Dears, I would like to fix Petromax 823/6 DB. The main problem is that the vaporizer was cut off… The vaporizer can not be just replaced with the modern one. I have no spare one-piece vaporizer, so my idea is to cut some modern vaporizer lower part and connect it (soft soldering) with remains of the old vaporizer. After that there will be vaporizer upper part added etc. I plan to connect new and old parts similarly like @presscall reconstructed control knob in the following thread: Aladdin Petromax 828 project | Classic Pressure Lamps & Heaters I have never soldered anything so anybody with some practise can verify that solution? I am worried if soft soldered connection will sustain the heat of the lighted lantern. I am open to any other ideas regarding fixing that vaporiser. Best regards, Piotrek
@Piotrek As Wim has said. It’s not just the ability of hard solder to cope with heat but it requires the mechanical strength that soft solder just doesn’t have. With THIS Hipolito 150cp project I’d to join a petromax jet seat to a Hipolito vapouriser, a replacement Hipolito 150cp jet being unobtainable. Hard solder (aka: solver solder; silbraze) was necessary to cope with the heat and mechanical strength to contend with jet tightening and unfastening. John
OK Guys. I will learn hard soldering or more likely pass this job to someone else. Definitely I do not want to fu.. up that lantern. Thank you very much for quick responses. Piotrek
What are the remaining parts of the old vaporizer that you still have now? I believe your Petromax is very old. The vaporizer would be a little different from the usual ones we see on the later Petromax. Does it appear to be similar to one of those in the following picture?:- eg.,part no. 115? Picture taken from Stuga-Cabana(Hytta) website. Whichever the case, chances of finding a replacement would be quite remote. The only thing is to perform brazing/hard soldering or silbraze as suggested earlier.
@MYN - part no. 115 looks the same, but mine was cut. You can see "PS5" on picture of mine and "K.R." on the nut. I have no idea what these letters/numbers stand for. Better then writing I will just show this lantern in Gallery this week. I suspect that it is from 1927, but more experienced members may decipher scratches on the bottom of the tank. It can be fixed, but most likely it will not have more original parts than already. For now - except for the cut off parts, it looks just like the lantern below, but with original grip wheel and glass globe Petromax R. 823/6 1927 | Classic Pressure Lamps & Heaters Piotrek
It will not be a simple job to restore the vaporizer. One might need to bore out the remaining section of the vertical tube from the lower part of the vaporizer on a lathe or a drill stand. Precise measurement of the actual final height of the vaporizer needs to be taken in order to accomodate a new brass tube. The upper looped section of a matching, modern Preston loop vaporizer can probably be found and used but I suspect the lenght of the vertical tube won't be exactly matching. You'd probably need to braze at least two sections using a completely new brass tube. Lots of silver-brazing works there. Brazing is a little more involved than soft soldering. You need the right equipment, suitable flux(usually a fluoro-borated salt of potassium or sodium) and tons of practice to get it right. There is abundance of theory on the web but the actual work requires some skills that can only be acquired through frequent practice.
OK, 1. So it is clear that brazing work will have to be done by contractor. 2. I think that the part of the vaporizer inside the tank can be left as it is - it is not blocked. 3. Above that, there will be old remaining part of the 823 vaporizer screwed to the tank as it was originally. 4a. To measure total length of the remaining upper part, I just need get length of the original conducting rod - someone who has such/similar lamp can provide this info. 4b. In case I have no detailed info regarding upper part the length will be assessed more-less and air gap will be corrected by mixing tube. 5. The whole upper part will consist of modern upper part of the vaporizer (part no. 152) and shortened lower part of the vaporizer (part no. 153). I have such parts from another PX 828 300HK. Inside them, there will be new conducting rod of the proper length (made from 828 conducting rods - brazed together lower and upper rod parts, one of them shortened). 6. Shortened lower part of the 828 vaporizer will be attached somehow expertly by contractor to the old 823 vaporizer. This plan reminds me of the Winnie the Pooh plan to get honey from the tree using blue balloon - optimistic The problem is brazing, but only for me. I am pretty sure that I can find contractor in Warsaw for such a job. The whole new vaporizer will look different to the 823 or modern vaporizers, but it should work INHO. Any comments, advices, parts donors are much appreciated. Piotrek
I do not own a Petromax 823 to provide sufficient information. Perhaps @Henry Plews or others could provide some dimensional info regarding it's vaporizer. The original vaporizer would not have the vertical reinforcing rib like those found on the later, post-WWII (from Altena, Westphalia, Germany) or modern(China, etc) Petromax. The older 826 and 828, 300HK lanterns(from Treptow, Berlin) would have vaporizers without the reinforcing rib. Other than these, there are also many Petromax-styled clones having the rib-less Preston loop vaporizers. However, the exact dimensions might differ a little from those of the Petromax.
Thank you @MYN . I have the whole WWII 828 300HK vaporizer and conducting rod. Somehow I managed to break off the threading at the lower end of it, so that will be perfect for that job. I am not sure if anyone will be willing to dismantle the whole lantern to measure the conducting rod
@Piotrek The conducting rod from my R823/6 is 157mm. No need for that, it's 157mm. Here are some details of the pipework from the spirit holder to the spirit cup. External diameter of the first part is 4.00mm. External diameter of the curved piece is 3.0mm and is a push fit into the first part
@Henry Plews This is super helpfull and very kind of You. I am not sure when, but I will post the final result of that project. Thank you very much, Piotrek
Just in case someone will look for info regarding Petromax PS5 vaporizer. Example below is from Petromax R823 DR lamp.
The upper non-helical loop looks similar to the original vaporizer loop by Preston in his patent. I wonder if the loop section is tubular where fuel could flow through or just a solid conducting ring like those found on some Primus lanterns.
The loop is tubular. Fuel can flow inside of it. The whole vertical section has the same inner diameter with no narrower part, so the loop is much less efficient then in later models.
Most likely the PS5 was the first design from vaporizers that I have (now ). After that, there was a vaporizer presented by @Henry Plews and also found in my 823/6: Petromax 823/6 I guess that after that there was a reinforced version visible in the middle of the photo below (just like in early PX 523). Most likely the one piece vapourizer (left hand side of the photo) from early PX 826 was introduced somewhen after PS5. I do not know about vaporizers in Petromax lamps older then 823 mentioned in the thread below: Ehrich & Graetz 882
