DesertTortoise
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2014
- Messages
- 1,189
Old steel bodied Kenmore 2.9 canister my parents bought circa early '70's. I inherited it along with the cream colored 4.1 I'll take some photos of later. This one was originally two speed. When I re-motored it I had to buy a one speed motor. When it's Powermate died in the early '80's it was retired to garage duty and my parents bought the 4.1 with the Powermate I showed with the 3.9. I had been using the Avocado Bomber with a Hayden at my fiancées place but when the lid broke I gave her the 4.1 and pressed the 3.9 into service at my home.
Bummer about the lid hinge. Interestingly it was a flexible polymer "living hinge". Pretty advance material science for that era to show up on something as pedestrian as a vacuum cleaner. I have some modern polymer living hinge material on the way to make a new hinge.
The secondary filter is one of those $7.95 HEPA filters you see advertised everywhere. By this weekend I may have sussed out whether I can use Riccar/Simplicity canister HEPA bags on the Sears Type E bag adapter. Crossing my fingers. It was re-motored only a year ago, big honking Ametek Lamb 115923, complete overkill for this vacuum (flexes the lid inwards when it pulls hard suction!) so retiring it because the lid hinge broke was out of the question. The first time I opened up to see why the motor sounded so sick, two wire nuts liberated themselves on the garage floor and left me with a big mystery to solve. Now you know why I dislike wire nuts so much.
No hanger queens (closet queens???) here, this was a working vacuum all it's long life and will be again soon.
Bummer about the lid hinge. Interestingly it was a flexible polymer "living hinge". Pretty advance material science for that era to show up on something as pedestrian as a vacuum cleaner. I have some modern polymer living hinge material on the way to make a new hinge.
The secondary filter is one of those $7.95 HEPA filters you see advertised everywhere. By this weekend I may have sussed out whether I can use Riccar/Simplicity canister HEPA bags on the Sears Type E bag adapter. Crossing my fingers. It was re-motored only a year ago, big honking Ametek Lamb 115923, complete overkill for this vacuum (flexes the lid inwards when it pulls hard suction!) so retiring it because the lid hinge broke was out of the question. The first time I opened up to see why the motor sounded so sick, two wire nuts liberated themselves on the garage floor and left me with a big mystery to solve. Now you know why I dislike wire nuts so much.
No hanger queens (closet queens???) here, this was a working vacuum all it's long life and will be again soon.
