Dyson DIY?

Dysons are very plasticy, but huge numbers of them have been made so there's a big market of used bits - check ebay. They're needed because the plastic stuff breaks. They're similar levels of repairability to other plastic stuff nowadays - you can strip them down with a screwdriver. Lots of YT videos.

On my V6 the speed button on the back is a PCB mounted tactile button mounted on the motor. I wouldn't lubricate it but you can take it apart and see if it's clogged, needs replacing or the exterior button plastic is broken. You may be able to buy just the motor part on ebay as an alternative.

Theo

FWIW, I always try lubricating plastic mechanisms with sililcone lubricant - it usually works a treat.

John

Do you mean a spray. The internet suggests:

DO NOT USE SILICONE SPRAY ON ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS, SWITCHES, RELAYS, ETC. There have been numerous reports that silicone spray can cause contact problems in switches, noted in multiple posts regarding automotive problems.

FWIW ... Down at the local recycling / tip / dump place I recently noticed that at least half of all the dead vacuum claaners in there were Dysons

Without knowing their share of the vacuum cleaner market, it doesn’t tell you a lot.

Tim

Perhaps not, but its tells me quite a bit about their share of the dead vacuum cleaner market

You should not need to spray it into the actual electrical part , apply it to where the plastic surfaces rub together . If you are worried about not being able to control the spray then squirt it into a small container with a small paintbrush or cotton bud in it and apply with that to the plastic interface.

GH

I interpreted the message as being that a trip to the local recycling might provide a solution to the problem with my Dyson.

Ah - yes - well .. mustv admit i've never used it (or had to use it for switches). AJ

In message snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Scott snipped-for-privacy@gefion.myzen.co.uk> writes

A good trip to the local recycling is when I come back with more than I took. ;-) There are certainly lots of Dysons. I scrapped mine after 20 years after the rubber seals went.

Brian

Only if yours doesn't prohibit taking stuff away ...

They aren't called DieSoons for nowt... People who know how to fix stuff buy Henry's and friends...

A neighbour ran a High Street vacuum cleaner sales/repair business, and told me how he spent all day trying to persuade people to buy better appliances than Dyson. If they insisted on Dyson, he was nevertheless happy, because he knew they'd be back over, and over, again requiring repairs.

What make of cordless vac would be more robust, OOI? There weight matters and I can see being plasticy has an advantage.

IMX the main thing wrong with the Dyson cordless vacs is either the battery wearing out (unsurprising since they pull a lot of current) or people not understanding the vac pulsing which means that it's clogged and you need to empty the bin / change the filter / strip it down to remove fine dust from the innards. The plastic does break - catches on the bin is a common one - but a lot of the time it's not a functional problem.

I'm 100% with you for corded vacs: Just Buy A Henry. I've been fixing their wet vac killed twice by user error: 1. vacuumed up salt sludge and left in the machine (motor rusted and siezed; replacement motor was £30), 2. vacuumed while full until the motor overheated and melted the float valve (replacement float valve £30). With replacement parts it keeps on trucking

- I don't think a Dyson would manage that kind of abuse.

Theo

Titanium would work better

I discovered a portable Henry. F*ck Dyson

If you have a think about the idea of lube, you have to consider what the root cause of the friction is.

If you spilled a sticky beverage on the switch, then the switch might have no other problems with it. A cleaning or a lubricating, might make sense. This could especially be the case, where we know the switch is not switching heavy inductive loads.

But if high-current AC inductive loads are being switched, chances are the switch was not properly rated, and either a bearing the switch element depends on is about to snap, or the insulating material holding the contacts is about to fail. Something is out of tolerance, and the friction is telling you to "don't press your luck".

Find an exploded-parts-diagram for the beast, and see if the switch is a commercial one that can be replaced.

We had a Hoover at home (it's at the cottage now) where the toggle switch wasn't up to the rating for the job (the usual deal of a 10A switch, being used to switch

We could easily have bypassed the switch entirely on that Hoover, but without my four tool boxes of bits n' bobs, it would have been difficult to arrange that at the cottage. There can be spade lugs and things-you-could-crimp, to remove the switch for good. It all depends on whether you think the switch has a "worthwhile" function, as to whether you bypass it for whatever reason.

Paul

DC, 21V I think.

The button is just a tactile pushbutton to the microcontroller, probably <5V @ 10mA.

If you're lubricating one of those, something has gone very wrong.

Theo

Where can I buy a titanium cordless vac?

There are battery Henries which are just the same unit on wheels but with a drill-sized battery inside instead of a mains cable. It gives you portability but still have to lug the unit around.

They now have a stick vac, but it looks just as plasticy as a Dyson:

Theo