Author Topic: Vax Air Cordless Duo - Stripdown & Refurbishment! (Read 9344 times)

beko1987 · « **on:** March 18, 2021, 08:15:15 pm »

A fair while ago now, I had 2 vax Air Cordless Duos in quick succession. One given to me by a fellow collector

and one a job, being TOTALLY dead

Between the knowledge gained from the dead one and the nothing to loose aspect of the 2nd, we find ourselves tearing it apart as usual!

Vax Air Cordless Duo - Stripdown & Refurbishment!

I had this screw out at the top of the wand

But couldn't separate the two parts, so left it be.

Take the motor and bin off

To give it it's full title:

The hose comes off the chassis with 2 screws

Then splits down further still

At the top of the main chassis we see the adjusting handle lock

This just pops off, with it's flat spring

beko1987 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:21:45 pm »

The top cover around the switch housing pops up too

And lifts off

All the buttons and springs can be lifted out now

And we can see the 2 screws hidden under said switch housing

We can undo all of those and remove the cover from the spine

Noting how the wires run

Then pulling them all out, switches and contact plate as well

With a screw down the bottom

The other half of the main spine can come off, revealing, bizarrely a tissue...

beko1987 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:26:43 pm »

Like a real actual tissue!

We can now see where the spinal wires enter the machine base

The hose holders can get out of the way

This next bit was quite tricky due to how it clips together, but remove the long screw and washer holding the main pivot together

Then with the screws removed eventually it comes away and separates, showing the PCB controlling it all

I snipped the wires

Which enables the 2 halves to be separated (you could just de-solder the wires from the board but I'm always worries about ruining cheap board traces...). The plastic has some mega heavy metallic flake in BTW

Time to empty this part. Undo the screws holding the PCB in

Under the PCB sits the trim part for the contacts

beko1987 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:31:23 pm »

Once the wire clamps are removed and the board is out of the way, 2 screws allow the LED cover to slide off

Big old board for 2 LED's!

2 more wires to snip

This next bit was HARD, I think they push the centre bolt through the plastic with a machine, it was MEGA tight, you can see where I was leaning on it with a small pry bar...

Stupid bolt fell out the other side once removed though

Onto the bit that ALWAYS breaks now, the head! If your head is cracked and not fully destroyed, go buy some epoxy and get it stripped and repaired!

Baseplate off

Brushroll out

beko1987 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:35:12 pm »

Brushroll endcaps come off

Well, one does. The other, being Vax snaps off... Brushroll is a write off!

Grumble grumble move on...

This random red bit unscrews now

Then this clear cover over the suction duct

With a couple more screws the top cover comes fully off the head

The bit that makes it stand up straight snaps off easily

And it looks alot emptier now!

Belt ID incase it helps anyone. Good luck finding one...

beko1987 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:38:40 pm »

The other end of the curly cable can be unscrewed now

And the yolk and wire fully removed at last

Leaving this to lift out as one

Ickle motor, probably still more powerful than the one running a gtech air ram

Ah the fatal wheels! Assuming your bottom chassis is in tact, a circlip on either side removes the wheel axles

The nice front wheels come out too

And that's the head done! Motor/Bin now.

Motor first

beko1987 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:44:21 pm »

The previously washed and spotless filter shows the major drawback to this otherwise pretty decent machine, the cyclone is f :censored:g rubbish

Peel the VAX off

And find the secret screw.

The other one is round the back

And we can see the fiery heart of the dragon...

Here is the power switch board

Comes off nicely

Could not split this handle either so together it stayed

Time to remove the screws holding this together

beko1987 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:47:19 pm »

There is alot of dead space being filled in here...

The motor sits under various seals

And the fancase looks encouraging

But sadly this is as far as it goes

Motor control board sits here

Until it doesn't

And we can start on the bin!

3 screws hold these bits together

beko1987 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:50:18 pm »

That lifts off to reveal the small cone

Rubber seal here is quite critical, don't tear or loose it!

These screws separate the shroud and cone from the top housing

And also the shroud from the single cyclone cone

The bin flap pops off the bin

Then the seal comes off the flap

beko1987 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:53:51 pm »

Finally the bin flap latch pops off

The often ignored instructions! It's just simpler with a bagged machine...

And we are fully apart!

Everything was then washed, polished and dried

And we can start by refitting the bin flap latch back to the cleaner bin

Sparkly

Refit the flap seal

beko1987 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:56:58 pm »

Then take a good hard hold of your loose flap

And snap it back onto the bin (what else?

)

One clean cyclone cone

Plus some other cleaned parts

Rubber gasket goes on the top

Then the filter holder and shroud slide on either side

With the screws in you can let go and refit the very bottom seal to the very bottom of the cone. Make sure its fitted properly or it'll let even more dust through than it's designed to...

Then

Refit!

beko1987 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:59:56 pm »

With the bin done, it's time to fit the battery contacts trim part inside the motor housing

Then I built the motor back up

Which didn't take long

The assembly can be slid into one side of the housing

Then the other side

Topped off by the cap

Motor unit done!

And waiting at the side for the rest to catch up

beko1987 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 18, 2021, 09:03:41 pm »

Which it quickly is doing as we refit the front wheels to the floor head

Wheels back on

Which makes it mobile again (so many got written off and scrapped for the want of this exact part in this state to be sold)

Feed the wire through the yolk and pop it on, and start to drop the electrics back in

Join the wires together. I soldered them, you can crimp them, it's not high voltage here.... I'd put the join somewhere else though in future...

Air path cover can go back on now

Then the top cover can be screwed on

beko1987 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2021, 09:07:58 pm »

The red firewall can go in now

Then the baseplate (whilst we wait for a new brushroll...

)

The fake motor housing connected up to the yolk much easier than being removed (with a helpful hard smack from a hammer...)

Electronics back together

This was so long ago I was still trying to use my Dremel Versatip! It's awful for proper soldering (I've upgraded to an electric station now) although for melting heatshrink or using outside on the car it's pretty good.)