Dears, Finally, I finished my latest project – Petromax 2821. It was supposed to be an easy and quick job but turned out otherwise. When I bought it seemed to be in great condition, but it was just partly restored in the past. Fortunately, almost no rust on the tank and hood parts. Some rust on the frame. No visible date stamp on the bottom plate. Frame poles are not original – someone did a good job making them, narrowed and thread at the ends, works perfectly, only bit to shiny and thicker then original. Glass is not original as well. New 150 cleaning needle works flawlessly with old 200 nipple. I replaced the pump piston, because lamp arrived with 826 size pump. WWII green 821 was a donor of steel pump piston, so it is as originally manufactured. Otherwise, other parts seem to by original – plenty of steel. I was surprised that there are so many differences between that 2821 and green 821 from 1942. Tank had a dent which I filled with solder and then finished with two-components epoxy glue with metal particles. Tank and frames painted by me. Frame was baked several times and seems to be heat resistant now. Removal of old lead-based paint was quite an experience – no paint removal worked, and paint had to be brushed away. At the beginning I decided to install frame from the WWII green 821 baby Petromax to avoid these homemade frame poles from 2821. Old paint was removed, painted again and it turned out good. But I noticed (during final lamp assembly, so imagine my reaction…) that it has different shape of eccentric shaft opening (visible on attached photo: 2821 right hand side, 821 left hand side) and does not fit to 2821… so the original 2821 frame was renovated as well and modified frame poles used. Additionally top of the 281 is brass, whereas 2821 is all steel, so maybe it turned out good at the end… I was afraid to damage both frames and swapping old steel poles between frames. Colour of the tank differs a bit from the colour of the hood, but that was from the beginning with original paint as well. I have two WWII green 821 PX and tanks have a bit different (brighter) colour then hoods in all of them. As usual all comments, suggestions, remarks, and advice are much appreciated. Would you swap these frame poles from 821? How? All the best, Piotrek
Thank you guys. It is pretty hard to find much colour amongst my lanterns, so I like this one for that bit of diversity.
An excellent restoration. As for the poles leaving them as it came to you shows part of the history of the lantern. Regards Ian.
@Knee Thank you Stanisław. I should have mentioned that painting and baking the black parts of the frame was inspired by your examples and instructions for stoves painting. Thanks a lot for help. I didn't use heat resistant paint as it gives a matte/gray finish. It was just regular glossy black car paint, baked several times when I had the entire apartment and the kitchen to myself The final result is almost identical to other black frames that I have from the WWII Petromax lanterns.
A nice restoration. The green Petromax 282x series lanterns are always on my wish list. They don't come easily in my location. Never seen them here. VHT has a paint that can decently be classified as 'high temperature' but available in colours with glossy finish. It is the paint for brake calipers. Example, gloss black caliper paint:- The temperature stated on the can is the 'intermittent' rating. Not the highest rating found in their range of products, but should be good enough. The ones with the highest ratings usually come in flat finishes.
Thank you @MYN , @Titoo . Good to know about the paint. Regarding the green Petromax 282x series lanterns - these are reminder of very dark period in Poland history... Restoration - personally I prefer old looking lamps in my small collection, but it this particular case there was no "old look", so it was good opportunity to learn some soldering and painting
Yes..I'm aware of the documented horrors, particularly in the Auschwitz camp during that period. Anyways, you might not really need very high temperature rated paints on the frame all the time. It depends how hot the frame would really get during operations. Some do get pretty hot, others moderately so.
