Hi everyone, I just registered to this forum in hope to find some spare parts or information for my newly acquired Butterfly brand pressurized lantern. (I think its the Petromax copy #828?) Does anyone know where to get parts like the leather cup for pump, gaskets, seals etc? Thanks in advance
Leather cup is easy to make, I use 1.2mm leather, and for the shape I drilled plywood to the required diameter, and I use a suitable drill bit as a counter shape. The joints are easily made, with lead or Viton, or even Nitrile.
Hi @Sellig33, I have a question for you, in France we can buy "petrol" in 20 litre containers, used for portable heaters. Shouldn't this petrol work in lanterns? I think it's as close to kerosene as you can get...What do you use in your lamps? Thanks for the tip on leather cup.
Hi @Gin Tonic Exactly, I use this kerosene in my lamps (wick or pressure) as well as my old stoves and heaters.
Great, glad to hear that. Thanks At least that Petrol is still somewhat reasonable. PS still waiting for few spare parts for my Butterfly
Welcome to the forum @Gin Tonic Kerosene is what we use as fuel for the Butterfly and other such similar lanterns. I'm not sure what is that "petrol" you mentioned but in my location, petrol is basically motor gasoline. Too volatile, inflammable and dangerous as fuel for use with the Butterfly. Perhaps the one you were referring to is a different liquid(more like kerosene/paraffin).
Thanks @MYN , I see what you mean. Petrol in British English is gasoline ⛽️. In France it's a fuel for portable stoves sold in 20l plastic jugs. We use it in our portable heater. It's the closest to kerosene that I found. Lamp kerosene sells for 4-8€ a litre, my petrol is euro litre. I see you're in Malaysia. Are the Butterfly pressurized lamps popular there? I found a site that was selling parts but didn't ship outside of your country. Here in Europe they are extremely difficult to find ...and not many .
@Gin Tonic your lantern is a Petromax clone - most, if not all Petromax parts will fit. Try Detailseite: Ersatzteil- und Zubehörliste "Petromax 350 HK or Reservdelar - Gasol- och fotogenprodukter - 1000+ online as recommende by @Sellig33
Thanks Henry, I will give them a try. so far, I had bad luck with parts poorly made that don't even match the original or cheaply made by whoever...
@Gin Tonic The Butterfly pressure lantern used to be quite popular around my area for some decades. I used to have no problems finding almost any part of the Butterfly. Many parts were still being sold in some older shops until quite recently(2000-2020). Like many other brands, they were all gone now. Even in Malaysia, you can only buy some of the lanterns and spare parts via online resources. Yes, you can still find them in some of the localized online resources. They are usually relatively inexpensive too. They might not ship all the way to Europe. I have not seen them being available 'in the wild' or any 'brick-& mortar' stores for some years now. As suggested, one of the best places to find them in Europe would be Hytta.de or Stuga-Cabana in Germany. They even have the Brass versions, as far as I'm aware of. Many Petromax and the later similarly constructed Aidas(1950s/60s) parts would also fit the Butterfly but not exactly all. If you're in France, perhaps some French members could provide further info about reliable local resources there. Have you also tried the Fettlebox or Basecamp in the UK?
Hey, I think I fixed the lamp...no smoke, no leaks,seems to be working OK...now testing Thank you all for help and advice
Thank you Sami...Appreciate it. I ended up simply turning around some gaskets which seem hard to find. I found really good cleaner for metal and it's a beauty...
Hi Gin Tonic. A nice lamp! From my elemntary schoolboy French of about 60 years ago, the French name for what we English call "paraffin" is "petrol" and is fine for lamps. In The USA and other palces it is always called "Kerosene" There are 2 types of kerosene in the UK: C1 & C2. C1 is more refined (so more expensive!) and is inteneded for wick type lamps where the light comes from incandescent particles of soot in the flame, and produces less smoke or smell. C2 is basically central heating oil, but is fine in pressure lamps and stoves where complete combustion occurs and has a blue flame to heat a mantle or a kettle etc. English "petrol" and USA "gasoline" are known as "essence" in France, and only suitable for Coleman dual fuel lamps/stoves or blowlamps or other devices specifically designed to use petrol. These things do not have any preheaters and rely on igniting a steam of fuel to heat the vapouriser within a few seconds, so no methylated spirit needed.
