Ok, my latest "not so interesting" project. I have never seen the original european made version but I immediately noticed this is not. Some details just looks like typical cheap chinese stuff, mostly the outer cosmetic parts. Actual burner parts seems to be decently made. Disassembled Now trying to figure out the manufacturing year.. and waiting for service pack and new mantles to arrive
As for a service pack: nuy some sheets of (viton) rubber and some punches and make seals yourself. leadseals can be used more then once and also punched from a piece of roof lead.
WimVe: thanks for a tip! Some progress.. all brass parts cleaned and little polishing. Burner tube has bent, so it needs to get back to proper U-shape. Wanted to make a custom painting Outer parts together
Well @Tonskulus. It looks to be all there - I am sure it will make a fine lamp after your good works. Chris
Looks good. Why paint only the lower part of the hood or is that part of the customize ? Don't forget the thiny air holes in the rapid body part and the fuel pickup, seeve and tube of it.
Top part of the hood was so shiny so didnt want to paint that. So yes, this is just my customization Yes I noticed those tiny holes in preheater, will make sure there is nothing to block them. I actually tested this lantern before disassembly. Everything worked. I also opened the fuel valve and there was nice looking flame out of the ceramic burner head, well it was so powerful that I had to shut it down not to cause any damage without the mantle on it. They said.. "if it works, dont touch it!" ..well, now its too late anyway "if you try to make it work better, it usually gets worse!"
Hi .. here is an informative CPL site for your perusal .. Distinguish between European made petromax an asian made
Thanks Alby! First test done, it works but could be better. My friend has another chinese clone and it is absolutely brighter using 300/400 thorium lantern. My petromax is a bit unstable, it flickers a bit and is not bright enough. When turning the control knob past the stop position, the mantle flashes very bright for 0.5seconds and then settles down again. So I need to disassemble the whole vaporizer again and change the pricker + jet. Yttrium vs Thorium
I figured out that there is quite a lot of "halo" around the mantle when running. Also, I took the top lid off and noticed some petrol mist coming out beetween the jet and mixing tube air space. So the jet is propably bad.. as far as I think the gas stream from the jet should go 100% to the mixing tube only.
Yes it should all hit the J tube. You can sometimes improve the jet stream by flatting off the top of the nipple on an oil stone. You can't take much off but doing this will often re-shape the hole and result in a tighter jet stream. ::Neil::
@Tonskulus are you sure the leak is not coming from the side of the jet ? - where it maybe is not tight enough or gas is leaking up the threads ? I have known them to loosen off on first use after a rebuild. Some use copper grease to help seal the thread. Other reasons I have found for 'flaring' can be the gas chamber not being tight or allowing leakage where it screws onto the J tube. I push a rod into the J Tube and slightly widen the threaded part out to make a better seal. Also make sure that the ceramic is tight on the gas chamber. A process of elimination !
Yes, it was not leaking from the sides. Well check this out! Badly worn isnt it? Thankfully I just ordered new jet, pricker, seals etc..
Actually it looked like the pricker wire has pushed another hole right beside the original.. who knows the material thickness around the hole?
