I acquired a Sanitaire 643 which takes a square end brush roll. The brushroll that came with it was trashed, as in the threads of the axle bar (or whatever it's called, it went through the wooden brushroll) were worn smooth. The square-end endcaps no longer held this axle (and thus the brush roll) in place, so I threw it out. Didn't think it would be so difficult to come across a square end brushroll. Wrong.
There are two square end Vibragroomer brushrolls on eBay at a steep price (one's a VG1 and the other is a VGII, they're both more than I paid for the vacuum) and even if they were cheap, I'm not sure if it would be good to use either of them in my machine being that it has a 3.35 amp motor (I heard somewhere that the Vibragroomers should never be used in a Eureka/Sanitaire with a motor below 6 amps). What should I do? I cleaned up and repainted this old Sanitaire and would love to use it, but it's basically a paperweight right now with no brushroll. Does anyone know where I could find a wood brushroll with square ends (think these were called Distributor)?
I called the two vacuum shops in town, one doesn't stock any parts for Sanitaire and the other insisted that 1) no Sanitaire ever took a square-end brushroll, they're all hex-end and 2) there "couldn't" possibly be a Sanitaire older than 1986 since that's when they were founded, according to the owner (lol), then rudely told me that I was trying to put too much effort into something that was "past it's best-by date" (and went on about how it would leak dust, not perform as well as a modern vac, etc. when I told him that I truly had a Sanitaire made by the Eureka-Williams Company in 1972 right there in front of me, on my workbench). So even if he did have the brushroll I needed, no sale.
Ideas? FWIW, I saved the end caps thinking I could swap those onto a modern VGII, but it didn't work as the diameter of the VGII is bigger than the inner diameter of the endcaps. Even if it did work, I'm not positive I'd want to use a VGII on it as I'm not sure if it would cause undue stress on the motor and its bearings.
There are two square end Vibragroomer brushrolls on eBay at a steep price (one's a VG1 and the other is a VGII, they're both more than I paid for the vacuum) and even if they were cheap, I'm not sure if it would be good to use either of them in my machine being that it has a 3.35 amp motor (I heard somewhere that the Vibragroomers should never be used in a Eureka/Sanitaire with a motor below 6 amps). What should I do? I cleaned up and repainted this old Sanitaire and would love to use it, but it's basically a paperweight right now with no brushroll. Does anyone know where I could find a wood brushroll with square ends (think these were called Distributor)?
I called the two vacuum shops in town, one doesn't stock any parts for Sanitaire and the other insisted that 1) no Sanitaire ever took a square-end brushroll, they're all hex-end and 2) there "couldn't" possibly be a Sanitaire older than 1986 since that's when they were founded, according to the owner (lol), then rudely told me that I was trying to put too much effort into something that was "past it's best-by date" (and went on about how it would leak dust, not perform as well as a modern vac, etc. when I told him that I truly had a Sanitaire made by the Eureka-Williams Company in 1972 right there in front of me, on my workbench). So even if he did have the brushroll I needed, no sale.
Ideas? FWIW, I saved the end caps thinking I could swap those onto a modern VGII, but it didn't work as the diameter of the VGII is bigger than the inner diameter of the endcaps. Even if it did work, I'm not positive I'd want to use a VGII on it as I'm not sure if it would cause undue stress on the motor and its bearings.