bareass172
Well-known member
So awhile back I bought a new dustbuster for the house because the battery in the old one took a dump. I had the old one in the garage gutting the batteries out of it before I trashed the whole thing and as I got the batteries out I saw the motor sitting there with 2 nice and shiny contacts staring me in the face... I couldn't resist as I grabbed my drill battery and a couple of alligator clip leads, only to see the thing come back to life like when it was new. This sent me on a mission to resurrect the old thing for use in the garage.
Before anyone tells me, I know these are cheap to buy new and my time was worth more, but this was a fun little project to screw around with.
I asked here for help finding the battery connector:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=238048
And sourced it for cheap. I then looked at the bottom of the DB and made my plan. I used a small piece of delrin to give my battery connector a good spot to mount and then with some epoxy I put it all together. It's not pretty, but it's very functional... I cut a small groove at the front and the battery actually locks in when slid in place. I was a little disappointed that after all my planning there was enough "slop" in the connector that the battery pack wouldn't lock in like I had planned at first, but a little more epoxy fixed that. I built up 2 small mounds on each side and then shaped them with a rasp into 2 little ramps. The battery hits these and it forces the front edge down into the "locking tab". Works like a champ, and now I don't have to worry about batteries dying again. It sure beats the hell out of dragging out the shop vac each time I have a small mess to clean up too.
Big thanks to dankicksass for helping me find the connector, and to the others who expressed interest in the project when I discussed it a few times here in the past.
Before anyone tells me, I know these are cheap to buy new and my time was worth more, but this was a fun little project to screw around with.
I asked here for help finding the battery connector:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=238048
And sourced it for cheap. I then looked at the bottom of the DB and made my plan. I used a small piece of delrin to give my battery connector a good spot to mount and then with some epoxy I put it all together. It's not pretty, but it's very functional... I cut a small groove at the front and the battery actually locks in when slid in place. I was a little disappointed that after all my planning there was enough "slop" in the connector that the battery pack wouldn't lock in like I had planned at first, but a little more epoxy fixed that. I built up 2 small mounds on each side and then shaped them with a rasp into 2 little ramps. The battery hits these and it forces the front edge down into the "locking tab". Works like a champ, and now I don't have to worry about batteries dying again. It sure beats the hell out of dragging out the shop vac each time I have a small mess to clean up too.
Big thanks to dankicksass for helping me find the connector, and to the others who expressed interest in the project when I discussed it a few times here in the past.
