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Author Topic: Panasonic MC-E44 - Stripdown and Refurb  (Read 7066 times)

Offline beko1987

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Panasonic MC-E44 - Stripdown and Refurb
« on: September 14, 2015, 08:04:54 am »
This turned out to be a slightly larger project than I was anticipating, but good fun none the less!

A while ago, I sold a DC04 (The one I did the large rebuild thread on over in the DC04 section). The lady bought round this, and asked if I would like it before it went to the tip, it made a burning smell apparently







It's a quite elderly MC-E44, part of the range of bulletproof but boring cleaners from Panasonic, this still lives today (just, they might have been canned a month or 2 ago though) in a slightly revised body format.



It's seen some action in the past



The main problem with this is it came with no tools, and the owner didnt know where they would be (and I didnt push, because it was a freebie, and one must never say no to free stuff!)



which is a shame, because the on board storage is quite good





Viva Espanya



This is the main problem I have with Panasonic uprights (apart from the Icon, it has a proper brushroll!). The brushrolls are so soft! Good suction, light, nimble cleaner, but poor brushing action



The bumper seems a bit displaced



First, get your assistant to remove the cable



Undo the handle  bolt



The top cord hook pops out



There's a screw at the bottom of the handle, but it wouldnt split in 2, so put it back and left it



Bag door opens



Post motor filter sits under the grille at the front



The catch unscrews from the inside



Pre motor filter looks a bit peaky



2 screws sit at the top



and the top panel lifts off. There's a seal on the rear side of it







Bag full indicator comes nicely apart (why didnt the one in the Galaxy be this easy?)



mains cable is clamped in on entry



Whoever wired this up didnt pay much attention...



Not very tidy



There's a supressor fitted



Which to my untrained eye looks a bit bulged





The switch pops up



A blanking plate that rins down the length of the cleaner pops out, revealing the spinal cables



Which wouldnt come out as the supressor nor spade connectors on the switch wiring would fit through the hole, so were left for now.

Moving down slightly, 3 screws release the top of the hose





(It is a VERY short hose, another pain with these machines)

The swivel end apart nicely



Tool door pops out at the bottom



The clips to hold the hose and extension wand in unscrew



That being all that could be done, I moved onto the bottom



Baseplate off and  :censored: :snivel:





That doesnt look good, but it's all so much of a mess that it may as well be stripped and washed, if only so if I have to break it for spares I have nice, clean spares!



The release pedal should have been screwed to the hood, but the screw was loose inside, and this was hanging there





The baseplate suction tube lifts out



The brushroll is quite cleaner (despite being as soft as sh*te). The ends are held on with a screw



Which pulls off the end



The holders spin around a bearing



The other side of the cleaner head is held in with a plastic plug, which has been glued in





The belt side is held down by a plastic bracket, which is a bit chewed up







All thats left on here now is the belt guard and bumper



The motor housing is quite badly chewed up



The belt must have started running off centre



Which caused it to catch on the housing and start causing damage. I also wandered, as it did work fine when I first got it, but I used it for a bit before doing this stripdown, and it did catch again as it smelt of burning and the motor tone changed

4 screws remove the motor housing lid



The motor wires are connected up with a choc block



Only in one end though, which was odd





This earth wire runs from the supressor all the way down to here.



and once removed, the spinal wiring can be pulled out and free



2 seals on the chassis pull off



Rear wheels are held in with a circlip



The motor ran very well, despite this tape. I peeled it back, but couldnt see anything amiss, and the motor fan was very clean so I put it back together and left it alone



Everything was washed, dried and polished (the whole machine was covered in a layer of brown haze, although not fag smoke), and came up REALLY white when polished with the Cif!)

Rear wheels went on



Spinal cord back in



Bag door seals in



wire cover clipped back on



Motor re-seated



and the motor housing screwed back down



Bumper refitted to the head





The cleaner head cleaned up ok, you can REALLY see where the belt was bashing about. Refitted to the cleaner by this point



The peg did need to be glued back in, so I glued it back in!



I refitted the release pedal, but the screw post it sits on had snapped. I managed to get 4 turns of the screw into what was left, although it needs backing off a turn as it doesnt release quite as smoothly as it should



I dont have any belts for this specifically, but found all the belts I had that would be for the same machine in a different frock



and chose these



It was the correct width, and fitted nicely with the brushroll







The old one must have been poor quality, or frigging ancient!



Internal tube fitted



The baseplate was screwed back down



The bottom end is back together



The top end was wired up and screwed together



Hose entry seal fitted





and the hose fitted



The washed filters went back in



along with an air freshener





A new bag was fitted



And she was finished, and sat in the corner for a few days

Until I got a new supressor (and plugs for the Miele) on Saturday





All temporarily  :underchair: fitted together as per Tech12's wonderful instructions



And she works very well once more, without the risk of the supressor going bang and causing me to need a new pair of boxers...

I'll try and shoot a little after video later, and there is one more thing I want to do to it before it gets sold (or someone asks me if I have a stopgap vac about that they could borrow).

Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!


Offline Tech12

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Re: Panasonic MC-E44 - Stripdown and Refurb
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2015, 08:51:22 pm »
Nice job buddy, that certainly looks a hell of a lot better & more to the point: You saved another one from landfill  :thumbsup:
Repairs to All makes of Small Commercial & Domestic appliance. Power tool repair.
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Offline beko1987

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Re: Panasonic MC-E44 - Stripdown and Refurb
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2015, 08:53:26 pm »
Cheers! Its the carbon dust,  makes everything look awful,  but normally protects the plastics! Some of the tidiest dc04s ive bad have been black upon arrival!
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Tech12

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Re: Panasonic MC-E44 - Stripdown and Refurb
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2015, 09:14:16 pm »
Nothing wrong with a bit of carbon dust, you haven't lived until you've got a bit of that in your lungs :sick0012:  :boggleeye:
Repairs to All makes of Small Commercial & Domestic appliance. Power tool repair.
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Offline dysondc16

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Re: Panasonic MC-E44 - Stripdown and Refurb
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2015, 09:59:37 pm »
Wonderful refurb as always! I have to agree with you about the brushes on these, not too keen on how they agitate. I have a later panasonic with the same brushroll (branded as a miele of all things).

Offline beko1987

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Re: Panasonic MC-E44 - Stripdown and Refurb
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2015, 03:33:17 pm »
Miele? Not sure I've seen that one, but then I saw a Lux Glider badged up as an AEG Vampyr the other day so anythings possible I suppose!

Forgot to update this, the correct crimps turned up in the week



So I un-crimped the butt connectors and replaced them with the end joiners



and she was done! The first vacuum that I have replaced the RF Supressor on, not  just removed it, thanks Tech12 for the guidance! From now on, I'll remove any old/blown ones for initial testing, then try and replace with a new one.





All done! It's just walked out the foor for £15 too, not bad for a free, early 90's vacuum cleaner with no tools!

Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Tech12

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Re: Panasonic MC-E44 - Stripdown and Refurb
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2015, 03:57:28 pm »
Your welcome buddy, looks much neater with the closed end splices. Nice job, glad you got it sold off.
The Delta from Maplin should suit a pretty broad range of cleaners, may not be an exact match but will be close enough to do the job safely.
Repairs to All makes of Small Commercial & Domestic appliance. Power tool repair.
City & Guilds and PAT qualified engineer.

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