Today’s project...painting an Electrolux AF

[jo]

That’s interesting about the oil pastels. For this one I don’t think I’ll bother because it’s just a garage and shop vac” I use for any dirty jobs. I do have a model G that I painted a hammered blue some years ago I have stored in my closet and that one would sure look nice with the logo done up in white because it is a darker color blue that I chose.

I wonder if Electrolux used something similar to the pastel paint originally. It always seemed to come off or out a bit too easily and if you washed the outside of the vacuum with just a damp cloth it seemed to easily wash away.

I’ll post a Picture of the G I painted a while back in next post, as it’s saved on a different device. I did post it about a month ago when I obtained a genuine Electrolux rubber pigtail hose for it so some may have already seen it. That one required a lot more masking with other non removable wheels, the front door had to be completely masked, the rubber bumpers too and so on...but I did remove as much as I could of items that would disassemble via screws.

Jon

 

[jo]

Photos of paint model G

As you can see this one would look really good with the lettering in white and because it was a rarely used G in great condition, (but seemed to have been stored in a basement or humid environment the outside on the top had little tiny spreckled spots of rust all over which made it look not so nice so that’s why I chose to paint it. I had seen one painted in a dark gray and like the contrast with the polished aluminum front and back ends but that may have been a Previous tan one as the rubber handle and bumpers were the off white. I thought that color would look odd with the teal bluish bumpers and handle on this one so I picked the blue paint. Since I did it, I happened to be driving by one of the only few vacuum stores in Dallas and they had one painted just like it on display in their storefront window. I let one of my friends borrow it for a while when her Renaissance quit on her and she was having to pack to move and clean the house and friends who came to help her pack up all commented on how they thought it was a cool vacuum and where’s could they get one like it.

I feel like this one is “missing something” without the name painted in white.

 

[human]

I like Charles' idea of the oil pastels for the lettering and it certainly gives you a wider palate of colors to choose from but for white lettering, I've always just used white out. You don't have to worry about being too exact about getting it just into the recesses. Just give it a minute or two to dry and you can just scrape off the excess with your thumbnail.

Oh, and nice paint job, Jon! I think I actually like that more muted shade of gold better than the factory color used on the Super J and its contemporaries. Although the color has grown on me in the years I've owned my Super J, I still find it a bit garish for my tastes and at one point I even briefly contemplated painting it maroon. I never carried through with that idea but I once posted a photo of it on this site that I'd PhotoShopped to get an idea of how it might look. I have to say it made the idea pretty tempting. I just didn't trust my painting skills enough.

 

[compactelectra]

Beautiful Job Jon

Inspires me to do a touch up job on one of mine (including the white lettering per Charles’ suggestion.). I did the lettering on my Silver G but used acrylic paint and it is a painstaking process.

 

[compactelectra]

Here’s The Lettering

On my silver rebuilt G.  They didn’t paint the lettering when they rebuilt it.  Used a pin point brush.  I’ll use Charles suggestion. 

 

[jayelux]

Seconding use of Wite Out

I also have had good luck using Wite Out to make the letters stand out.

 

[jo]

It occurred to me...

...to try white out. Maybe I’ll do it if the mood strikes me and glad to hear my thoughts have been tried successfully by others so I appreciate the feedback. I do have some white out on hand in the house.

Excited to put the new Gold AF into action though, to see if I feel like it’s “more worthy” now of use inside a customer’s home where they may see me using it to clean up afteR any project I have to do. These days I’m not in business like I used to be but I do have a rental property customer I do some maintenance on for the owner still since she lives across the country. But mostly this just makes me happy to have the machine looking nice...it’s a good machine that works well so deserving of a decent finish and I’m pleased I was able to get a lot of that dust buildup out of the motor though I imagine the fans probably still have a coating of their own on them.

I blew out the power switch too. It looks like a replacement as it’s base is clear plastic. But I figured getting all the dust out would be worthwhile to keep it working well. My Model G’s switch sometimes gives me trouble...looking at this one it seems like it is very simple and very difficult for it to not work correctly and perhaps it has a buildup of dirt causing the poor connection at times so I may open it up and take a look at it in some detail, especially since I just observed the properly working on on the AF I’ll be able to compare if something’s off kilter or not on the G’s since they use the same switch.

Jon