Super J motor cleaning or maybe more...

[madman]

Noice.

 

[quebecois]

thank you everyone for your help, I appreciate a lot.

I'd have other questions about the old hoses leaking, but I'll start a new thread, I guess.

 

[blknblu]

You did well.
Here are two of my early refurbs. Many more since then.
Super J is with my son & the Olympia One is in storage.
For the Olympia One, I finally found some axle brackets & have put the original wheels back on.

 

[quebecois]

Your SuperJ has a dark robe !

My older brother was supposed to go buy another Elux for me in Quebec City, close to his place, for a few dollars, it is an older model than the SUperJ, seller says the motor stopped working last week, and he doesn't have a clue what could be the issue.

Basically I bought it for the accessories, but hey, maybe I could fix it with some help. It's a green machine, I'll try to post a picture.

 

[quebecois]

Here it is.

 

[brewsky]

Nice!...The run-down time for my super j motor after switching it off is 7 to 8 seconds....how does that compare you yours after cleaning?

As for the odor, the weird smell may just be ozone from the brushes?

When I took the top off mine I found these fragrance chips laying in the diffusers under the sliding exhaust door. Since the word "ozone" was on the chips, I thought maybe they were some kind of ozone-reducing material.....but they smell pretty good, so I'm guessing that is just a brand name for some kind of fragrance.

 

[quebecois]

There were two small thin scented square that fell off when I removed the top cover, they smell almost like fabric softener sheets. I'll simply put them back in through the blower door?

The one I cleaned run down in 6 seconds, the other one in 7 to 8 seconds, like yours, both with very pleasant notes !

 

[brewsky]

Thanks,....yes, I would just drop them in.....I am going to re-use the ones that came out as they do smell nice!

Or maybe you could shop for some new ones more to your preference

 

[quebecois]

Ozone from the brushes is a good hypothesis, I wonder why one smells like that but none of the others I own...

 

[brewsky]

Good question....
Possibilities..
1. Others also have some kind of odor masking scent chips inside

2. One produces more spark at the brushes than the others

3. It is not ozone you are smelling, but something else.

 

[paul]

Reply #23

The green cleaner is one of the Canadian Electrolux classics, made from 1968 to 1973. It was designated by two slightly different models: ZB89 and 89E. The latter indicated the power hose inlet that was added around 1970.

Have you connected with avid Canadian vac collector/resarcher, Doug Smith? If not, here's his website: http://smithcollection.altervista.org/.

He is very knowledgable about many cleaners—Canadian and non-Canadian.

_____


I understand that the Super J 1401s (and upright model 1363s in harvest gold) were sold in Canada from around 1976 to 1977 due to a factory workers strike. The model B22 Canadian Electrolux shampooer-polisher's base was even painted the same color as the Super J 1401 during that time, and a "J" was added to the model ID to indicate the different color.

Btw, thanks for posting all the details about your motor work. That will be helpful to others who want to do the same. Your Super J 1401s look great!

I've attached a photo showing the Electrolux set of honey gold cleaners (I was corrected by someone after I annotated the photo that the salesman's award, the Golden G from the 1960s, was metallic gold and the '70s line was honey gold; he was probably one of those boys in school who had the 64-count Crayola box with the sharpener—haha).

 

[kirbylux77]

Paul, good info above about the Canadian Electrolux ZB89 & ZB89E. But one small correction to your information: The powerhead receptacle for the electric hose was ALWAYS on the 89, right from the start. You were thinking of the 86 & 88 there. If memory serves correct, it was the second version of the 86 & 88, from 1966 to 1968, that saw the addition of the bumpers & the powerhead receptacle. As for the electric hose, I believe that was 1971 it was finally changed from the outboard cord on the outside of the straight suction hose to the electric hose.

Rob

 

[eurekastar]

Congratulations on a job well done! About the only way I know to effectively rid the vacuum of the funky smell is to remove the motor field from the bell housing and wash the bell housing thoroughly with degreaser. If you don't want to remove the field, then use a brush to get as much accumulated dirt and carbon dust out as possible. Then I use alcohol with Q-Tips and rags to get into the nooks and crannies!

I love your determination. That's how we learn!

 

[quebecois]

Thanks everybody for your kind words. I don'T think I'd been successfull with that little project without your help, I probably would have broken something in the process.

As for the SuperJ I opened up for cleaning, not only does it smell like ozone when I begin to use it, but it seems it heats up significantly faster than my other J and the run down time is shorter by 2-3 seconds. Is it a sign the motor is sort of "tired" ?

Thank you Paul for the infos.

 

[quebecois]

Is that what you call the fields ?

 

[madman]

Yes, that's the field. It's technically an assembly of the two field coils (painted red on yours) and the iron/steel core or whatever it's called.

If you say the motor heats up fast, and there were those spots on the field coil that we were skeptical about, it's possible the field coils have an internal short. Get a wattmeter, or ammeter, actually most multimeters have an amperage setting, and run the vac through it to measure the amps/watts, and compare against the vac's rating. If it's way off, you have a problem.

If it's not, well, some motors just behave differently. Likely the smell you have is a combo of ozone from brush arcing, oil and bearing grease, and some remaining dust on the thing. And the spin-down time could simply be the new ball bearing, it does take a bit of break-in.

You sure the motor's not binding? Tried spinning it by hand, and listen for binding?

 

[quebecois]

I'm not sure what you mean by "binding". Yes, I turned the motor by hand, it was obviously a bit harder than with the worn bearing, but I'd say it was smooth and not sticking .

 

[madman]

Binding = sticking. New bearing makes it harder to turn? Like I said, they need to be broken in. Wouldn't worry about that.

 

[real1shep]

You need to pay more attention to how the brushes spark. The spark leaking out both sides of the brush should be small & even. Most of us serious about small motor repair use a commutator stone to seat new brushes. Lots of Youtube vids on that and how to use them. You also need to test the armature plates themselves; 90 degrees opposed and then side by side. This tests the integrity of the armature. Again, Youtube vids on that. And there should be a 'valley' between the commutator plates. When the commutator plates wear down, not only do they get uneven, but that 'valley' starts to disappear...it's to keep the plates separate but equal, sorta speaking.


 


You need an Elmer in this to walk you through your first couple of motor rebuilds. I've tried before in here and it just doesn't usually work from a keyboard.


 


Kevin

 

[quebecois]

Kevin, thanks for the info. I didn't replace the brushes, these inside are the old ones, as they were still a tad longer than one inch.

I'm waiting for my kill-a-watt multimeter to arrive by mail, I'll do the amp test with the motor running as soon as I get it and report my readings.