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
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
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).
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