Was recently sharing a coupple of beer with my neighbor, when the talk fell on pressure lamps. Neighbor says, I think I have one somewhere. From the shed came this little piece, former owned by the Danish Civilian Defence, and probably only lit once or twice for test. Unfortunately, the box was long gone. A you can see, the plating is in a pretty poor state, especially on the tank. Since I would like to restore the lamp to its former glory, any help concerning dealing with the corrosion wuld be appreiciated! Yours sincerely Ben
I'm in a similar situation to yourself Ben, although I have an Optimus 1550 and I'm not sure if it's chrome or nickel plated. I'll be watching this thread with great interest. Keep us posted!!
I know the general concensus is that acid is not good for the brass, but I don't know any other way to get rid of the corrosion. I'd probably use a citric acid solution. At least it's not a rare model. Silverhill: The Optimus 1550 is nickel plated, except the hood which is chrome.
Chrome or nickel makes no difference here. The corrosion is green which means the copper is corroding. That alone precludes using acid. Use Autosol if soap and water will not shift it. ::Neil::
Both chromium and nickel are transition metals which are characterised by having coloured salts, so it's possible either of those is corroding rather than the base metal...
I was not ware of that but I have seen a lot of lamps and never yet seen nickel do that. Anyway is it not reasonable to assume that even if the green gunge is from the plating then the plating is probably failed at those points and therefore the underlying brass is likely to be vulnerable. ::Neil::
