Tempted by an Ultimate G Diamond Edition

[human]

I got the nozzle shined up to where it is presentable—not perfect but very presentable. I didn't even bother with my drill and the polishing head. I just used the soft scouring pad from Dollar Tree with some Mother's, Nevr-Dull and a little elbow grease to get results comparable to what I'd gotten on the rest of the metal parts a couple of days ago using the drill and without significant scratching or anything remotely resembling the 'brushed chrome' look. I was able to get the shine I expected in about 45 minutes. I'm now just waiting for the belt lifter parts to arrive so I can put everything back together and take it for a test run. It's definitely not the 'ugly duckling' I started out with a little more than a week ago.

 

[human]

Ready for a close-up, C.B....

So the belt lifter parts arrived a little more than an hour ago and after a quick look at the relevant scene from vaclab's reassembly video, again slowed down to .25x speed, to see the sequence in which the pieces go onto the nozzle, everything fit back together pretty easily. One interesting thing I noticed is the screw that holds the belt lifter assembly together is self-tapping and the brand new belt lifter's screw hole is not pre-threaded, so I ran the screw in ahead of assembling it to tap the threads. Probably not completely necessary but I think it helped everything to go back together more easily.

Once I had the machine completely reassembled, I brought it into the house for the first time and gave it a little test run. The machine works beautifully on high and low speeds and the Tech Drive is smooth as silk. I am very pleased overall. There's still a slightly musty odor when it's running. I guess it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and throw a new bag into it, even though the one it came with is pretty much empty. I'm thinking it's been through a carpet shampooing or two.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, here are a few photos of the Diamond G in all its glory, just before its test run.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Bravo

!

 

[suckolux]

Well done! Looks great.

 

[human]

Thanks. I'm pretty pleased with the results, considering how disgusting this thing was when I started. I replaced the bag this afternoon and ran the machine for a couple of minutes. The basement odor is now almost undetectable.