Good evening gents Picked up a nice looking 321A deluxe with a coleman metal carry case for 40 Canadian pesos this afternoon from a garage sale, I didn't look it over well mostly because it looked like new and also because it had caught the attention of another gentleman so I hastily purchased it. When I returned home eager to get my new acquisition up and running the pump was stuck which lead me to a discovery that made my heart sink.... the pump tube had rusted badly. This is the point l just left the lamp on the bench and went inside to drink and curse myself for not checking the pump ( I probably could have gotten it a lot cheaper ) but oh well now I have another project. So I have a couple ideas to fettle I want to bounce off you fine folks. #1 I have a brake cylinder hone that will fit in the tube, just not sure how deep the pits are and how much material I can safely remove. #2 Sleeving the tube with some thing like a speedi sleeve. I appreciate input from anyone who has had to deal with this before, I know the best repair is to replace the tube but I really don't want to damage the finish.
Thomas that's always a bummer, but not the end of the world. I use a berry hone like this one on a drill. It will remove the rust and smooth the pits so a leather cup works just fine. Always pressure test afterwords to ensure no leaks https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002XUL18A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_NRqLJNAVhSoGq
Toby’s proposed solution seems very promising. It isn’t as though the pump bore has to be blemish-free as in an automobile engine cylinder bore. As Toby has indicated, a well-oiled leather pump cup does its job perfectly regardless of a few surface pits. I daresay the later plastic cup washer might be less forgiving. What’s the date stamp on your lantern? I’m interested in a comparison of a 321A’s valve internal arrangement, compared to my 321’s HERE and HERE. Photos courtesy of William Klock, CCF. John
yup - although you took good pictures, only you will know when you remove the worst of the rust just how bad it is... get back on the horse... and good luck we are all rooting for you
I agree with @Fireexit1 that you clean the muck off and you will soon know what next to do. A small clean up with a hone may help; see how bad it is. I have sometimes in other but similar situations made a home made hone with a wooden dowel with a saw cut across the middle for say the top inch and then a rolled up strip of emery cloth starting with one end of the emery cloth in the slot. Then fitted to a drill and rotated in the correct direction. You ‘gotta’ love the challenges these things throw at us.
Thanks for the advice, I got back at it today and found more problems but eventually prevailed. The tube took a little sand paper grinding before I stuck the brake hone in and it cleaned up pretty good. Put on a new pump leather and replaced the air stem with an all brass one I had in the drawer, pumped it up and the filler cap was leaking. After a new rubber in the cap it held pressure and upon opening the control lever nothing happened..... took the frame off and removed the generator it's also a ball of rust inside. Cleaned it the best I could it will need to be replaced, look back to the font and a lake of fuel is slowly pooling around it....... the schrader valve is leaking ( the one it says not to remove in the above instructions) so I remove it and find the usual detritus. After cleaning I start reassembly and promptly drop the smallest eccentric block onto the toe of my boot which flicks it under my work bench into a sea of metal shavings, saw dust, spent primers, spiders and what ever else has crawled under there. After 10 minutes of picking up things that look like the block I finally locate it and get everything back together, try the fuel cock it works. At this point l grab the closest mantel which is a 500cp butterfly and too large for the lamp but for a test run on a pooched generator it'll do, the lamp lit fine and ran with a bit of a pulse so overall I'm happy. presscall the date stamp is 1 of 76, and the valve is the style without a jam nut.
Sounds like a sucess story - I suspect the pulsing will be down to general detritus in the tank and upstream. A little more cleaing and I think you will have a great lantern !
