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Author Topic: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.  (Read 22119 times)

Offline Minuno

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DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« on: December 29, 2014, 08:56:33 pm »
Thanks to the moderator for enabling me to access the site as I couldn't for some reason complete all the checks after lots of trying, thanks very much.

Onto my question -

Hello and a good evening, if anyone can offer advice I'd appreciate it very much. Bought a second hand DC40 Animal in VGC, on getting it home removed the clear bin from the cyclone section to clean and heard a rattling noise which was obviously grit and small stones which where lodged in the upper purple section of the cyclone assembly.
After 30 mins of shaking the cyclone over the washbowl and frankly getting not very far, turning it upside down and such I decided to clean out with running water. This seemed to do the trick as lots of muck came out the bottom of the cyclone and also all the grit but now my cyclone is wet and standing in the boiler cupboard drying. I realise Dyson say don't flush the cyclone with water, but what are you going to do when an item is full of The Lord knows what?.

Please can anyone offer advice as to how to take the cyclone apart to clean it and dry it properly?, it must come apart somehow but I haven't find any links of how to achieve this.

Also how long will it take for the cyclone to dry as it is please.

So far I have looked at other teardowns of earlier versions ie, the DC17 and they seem to involve brute force and luck really, it seems ridiculous that something designed to clean thoroughly cannot be cleaned adequately itself?. What do the refurb people do with used models I've read some flush with disinfectant to clear any nasties but that's akin to washing I guess?. Compressed air is all well and good but it won't blow out everything. Hopefully someone has had a go and successfully cracked one open and put it together again afterwards.

Happy New Year to all.

If I can add, I feel dyson should allow users such as myself access to a full blown exploded diagram so that such self servicing can be achieved. buying a clean and fresh cyclone from dyson costs £70 plus and isn't really viable. also it isn't good to buy extra bits when the part just needs stripping down cleaning and re assembling.

Offline Minuno

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2014, 10:38:41 am »
I was hoping that someone could chip in with this I have looked all over the Cyclone assembly and see no screws in clear sight just what I believe are push tabs holding the plastic top to the unit as here


Offline MVacs

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2014, 05:10:26 pm »
If nobody else chips in meanwhile, we have a DC40 that came in this afternoon for a service. We are shut till Friday now, but I can check with our tech then exactly how these come apart as I expect he will be stripping it down to wash it. .

Offline Minuno

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2014, 06:31:02 pm »
If nobody else chips in meanwhile, we have a DC40 that came in this afternoon for a service. We are shut till Friday now, but I can check with our tech then exactly how these come apart as I expect he will be stripping it down to wash it. .

that would be very kind indeed i've looked online the past three days and there is absolutely nothing about how to successfully crack the cyclone open, would be great if one of your service engineers could do a picture step by step but any advice is gratefully appreciated. Im sure there are loads of other users of the 40/41 who would benefit

Offline macman

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2015, 01:56:55 pm »
I've not worked on that particular model, but I've always found that jetwashing from both ends gets rid of the vast majority of debris from the cyclones fitted to the DC01, 04, 07 and 14, once the cyclone top is removed (where fitted). I've never had one which required unglueing to clean it sufficiently.

Offline Minuno

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2015, 04:14:57 pm »
I've not worked on that particular model, but I've always found that jetwashing from both ends gets rid of the vast majority of debris from the cyclones fitted to the DC01, 04, 07 and 14, once the cyclone top is removed (where fitted). I've never had one which required unglueing to clean it sufficiently.

I hope that it isn't glued together?, that will make things a lot more troublesome I guess. I don't know why dyson don't allow owners such as myself who purchased second hand the facility to see an exploded diagram of how to take apart. I know that the DC40 is the current Dyson but it seems realistic for owners to want to keep things in tip top condition for me personally emptying the clear bin isn't sufficient as we all know stuff gets into the Cyclone. 

Offline __russ__

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2015, 06:12:34 pm »
I've not worked on that particular model, but I've always found that jetwashing from both ends gets rid of the vast majority of debris from the cyclones fitted to the DC01, 04, 07 and 14, once the cyclone top is removed (where fitted). I've never had one which required unglueing to clean it sufficiently.

I hope that it isn't glued together?, that will make things a lot more troublesome I guess. I don't know why dyson don't allow owners such as myself who purchased second hand the facility to see an exploded diagram of how to take apart. I know that the DC40 is the current Dyson but it seems realistic for owners to want to keep things in tip top condition for me personally emptying the clear bin isn't sufficient as we all know stuff gets into the Cyclone.

The cyclone isn't glued together and does split quite nicely for cleaning.....but is quite a faff to get apart.

Sorry I don't have any photos/diagrams to show it apart but thought I'd chime in to at least say it was possible!

Offline Minuno

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2015, 07:11:45 pm »
I've not worked on that particular model, but I've always found that jetwashing from both ends gets rid of the vast majority of debris from the cyclones fitted to the DC01, 04, 07 and 14, once the cyclone top is removed (where fitted). I've never had one which required unglueing to clean it sufficiently.

I hope that it isn't glued together?, that will make things a lot more troublesome I guess. I don't know why dyson don't allow owners such as myself who purchased second hand the facility to see an exploded diagram of how to take apart. I know that the DC40 is the current Dyson but it seems realistic for owners to want to keep things in tip top condition for me personally emptying the clear bin isn't sufficient as we all know stuff gets into the Cyclone.

The cyclone isn't glued together and does split quite nicely for cleaning.....but is quite a faff to get apart.

Sorry I don't have any photos/diagrams to show it apart but thought I'd chime in to at least say it was possible!

Could you give a little insight into how you took it apart did you press in the slots above in the picture perhaps.

Offline __russ__

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2015, 07:39:38 pm »
I've not worked on that particular model, but I've always found that jetwashing from both ends gets rid of the vast majority of debris from the cyclones fitted to the DC01, 04, 07 and 14, once the cyclone top is removed (where fitted). I've never had one which required unglueing to clean it sufficiently.

I hope that it isn't glued together?, that will make things a lot more troublesome I guess. I don't know why dyson don't allow owners such as myself who purchased second hand the facility to see an exploded diagram of how to take apart. I know that the DC40 is the current Dyson but it seems realistic for owners to want to keep things in tip top condition for me personally emptying the clear bin isn't sufficient as we all know stuff gets into the Cyclone.

The cyclone isn't glued together and does split quite nicely for cleaning.....but is quite a faff to get apart.

Sorry I don't have any photos/diagrams to show it apart but thought I'd chime in to at least say it was possible!

Could you give a little insight into how you took it apart did you press in the slots above in the picture perhaps.

No you can't press the slots in, you need to lever the outer part of the cyclone up and over the tab.

Like I said it's a bit of a faff because if you're too heavy handed with it, the plastic just cracks at the top as it's quite thin.

Be sure you really want to open it up before you go ahead as those are around £70 new to replace for the cyclone and bin assembly (parts aren't available separately).

Offline Dyson Tech

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #9 on: January 02, 2015, 03:38:41 pm »
As has been said above, they do split, but not that easily. I start by using two switch removal tools to get under the outer shroud. It comes off like a tyre of a bicycle wheel might.



Like so:



We clean them like this. But as said, if you really want to strip it further, it releases via the tabs, but they dont push in.



They are prone to break this way, so we clean them as in picture two above.
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Offline Minuno

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #10 on: January 02, 2015, 07:11:00 pm »

We clean them like this. But as said, if you really want to strip it further, it releases via the tabs, but they dont push in.

(Attachment Link)

They are prone to break this way, so we clean them as in picture two above.

Thanks for the images appreciated they help a great deal , I have found that when I cleaned the cyclone with water and ziflora muck ran down behind the mesh area which you can see through the external clear plastic drum , so the pics are a help. Can I ask have you ever gone as far as to attempt the full strip down to the cyclones constituent parts? , I would like to possibly attempt this would I have to leaver the area near the tabs in the direction going away from the gold cyclone section. I appreciate I would have to be very careful. I guess if it did break could always glue with strong adhesive as a final option.

Offline __russ__

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #11 on: January 02, 2015, 08:24:14 pm »

We clean them like this. But as said, if you really want to strip it further, it releases via the tabs, but they dont push in.

(Attachment Link)

They are prone to break this way, so we clean them as in picture two above.

Thanks for the images appreciated they help a great deal , I have found that when I cleaned the cyclone with water and ziflora muck ran down behind the mesh area which you can see through the external clear plastic drum , so the pics are a help. Can I ask have you ever gone as far as to attempt the full strip down to the cyclones constituent parts? , I would like to possibly attempt this would I have to leaver the area near the tabs in the direction going away from the gold cyclone section. I appreciate I would have to be very careful. I guess if it did break could always glue with strong adhesive as a final option.

The difficult bit is getting it up and over the tabs without breaking anything. Once you've managed this bit, there is a a white dial/disc with a seal that needs prizing/lifting up and that reveals 5 or 6 screws, which allows the rest of the cyclone to come apart quite nicely.

Offline Minuno

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Re: DC40 Cyclone teardown advice? Anyone know what to do?.
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2015, 03:34:35 pm »







above before and after removal of outer cover. Ill leave it up to you to decide which is which!


After an hour cleaning with cotton buds to grt in crevices

thanks for letting me know how to remove the outer cover. The dirt on the cyclone could be seen clearly through the plastic bin.




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