Thrifting finds- lux 612

[dysondestijl]

Well, went out thrift shopping today and one shop had a half price sale and I found an old Electrolux 612 in the electricals corner, it was covered in dust and cobwebs but for £8.25 I'd give it a try. Got it home and had to dust it all off, change the belt/ bag and the brush roll was stuck. After doing this I realised the brush was worn down real bad, but it cleaned up ok.

 

[dysondestijl]

O

 

[dysondestijl]

[No message]

 

[dysondestijl]

Sorry about blurry photos

 

[dysondestijl]

Has variable power, and made in Britain

 

[vintagerepairer]

What you have there is one of the very last examples of the 612. I know this because the bag door lacks the small recess in the door in which the user could put their hand when pressing down on the button to open the door. This was removed on later models and was never present on models 614, 615, and 616. It also bears the warnings to read the instruction book before use. You will find this cleaner has all the neccesary modifications which became apparent as time progreses. Alas the chassis was never modified and as shown in your pictures whereby the rear wheel pins have moved out of line and the sides are exposed. Your real wheel pins are about to fall out actually. But otherwise it is a fine example.

 

[dysondestijl]

Thanks, I've sorted those wheel things out

 

[Jakesvacs]

Thats a great find!
Did you ever sort out the hose?

 

[dysondestijl]

Nah jakesvacs ive Just left it as it is, can it be re attached?

 

[Jakesvacs]

I think it can, careful looking and you should see where to cut and re attach. If you ever sell this let me know!

 

[dysondestijl]

Yeah I will. How much do you want to pay for it?
I'll go and see if I can reattach the hose!

 

[dysondestijl]

Wel, I've just fixed it as if you cut off the broken end and screw it into the machine!

 

[dysondestijl]

Jakesvacs?

 

[Jakesvacs]

Hi
Have you got an email mate?

 

[dysondestijl]

Yeah but I'm still sorting it out, give me a little while

 

[shinymac]

Nice Find you have there !

Personally I love uprights with cloth bags that inflate up, but its still nice to see a traditional upright like yours. Our local refuse/recycling dump wont let members of the public take away anything, which is a shame, as whenever I go there to throw something out, there are usually some tasty uprights in their "container" awaiting presumably some shady deal they have with a local electrical shop !

I would love to share stories, experiences etc with UK vac collectors so if anyone wants to drop me an email its [email protected]

Thanks

Derek

 

[turbomaster1984]

Derek what kind of experiences and stories do you want to hear from us?

do tell.....

 

[dysondestijl]

I took it all apart last night, and it is much more damaged than it first seemed! The release pedal was broken on one side so cannot be re installed as it just fails, and one end of the brush roll housing has some plastic snapped off it. Therefore it's no where near good enough to sell!

 

[vintagerepairer]

Pedal can be drilled and a screw inserted, depending on level of damage. I did wonder if pedal or chassis was at fault as it was evident in the pictures that pedal was not sitting flush. But also you will recall me saying that the chassis is worn anyway as we could see the wheel axles had dropped.

This is the trouble with the 600 series. They had so many weak points that few were ever worth the cost of repairing. One would never see these cleaners being sold as reconditioned as they were never worth the trouble. Great looking cleaner though.

 

[dysondestijl]

Thanks benny, I'll just keep it as a collection vac and not use it then!

 

[dysondestijl]

Well I've just looked at it again and it didn't feel too stable and then this happened... One hell of a lean... FORWARDS!

 

[beko1987]

That's got the same stance as my lux 412! Looks like that's a `run it until you get bored then break it for spares machine! I haven't seen one for years though. Good find.

 

[vintagerepairer]

The 610 and 612 did this leaning-forward thing, which is why the chassis used to split at the rear. The pathetic pieces of plastic which were there to keep the cleaner at 90 degrees were not up to the job and this is the result. Some of the 614, 615, and 616 had a redesigned sole plate with inward facing lugs on the furthest parts towards the back of the cleaner. This was enough to press against the main body and stop it leaning forwards.

 

[jmurray01]

Benny, how would you say the 600 models compare to the Contours? Are the Contours better made?

The reason I ask is because my 1994 Electrolux Contour is rock solid and has no structural damage or weaknesses.

 

[vintagerepairer]

The Contour was a far more robust machine, despite all the comments about it being of poor build quality. The 600 series had nothing on the Contour. The Contour had its failings of course, namely the problems with the handle staying locked upright on models where there was no foot pedal. Also on all models the mains lead could easily be pulled out from where it entered the cleaner, and many times did I get a cleaner brought in where the lead had snapped and / or shorted out at this point.

The whole design of the cleaner was such that it was very hard to push it round, but that was a poor design, not a fault. When compared to a 600 series machine, a Contour will require very few parts to get it back on the road.

 

[jmurray01]

Thank you Benny, that was what I thought.

I have to say it does not come as a surprise to me that the flex could be pulled out as compared to my other uprights it is very thin and doesn't feel very strong.

I also agree it can be hard to push around with the only alleviation being to set the height adjustment a bit too high, but as long as you've got some strength in your arm it can be used.

In terms of "ease to push around" it is on par with the Philips U700/U800 I'd say.

Overall I'd say the Contour is a fantastic every-day machine and I use mine as such since it is the most marred of my upright cleaners.

 

[vintagerepairer]

It is the unusual curve of the handle which makes it difficult to move. The user is putting pressure on it in all the wrong places.

It was not that the mains lead was thin which caused the issue, it was the fact that the lead left the cleaner without any form of cord protector, such as that used on the 600 series. The lead was easy to tread on when pushing the cleaner around, and all the pulling up of it when cleaning was more than the machine could bear. Early Hoover Turbopower2 and the Turbopower 1000's were just the same (the TP2 had the lead exit point moved to the top when the TP3 was introduced as the longer hose of the TP3 got in the way of the original exit point). Most of the Dyson DC01 models were just the same.

 

[jmurray01]

So it is purely down to the rear entry of the flex?

 

[jmurray01]

Ah, I've just remembered, the one weakness my Contour (and all of them I imagine) has is that the cord hook falls out frequently due to one of the prongs having snapped off.

Why it is fitted in such a way I do not know, surely it must have been obvious to Electrolux what would happen over the years of having strain put on it with such a weak provision to hold it in place.