Although I refer to Ninjas and Ametek in this thread, a fair number of the following points could apply to other makes of machine.
Following on from Ian Gourlay’s “Broken Down Vac” thread at the end of May, I learnt two useful tips to help preserve the life of my Ninja vacs. One was to remove the waste tank lid to allow moisture to escape to atmosphere rather than let it gather in the pipe leading to the vacs (Nick V-W), and the other was to keep the casing cooling fan (mine is an intake fan) running for a while after switching off the motors (John Bolton).
I would like to add the advice given by Ashby’s to dry out the vac motors by running them for three minutes with the waste tank lid off, before packing up for a length of time.
About changing brushes on the Ametek motors, I read somewhere that they should be changed before they wear down to 8cm in length. This I did yesterday. I completed the task after two hours of backache and with the aid of some choice Anglo Saxon expletives. There is so little room for careful finger work. Number two motor is considerably more difficult to work on than number one. I found the following moves were helpful.
To work on number two motor so that you can see what you are doing (almost) lay the machine on its side for one brush and turn it to the other side for the other brush.
For better access to the brushes, ease the motor’s own cooling fan off its splined spindle. Do this by gently levering it with a screwdriver, revolving the fan to evenly distribute the leverage. Take care not to damage the windings or distort the fan. Don’t forget to eventually replace the fan securely.
After a long session of futile struggling to slide the copper terminal spade from the brush housing, I discovered that it could be easily removed by inserting a small screwdriver between the spade and the housing and using it as a lever. The spade has a raised lip that stops it from easily coming out. I then went indoors to check out any tips from the “Broken Vac” thread and saw that John Bolton had suggested using a small screwdriver…. etcetera.
“If all else fails, read the instructions!” :-/
