wife wants to junk them

Check the wiring. A lot of newer stuff uses push in wiring, and sometimes it didn't go in far enough, so it comes out. I just salvaged a new cordless drill that way, and it came with seven 19.2 VDC battery packs, five chargers, a large handheld buffer, and a flashlight that all use the same batteries.

Look at the commutator on the armature. It likely needs cleaned, and maybe a new set of brushes. As long as the windings aren't burnt, there isn't a lot to go wrong. I used to connect the vacuum cleaner motor to

Mark Modrall spake thus:

I'd say worth opening up and looking around inside, checking brushes and such as suggested elsewhere.

Just to give you an idea of how vastly superior some of that old stuff is to the *crap* being made today, my upright vac is an old Kenmore (probably a rebranded Hoover) that I bought used ca. 1980 (for $10). Apart from replacing the footswitch when it finally gave out, I haven't done a thing to it; that thing works as well as the day I bought it, and probably pretty damn close as well as the day it was made (~1960). So yeah, it's worth fixing.

Blender...tear into it with a continuity meter, and see what happens. As for the vacuum, if its the type where everything you suck up goes through the impeller, years of rock/metal bits/screws hits against the impeller may have chipped it down to nothing.

most likely a bad cord,brushes or switch, fixing it may coast more than its worth but who knows, you must have a meter and knowledge to use it to know this.

more than likely the bearings/brushes or both are worn out in the motor.. toss it.

I concur with what is already said about it. Don't overlook the obvious problem with a vacuum passage being plugged up on the canister.

You may also want to check commutator/windings with an ohm meter to make sure they are all the same. An open winding or bad connection to the commutator will also cause those symptoms (along with some sparking from the brushes).

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Jamie wrote in news:beUPg.27$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe07.lga:

Those are excellent experimenting devices. If you really screw it up or you can't get it to work again, nothing lost & experience gained. You might even wind up with a few spare parts. ;-)

Puckdropper

You should find between 20 and 60 gnomes in there for a 240v vac, 1/4 that if 110v.

NT

snipped-for-privacy@care2.com wrote in news:1158773303.616090.44900 @d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:

Gnomes? Lawn ornaments in a vaccum?

Puckdropper

snipped-for-privacy@care2.com spake thus:

Dunno about "gnomes", but assuming the OP is in the U.S., it ain't gonna be a 240-volt unit. We don't use that Yurpeen power over heah'.

You're right! No wimpy 50 Hz power is good enough for the US.

I just picked up some free stereo components made in Japan. In each manual it points out that models exported all over the world have 110/220 power supplies and need to be switched appropriately.

The one exception is units exported to the USA which have 110 volt supplies only.

Makes you think!

Homer J Simpson spake thus:

Yes: TWIAVBP.

But Americans won't RTFM.

Homer J Simpson spake thus:

But what to do when it's written in Chinglish? or Jinglish? or Germish? or, worse yet, in geek-speak?

-- Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo. The German Wehrmacht won World War II. The United States won in Vietnam, and the Soviets in Afghanistan. The Zealots won against the Romans, and Ehud Olmert won the Second Lebanon War.

- Uri Avnery, Israeli peace activist

David Nebenzahl wrote in news:4511b890$0$19909 $ snipped-for-privacy@news.adtechcomputers.com:

At least you've got a chance with geek-speak. Those terms EXIST, even if you don't know them.

Puckdropper

It could be a comic book written for a 5 yr old and they still wouldn't read it.

...

Sure we do, I have some 240V tools here in the US, not hand tools though.

James Sweet spake thus:

You know what I meant: ordinary, plug-in-the-wall stuff. Not talking about your honking 3-phase, 5-horsepower planer or whatever.

How about an ordinary plug into the wall 240V air compressor and a small drill press? These are reasonably common and plug into a normal 15A 240V receptacle. Many table saws can also be configured for 240 too. Oh and I have a small arc welder that plugs into 240 as well.