The Royal-Lux Formerly Known as the Royal-Electro!

~
~

Y'all may recall that a while back -- in fact, a year ago almost to the day -- I gussied up a Royal canister machine that I had found in the junk pile of a local vac shop.

The Royal did not come with anything but a non-functioning power nozzle and mismatched dusting attachments, so I adapted a spare set of Kirby Legend II wands and floor nozzles. (They proved to be too light-weight for that long hose and they flopped all over the place and I didn't like them.)

I also installed a beautiful chrome-plated cord winder from an older Royal that I had found on eBay a long time ago. It was a brand-new OEM replacement that I got for just a couple of bucks and I was finally able to put it to use.

For the next round of vivesection, I removed the ugly and ungainly tool caddy that it came with. (To me, it made that sleek machine look like it had a beer belly!)

I kept the original extra-long maroon hose but grafted an Electrolux handle onto it. I removed the power nozzle hardware and pigtail connector from the machine-end coupler since I didn't plan to ever use it with a power nozzle.

Finally, I outfitted it with a set of Electrolux aluminum wands and white Electrolux combination attachments.

I was thinking right from the get-go that dark-gray attachments would look better with the maroon color of the machine, so I began looking for them. Plus, I didn't really like the original hose. It was just too long.

I knew that the dark gray combination attachments from the Aerus Lux Platinum would look nice, but the cost for new ones is ridiculously high. So I started going around and asking folks if they had any spares I could get for a bit lower than a new set, and one at a time the attachments came to me at very reasonable prices.

The last thing I found, purely by luck in a bunch of other stuff another vacuum cleaner collector gave me, was a Kirby G4 hose. I've seen two different styles of G4 hoses, one dark-gray with matching dark-gray connectors, and one lighter-gray with dark-gray connectors. I don't know which came first but I had gotten both of them, and the all-dark-gray one matched the other "new Royal" accessories the best. Attaching the machine end of the hose to the coupler was just a piece of cake, and I liked how I was able to eliminate the large and bulky casing for the power nozzle wiring that I thought was just plain ugly.

So here you have it, in all its radiant glory ... the ROYAL-LUX! I changed the name to Royal-Lux rather than my original name Electro-Royal, because Electro-Royal sounds too much like Electro-Hygiene.

"Just Another Day in Sweeper Paradise..."

Photos... < > Photo 1 of 10 View Full Size


Forum Topics & Rules Manuals & Literature	New users Click-here to sign-up

Post# 332540 8/25/2015 at 19:41 (3,166 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles)
Checkrate/Likes 1 ~ ~ Y'all may recall that a while back -- in fact, a year ago almost to the day -- I gussied up a Royal canister machine that I had found in the junk pile of a local vac shop. The Royal did not come with anything but a non-functioning power nozzle and mismatched dusting attachments, so I adapted a spare set of Kirby Legend II wands and floor nozzles. (They proved to be too light-weight for that long hose and they flopped all over the place and I didn't like them.) I also installed a beautiful chrome-plated cord winder from an older Royal that I had found on eBay a long time ago. It was a brand-new OEM replacement that I got for just a couple of bucks and I was finally able to put it to use. For the next round of vivesection, I removed the ugly and ungainly tool caddy that it came with. (To me, it made that sleek machine look like it had a beer belly!) I kept the original extra-long maroon hose but grafted an Electrolux handle onto it. I removed the power nozzle hardware and pigtail connector from the machine-end coupler since I didn't plan to ever use it with a power nozzle. Finally, I outfitted it with a set of Electrolux aluminum wands and white Electrolux combination attachments. I was thinking right from the get-go that dark-gray attachments would look better with the maroon color of the machine, so I began looking for them. Plus, I didn't really like the original hose. It was just too long. I knew that the dark gray combination attachments from the Aerus Lux Platinum would look nice, but the cost for new ones is ridiculously high. So I started going around and asking folks if they had any spares I could get for a bit lower than a new set, and one at a time the attachments came to me at very reasonable prices. The last thing I found, purely by luck in a bunch of other stuff another vacuum cleaner collector gave me, was a Kirby G4 hose. I've seen two different styles of G4 hoses, one dark-gray with matching dark-gray connectors, and one lighter-gray with dark-gray connectors. I don't know which came first but I had gotten both of them, and the all-dark-gray one matched the other "new Royal" accessories the best. Attaching the machine end of the hose to the coupler was just a piece of cake, and I liked how I was able to eliminate the large and bulky casing for the power nozzle wiring that I thought was just plain ugly. So here you have it, in all its radiant glory ... the ROYAL-LUX! I changed the name to Royal-Lux rather than my original name Electro-Royal, because Electro-Royal sounds too much like Electro-Hygiene. "Just Another Day in Sweeper Paradise..." Photos... < > Photo 1 of 10 View Full Size

Post# 332554 , Reply# 1 8/25/2015 at 22:10 (3,166 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA)
Checkrate/Likes That turned out nice!

Post# 332556 , Reply# 2 8/25/2015 at 22:18 (3,166 days old) by charleskirby66 (Manteca, CA)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Great job Charles!* Looks excellent. I also greatly appreciate the sneak preview of its greatness today. Bravo! Nice to have a real friend here on VL.

Post# 332557 , Reply# 3 8/25/2015 at 22:19 (3,166 days old) by 3rdGenVacGuy (Columbus, Ohio )
Checkrate/Likes *Royal Pony Tank* I have a blue model that I primarily use in my garage for cleaning out cars. Yours looks like it is the two speed model, because of the toggle switch. I think what you have done to yours makes it look so old school, which is a good thing. I kind of like the beer belly tool caddy on mine, because it keeps all of the tools where I need them and can change them out when using in the car. The kicker is your cordwinder. Mine just has the end bell to wrap the cord on which is a pain. I use a cord reel extension cord to the driveway, and then the cord from the royal to go around the cars. I may look at adapting a lux reel onto mine. Not sure how well it could hook into the exhaust port. I could rewire the jumper cord and hardwire it into the end motor housing. This would be a true Royal-Lux.

Post# 332559 , Reply# 4 8/25/2015 at 23:22 (3,166 days old) by stricklybojack (Southern California)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Really..* . cool machine, very nice work. I think an extremely well executed Franken-vac like this, or hot rodded vac, is the penultimate frontier, short only of design/building your own from scratch.

Post# 332666 , Reply# 5 8/27/2015 at 20:47 (3,164 days old) by dartman (Portland OR)
Checkrate/Likes *Question about removing hose ends* Like it says, nice job on adapting it to what you need. But how in the heck do you take the end attachments off that Royal hose when you need to repair or replace the hose. I have a 4650 I got cheap because the off/on variable speed was not working due to the power wires in the hose being broken. I bought a complete 4600 hose on ebay that works fine but know you can sometimes still find just a hose with the power leads and put your ends on it. I have saved all the other parts and still haven't figured out or found a guide that shows how to do it. I also have a older 413 power tank with a bad hose so the info would help me figure out both of them. Luckily before the new/used hose showed up it turned out everything worked in the second blower mode on the tank switch. I do use the power head, house has full carpet and so did my old house.

Post# 332673 , Reply# 6 8/28/2015 at 06:37 (3,164 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 2 *Terry* If you want to remove the hose from the hose connector to attach a new hose to it, use a hair dryer. Put the hair dryer on the end & let it take at least 5 minutes, & make sure the heat gets all around the hose cuff. You will find this will soften the rubber & melt the glue inside. It's then simply a matter of using your muscles & a old flat blade screwdriver & giving a good hard pull to remove the hose connector from the hose. Hope this helps you out. Rob

Post# 332716 , Reply# 7 8/28/2015 at 18:33 (3,163 days old) by dartman (Portland OR)
Checkrate/Likes *Figures* Thanks for that info Rob, I kept looking at the ends and nothing looked like a way to disassemble it and couldn't find any guides but the way they are built that makes sense. Maybe when I feel like it now that I know the secret I'll tear apart the 413 hose and see how it goes, if that works out I can do the original 4650 hose and see if I can cut it down to get past the bad wires. At least now if I get a powered hose blank sometime I have a clue how to swap things around if the 4600 hose finally dies.