Hello, I think I have found a 703F that needs some tlc. I would highly apreciate some guidance fettling it into a working state and who knows back into a shiny state. I noticed I miss the bowl with holes that glows, where to get it? What is the lighting-up procedure? Any idea of the age?
A lovely old heater, these are nice and big. You can get a reproduction heat bulb thing from eBay, a Korean seller gksk2146-3 has them called a demon fire ball. There is also parts lists and diagrams in the reference gallery. I have one of these in the fettling pile and can't wait to get it built. James
The heating dome is not the only thing you miss. Actually it looks like the entire burner is wrong, but it's hard to tell for sure. But it looks more like a regular stove burner. However if it was the correct burner, you would also need the outer cap for that silent burner and the heat deflector they used on these heaters. The deflector is not necessary for limited use, but it's there in order to not overheat the vapourising part of the burner. This is after all a stove type burner, and not meant to encapsule the heat in the way you do with a full covering heating dome like the one used on Optimus heaters. Generally heating domes for stove burners sat higher and more "open". Here's what the correct burner's outer cap and deflector looks like without the heating dome. You can see that the "skirt" is higher/deeper than yours.
The early Optimus 703 did not have a regulated burner: From here (1933): https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/1933-optimus-brochure.14784/ Cheers Tony
The 703 had a non regulating burner number 205R (the R is for radiant heater). The 7703 had a regulating burner number 207R. These heater burners had a deeper shell (don't know what it's really called) that is then protected by the steel heat deflector. These are shown in Christer's post above.
It works great. I'm not quit done with it, but here is a picture together with the others heaters . I recognised the heater by the nickel damaged area on the reflector
