Source materials
- Electrolux Model 30 canister vacuum cleaner.
- A bunch of other stuff from many places – some actually purchased for the project.
A long standing friend who is a CAD engineer, artist and former roller derby gal (very interesting combination and history there), keeps an eye out for things she thinks I might make use of. One evening she drops by and gives me this ancient canister vacuum cleaner she found dumped at the curb. Did I mention she stopped in mid bike ride to pick it up, tie it down to her pannier rack and bring it over?
It was an elegant mess – rust all over the place, the elegant semi-vinyl cover material torn and peeling – in short a mess. I said I could probably do something with it, not having any actual ideas until I stood it up on end, when my brain screamed JET PACK!
The Concept
It is just the right size to fix on your back, and spouts enough chrome to cause temporary blindness in direct sunlight. The feel and weight worked also, though much of that was the burned and rusted-out motor.
The canister looked like it was ready to launch into the air at a moment’s notice and hanging onto it would be one hell of a ride. The Rocketeer and Buck Rodgers would have nothing on me!
The Build
First, I had to take the vacuum cleaner apart, and holy unpleasant adjective, was it a mess inside. Looked as it it had not been properly stored in “a cool, dry place”. The original fabric dust bag (or what was left of it), was still in the canister but unsalvageable (not that a jetpack needs a dust bag).
The motor was rusted solid and required major surgery for disassembly and cleaning – there was no chance it would ever run again, nor that I would indulge in the total insanity of attempting to hook it up to wall power “just to see what happens”. Later on, I would partially reassemble the motor and employ it as part of the audio aspect.
One issue which has stalled work is how to provide decent battery power for running the fan, lights and noise maker. Another has been how to do the harness to make it useful and seemingly realistic. Maybe it just doesn’t want to be finished right now and will pop up one day and say “Get back to work.”
Update, November 2021
Last month it told me just that – “get my tin ass out and finish me up – you are now ready.” And so I am – it required I think three years before I had enough experience, tools, and other pieces to the puzzle. This is the twist to building from acquired materials – you can’t guarantee when you will get done because one day this magnificent work of pure art will tell me “you’ve got me all wrong”. And it’s damn near always right.
TL;DR
The Electrolux Model 30 was introduced in 1937 and sold until 1954, making it the longest made vacuum with sales of over 14 million. The Model 30 is considered one of the top 100 U.S. inventions of all time.[4] (That means this machine is at least one year older than me).
And there are parts still available from various online sources. If I ever come along another such device, I might be tempted to restore the thing for the sheer hell of it.
Shouter to Dead Parrots 