"Kostas Kavoussanakis" wrote in message
. rq.np.hx...
On Thu, 2 Apr 2009, Bob Minchin wrote:

Kostas Kavoussanakis wrote:

My (2? 3 yo?) Bosch cylinder vacuum cleaner won't reel in its power
cable. The idea is that you pull gradually to get the cable out; when
you stop pulling, it locks there. If you yank the cable, it reels it in.

The first symptom was that it would keep trying to reel the cable in all
the time; you just couldn't stop it. 2 weeks later, it stopped reeling
it in at the end of the cable travel.

Any ideas what the problem is and if it's simple enough to fix? I don't
do soldering. :-) I am OK with simple electrical jobs.

p.s.: Very annoyed with the v.cleaner. German-made Bosch; what is the
world coming to?
p.p.s: Very annoyed with myself. Where did I put the receipt?

The spring may have broken or if there is still some rewind effort but
not enough, the mechanism could just need a clean and lubrication. You
should not need to solder anything.
Generally speaking Bosch are good at supplying every single part for
their products. I think they are based in Uxbridge.

Thanks, I dropped them a line. It appears that there is a substitute part
for the cable reel (probably different part to the one fitted in mine).
This comes with the cable itself, so some tinkering will be required;
hopefully it will be a plug.

Kostas


Sometimes plastic parts can get sticky due to dirt getting in and this
creates friction. If this was the case then spray furniture polish - like Mr
Sheen can keep plastic assemblies working well.

Of course it could be a spring or something else - but as it gradually got
worse I would suspect it has got a bit gritty and is sticking.