1929 Hoover model 725 upright vacuum

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Mick_VT
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Re: 1929 Hoover model 725 upright vacuum

Post by Mick_VT »

The dyson is dry, just like your shop setup. I have one, it works really well. It does have a clear canister so you can see when it needs emptying, and yes that means it always looks dirty. It seems to generate a lot of static in use too which results in the outside getting dusty, especially when you empty it, but all round I am very happy with it.
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Re: 1929 Hoover model 725 upright vacuum

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I'm glad you seem happy with yours. I can see how it must be ok to empty if there isn;t water or a filter to contend with cleaning each time. Hoover must have made a lot with the bags over the years. but the made it quick and easy. I think I can get bags for my rigid shop vac but I make do with the filter it has, every once in a while I dunk it in a bucket of soapy water and give it a wash then set it in the sun to dry. commercial systems often have a ground wire if they run the plastic hose very far otherwise static can cause a fire. if I make a lot of sawdust and it is clean , not painted , then I just put it in paper bags and I feel safe enough burning it along with the bag. Clouds of dust that can be explosive but a paper bag of saw dust or chips is just nice for kindling .

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Re: 1929 Hoover model 725 upright vacuum

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phil wrote:I'm glad you seem happy with yours. I can see how it must be ok to empty if there isn;t water or a filter to contend with cleaning each time. Hoover must have made a lot with the bags over the years. but the made it quick and easy. I think I can get bags for my rigid shop vac but I make do with the filter it has, every once in a while I dunk it in a bucket of soapy water and give it a wash then set it in the sun to dry. commercial systems often have a ground wire if they run the plastic hose very far otherwise static can cause a fire. if I make a lot of sawdust and it is clean , not painted , then I just put it in paper bags and I feel safe enough burning it along with the bag. Clouds of dust that can be explosive but a paper bag of saw dust or chips is just nice for kindling .


Although I went bagless on my shop vac for years, I now always use bags in my shop vac, I was recommended to use them by a woodworker i follow online. They are expensive but I use them for several reasons:

They make emptying much more convenient and improve the filtering this acts to:
1. Better protect the vac motor from stress and dirt infiltration, thus extending the life of the vac
2. They greatly extend the life of the filter, so helping pay back the outlay
3. They improve the consistency of the suction performance of the vac, as the filtration does not block anywhere near so fast with the bag acting as a pre-filter
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Re: 1929 Hoover model 725 upright vacuum

Post by Texas_Ranger »

heartwood wrote:as a young man, my father sold and repaired vacuum cleaners....he moved on to sell and repair larger industrial tools but always knew his way around an Electrolux vac or tornado polishing machine...as a young woman, I worked in my father's shop...when an armature (the copper coiled 'guts' that were surrounded by a magnetic 'field') got worn by the carbon brushes we would perform a 'T&C'...T&C stands for 'turn and cut'...the brushes wear down on the copper commutator and cause a 'saddle' to form...in a lathe, we would 'turn' down the copper to make it smooth then 'cut' a separation in the bars...put the motor back together with a new set of brushes and off you go for another decade of service before the armature needed another T&C... http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.dU-Wq ... h&pid=15.1 see the small separated sections at the left with a black mark? the black mark is from the brushes... this is what it looks like after a T&C... http://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.5ysg_ ... s&pid=15.1 TAAADAAAHHH!

...jade...wow, that brings back some fond memories!


Nice to read that! I recently did something similar but less aggressive to a much larger motor recently - I helped clean the armature of a 55 kW 600 V DC traction motor inside a 1927 tram (streetcar)! The motor (probably weighs half a tonne) remains in situ and a special wooden stick with sandpaper is pressed onto the armature while the car is moved back and forth. It's more cleaning than actual T&C though.

Side note: it didn't exactly solve the issues although it was necessary - we quickly discovered that the rotor windings were disintegrating and had possibly already shorted to the cast-iron casing so the whole thing might need to be rewound. One of the main axle bearings is failing too.

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Re: 1929 Hoover model 725 upright vacuum

Post by heartwood »

quite interesting texas...is the tram still in service for transportation or is it a museum piece? I hope you're able to get it back in service....good idea using the sandpaper to clean up!
...jade

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Re: 1929 Hoover model 725 upright vacuum

Post by phil »

Ive tried turning armatures on my lathe, I find sandpaper works best, If I try to take a slight cut the copper sort of rolls over in the gaps. Ive got a contraption called a toolpost grinder. it's a separate motor with a grindstone that mounts instead of the regular cutter. that thing will cut hard steel or things like rubber which are otherwise difficult to machine. It might work on armatures.

for those doing it at home , if you have a drill press you can usually chuck one end of the shaft and put the other in a bearing or on a pin if it has a dimple in the end. then just wrap a slice of about 6oo wet or dry paper around and run the drill press. That'll usually polish them up nicely without taking too much off. You could do the smae with an electric drill and a helper to work the sandapaper.. those old motors often smell like ozone because of the arcing, cleaning it up helps.

there is a tool called a "megger" Texas will know what it is, it applies a high voltage to take measurements of the insulation quality. On old radios I often have to fix up old wiring. some of the cloth lasts a long time. a lot of the rubber turns to mush or peanut brittle and falls off. one technique is to replace the wire , another is to clip one end and stick heat shrink over it. Ill sometimes smoke the wire with a lighter to make it look not brand new. heat shrink is a new thing. old stuff uses a product referred to as "spagetti" it doesn't shrink but you can slip it over wires that show. I have a cache of the old stuff which I use sparingly where wires show. electric motor shops can rewind things like that. there is one here called armature electric and they work on some pretty amazing projects. last time I walked in there they had this huge armature from a paper mill about 10 feet diameter.. but they will rewind your little motor too if you can pay for it they can still do it. I recently changed out a 3 horse 3 phase motor. replacement cost was so low it didn't pay to save the big old cast iron cased motor.

if the short or partial short is down in the windings you have to rewind, You could perhaps stick some heat shrink over any of the leads you can reach to see if that helps before resorting to the cost of a rewind. If the cloth wire gets oily it might break down the insulation quality on those wires.
Phil

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