Vintage Royal Vacuum project

[mivintagevacs]

I cleaned up the coil and worked on the commutator. I was able to use a strip of 600 grit sand paper to smooth it out and remove the raised ridge, then used a razor knife to undercut the mica. Overall I think it cleaned up pretty well. Once I’m confident that it’s had enough time to dry out I will hit the windings with some clear varnish. The coil had an unbelievable amount of grease built up on it.

Here are a couple before shots:[this post was last edited: 8/14/2023-19:29]

 

[mivintagevacs]

And here they are all cleaned up:

 

[mivintagevacs]

Well I ran some tests using my fluke meter on my clean armature and stator. It appears that the armature has damage as it failed one of my bar to bar tests.

It does look like these bars are missing their solder as if they overheated and the solder melted and flung off.

The stator looks good though and reads 3.5 ohms resistance which seems like a reasonable number.

I reached out to someone who rewound an Emerson fan stator for me awhile back but he doesn’t work on armatures. He recommended that I send it to Eurton electric. Anyone ever worked with them? I called Eurton and they said they rewind all kinds of armatures and to send them the armature and they’ll provide a quote for a rewind /repair. Wish me luck!

 

[royalsuper]

congratulations to you ! once the restoration work is finished, your vacuum cleaner will be the most beautiful antique royal upright vacuum I have seen !!

 

[royalsuper]

Ben , well your armature seems to have worked a lot the copper wires are black and we burnt they have lost their protective enamel and the armature is therefore in electrical short circuit

 

[mivintagevacs]

Thank you for your kind words Romain! I shipped my armature out today to be rebuilt. It will be fully restored by Eurton electric. They quoted me $225 for the rewind and commutator. I also sent them my old brushes so that they can match them with new ones. They said it would be about 7-10 days. Then it will be ready for another 100 years!

 

[mivintagevacs]

I cleaned, dried and varnished the windings. I also removed the old solder from the brush holders, soldered new lead wires onto them and installed the windings in the housing. When the armature is back from the shop I will be ready to install it. Here are a few progress photos!

 

[mivintagevacs]

Some more assembly photos. I’m still waiting for the rebuilt armature and new brushes. Eurton electric said it should ship out on Tuesday if all goes well.

 

[lesinutah]

Is

Everything put together? I'd get it ready to drop in.
Very nice job I know what mine will look like when I get to restoring it.

 

[mivintagevacs]

Thanks Les! Everything is together and wired so once I have the armature back I can drop it in and test run the motor. Hopefully later this week I’ll be able to finish assembly minus the bag.

 

[vacmadman]

Looking good!

Ben,

Your Royal is looking amazing indeed. I look forward to seeing it completed. Another piece of vacuum history being brought back to life, love it!

Jim

 

[mivintagevacs]

Thank you so much Jim! I’ve really enjoyed working on this machine and learning more about its history from everyone here.

 

[mivintagevacs]

I finally have the restored armature back from Eurton Electric. The wait was longer than expected but it looks like they did a really great job rewiring it. If you are patient I would highly recommend them to anyone who has a rare motor where a replacement armature is out of the question. They also sourced replacement brushes and springs. Im excited to finally have everything that I need to finish reassembly of the motor unit!

 

[mivintagevacs]

The motor unit is back together. The front bearing plate required a bit of persuasion. It’s a snug fit in the housing. The motor spins very smoothly now with minimal end play. What was the approximate original length of power cord on these?

 

[mivintagevacs]

I finished assembling the motor and it runs strong and sounds great! So happy to have it running finally!

 

[mivintagevacs]

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[mivintagevacs]

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[mivintagevacs]

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[mivintagevacs]

I was thinking that I will make a paper mock-up of the bag based on the old photos. I want to capture the proportions and conical shape of the original. It looks like the original just had the one vertical seam running up the back and a round cap at the top. Anyone have a good recommendation for someone who would do a nice job sewing one up at a fair price? I can take care of creating and applying the graphics, I just don’t have experience sewing and I want the bag to be top quality. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[centralvacs1928]

Looks incredible!! I'm sure your machine hasn't looked that good since it was sold.

Can't wait to see it finished and running.