Suggestions?

[fantomfan57]

Smoked around?,

not by me. I managed to escape the habit in favor of food. The vacuum never smelled of smoke and none of the cleaning cloths yellowed. I assumed it was UV/fluorescent lighting.

Today, I retrofitted the hose ends (both) onto/into a standard electric hose I had lying around. The old hose was so stiff, cracked and dirty, so I harvested the ends.

I have a few things to finalize, but I think this is going to work very well. I might take a picture.

Ciao!

 

[gregvacs28]

Def. share.


 


making use of electric Kenmore ends like that is not easy.  


 


I just picked up a blue kenmore canister but it's one of the smaller square ones.  A younger brother if you will, to your TOL.  It has all the parts though it's not a pn model.  The hose is a smaller diameter than the electric hoses and yes, wire reinforced.  The hose can't be more than 1 1/4".  Both ends the plastic is deteriorating badly.  


 


The plastic housing is also discolored.   The thing I don't like about these Kenmore models, other than the discoloration tendencies, is that they had so many easily broken edges.  Some of the green ones are pushing the 50 year old mark.  In all that time these vacs have got moved around, dropped, and just misplaced and the bottom hinge end is particularly susceptible.  Also the handle and the foot petal. 

 

[gregvacs28]

pic of the pn another member found years ago, for your blue tol model. 


 


It should have a light on it.

[this post was last edited: 2/23/2020-22:48]

 

[kirbyklekter]

You did a great job

with that! It certainly is a machine worth the effort you've put into it. What are the model numbers on your two? I think my model#2599 falls between your two. Does the newer model have the two speed motor? I didn't see the switch on top, or is it on the hose handle along with the on/off switch for p/n and machine? Cheers!

 

[fantomfan57]

Thanks,

Keith! your pictures of the correct PN are making me drool!

Bill, the newer one (2899) does have a two speed switch, the tan one (2397182) ? is plain old one speed.

Each Model numbers are longer than 4 numerals and both are prefixed by 116..

I will include pictures of my adaptation of the older hose ends with a newer std. electric hose. I read somewhere here, the originals had a problem with too much clay in the recipe which caused them to split.

We shall see!

 

[gregvacs28]

I had that 2397182 back in 2002 when I was going thru a "collection phase".  I found it at a vacuum store in the back room.


 


It wasn't discolored but it didn't have any attachments or hose.  It was clean and super strong suction.  When you turned it on  the suction would deflect the flat top.   I'm sure yours does it too.


 


"too much clay in the recipe"? 


No, they were just CHEAP !  A single layer of plastic with fiber glass threads spaced about 1/2" apart and wrapped around the spiral wires of the hose.  That's all it was.  CHEAP. 


If you had strong fingernails you could easily poke a hole through the hose.


 


The newer hoses (20+ years old) are a thicker, rubbery material.  And self sealing.  No fingernails through that.


 


I love this series of Kenmore vacs but the hoses weren't the greatest.  Yet, I would take them anyday over a woven electrolux hose.  My second fav. canister vacuum.


 


If you got something like this, you could probably pop off the end and put the proper end in place.  Even though it's the wrong color, with your painting skills you'd probably have it to the exact shade of white in no time.


 


Or if you were going to use it with the beige one it would have be the new beige color they went with after having all white for 10+ years.

 

[fantomfan57]

Ta Da.....again!

So here are the pictures of the adapted original hose ends on to a std. electric hose blank.

I still need to address the space between the original handle and the replacement hose. I also realize the cord on the motor end, although it works, is weak compared to what is usually used with pigtail cords. I harvested the cord from the original motor end piece.

By removing part of the sheath on the handle end including the built in holding bracket, I was able to slide the handle metal pipe into the blank hose while carefully pressing the pigtail into place.

I tested the everything and the PN worked. No loose connections to arc and short.
Yes I realize the motor end connection has to be manually attached instead of being an instant connect.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

great work!!

I, fortunately, never smoked, either, ever.
I have numerous Hoovers from "Models and Samples', commonly called the VAULT. a massive wall of windows, these machines were never to leave that room. Over the years, the sun damages a lot of the plastic. You can see the discoloration on a lot of them. Look at what the sun has done to so many People!!!!

 

[fantomfan57]

Congratulations, John...

for escaping smoking. It also must be great to have all those Hoovers from the Vault.

As for sun damage, years ago, okay eons ago, I saw a billboard for the Sun exposure. They wrote "Rays Now, Raisins Later". Years later this included Cancer Awareness.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Thank you, so much.

I'm very careful about my health. I won't go into it, but, both of my parents had gruesome deaths, and I was with them both. Suffice it to say, it was Hell.
I might get killed by the ice cream truck! lolol
But, truthfully, the sun can damage so much, fabrics, wooden furniture, etc.
Sun fading is terrible.
Yes, I MAY even have the sign that was on the "Vault".......... It was going to end up in a dumpster, but DIDN'T. YAY!

 

[fantomfan57]

This is the route.....

I am going to take to replace the lettering on the vac. All I have to do is block in the backgrounds, carefully place the stickers and give it all a coat of clear.

Will figure out the Magicord logo later if at all.

 

[fantomfan57]

With the exception......

of completing the blue Kenmore, I am nearing the end of this thread.

See below the completed repainting of the beige unit. You can see the unavoidable contrast in the new finish and old right at the top markings. I just wanted to even out the coloring without possibly disturbing the graphics. I did use beige paint, not white. I am doing the same thing to the PN that came with this unit.

Hard to see, but I noticed the motor bump on the bottom plate of each unit are different. The beige being more pronounced. Motor sizes?

I will switch back to the blue unit when I finish with the Sunbeam Courier wheel restoration.

Thanks for following.

 

[madman]

Looks good to me.

 

[fantomfan57]

Errrr, ummm,

So I am not done but, I disguised an newer PN to look like (well closer to) the PN that came with the blue unit. Would have loved to have a white or lighter bumper, but this will do for now. I don't think painting the bumper will look better or be durable. I mean after all, it is a passable clone.

I may do lettering, but for sure I will apply wood grain contact paper to it next.

Yes, I consider this fun.

 

[madman]

For the bumper, you could try something like PlastiDip.

 

[fantomfan57]

Good idea...

I knew I had a roll of contact paper in my closet. One step closer to PN "Cloneage".

For the white bumper, I will be getting some spray paint from Home Depot for vinyl. Thanks for the idea, Madmen.

 

[fantomfan57]

This is what....

I came up with. No Magicord wording or symbol. Kenmore logo will have to be redone.

Used Metal duct tape to carefully, but not perfectly, cut the borders etc.

Peel and stick. Will probably hit it all with clear spray to fix everything in place.

 

[fantomfan57]

I did find the right PN

I just finished working on it yesterday. MAN, this thing is very complicated to dismantle and refurbish. Replaced the flex hose in the elbow. Also, the height adjustment was damaged, a plastic piece had broken off, but I JB Weld-ed it back in place.

Now to decide to paint of retrobrite.