Okay, this doesn’t really count as a hack or anything, but it is a tiny bit of virtuous behavior: I fixed an old Rigid 12 Gallon shop vac that I had sitting around. I hadn’t used it in a while, probably a few years when I had a water leak in my garage this summer. I used it to suck up some water and gook, but noticed that the switch on it had broken and it was jammed in the on position. I could still turn it on and off by unplugging it, but that wasn’t super convenient. I also noticed that it didn’t smell particularly great, with a slight “motor burning out smell”, so I set it aside until last weekend.

Before Christmas, I disassembled it to see how difficult it would be to repair. First of all, I noted that the filter was… well beyond disgusting. Clogged, dirty, it would be truly surprising if any air got through it at all. I removed it, and then disassembled the top of the vacuum. I found that the switch was actually a pretty easily replaced item: made by Carling Technologies, it was held in place by a couple of clips, and wired to the power line with a couple of slide on spade connectors. The glue-on label for my vacuum had long since departed, so I wasn’t able to find the exact model, but it appeared that the switch in many similar models was officially discontinued. But a little searching on line yielded this switch, which appeared to be the same size and had a similar clip structure. Unlike the original, it was a rocker style switch instead of the “bat” shaped one it came with, which was fine with me, as those switches seem to break more easily in my experience.

Got the switch today, fitted it in (worked perfectly) rehooked up the switch and plugged in the vacuum. I had pressure washed the can, and had removed the bad filter. Turned it on, and… it works! Huzzah. Of course I installed the switch in backwards, so the “ON” position is actually off, and “OFF” is on, but I don’t feel like unscrewing it just to fix that. While running it, I could smell a hint of what I smelled before, but I left it running for about five minutes, and the scent seemed to fade, but I am not sure if anything is wrong. Perhaps a little lubrication is in order, I’ll have to look it up. In the mean time I’ll get a replacement filter. I suspect I’ll get a few dollars worth of use out of it anyway, and I may as well use it until it’s dead.

It will get some use to get rid of some dirt and grime in my shop this weekend.

Addendum: Matthias Wandel (in addition to being a fascinating woodworker to watch on YouTube) had this nice video on oiling the bearings in your shop vac.