine are vented identically underneath. The design of these things remained incredibly consistent for an amazingly long time. They're like the Model-T Ford of vacuum cleaners—simple, rugged, dependable, easy to repair. It's a case study in evolutionary design.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Oooops,late again!

I've got older Sanitaire/Eurekas with rows of vents on top of the hood, I mean, 70% of the top is vented, then some with a row or two. Also some have removable plastic scoop vents on the motor just beside the side vents of the hood but under the hood.Looking at the hood on your blue machine kind of proves the old adage "the more things change the more they stay the same."