Greetings! I have been enjoying both the CCS and this forum for the past year or so as my interests have grown. Thank you all for sharing your wisdom and experiences. I was seeking a good kero pressure lantern and found this Optimus 1200 (M?). It was owned by a photographer as a prop and never fired. I am very excited to get it up and running. I have some questions I didn't see addressed on the forum as I look at it: that mantle is huge. Could it just be stretched from hanging for 20 years unburned? The arrow on the control knob points to 10 o'clock when closed and the pricker is fully extended. Is that proper? Also, the tiny cap on the rapid heater seems to be chipped or broken and may not seat fully over the opening. While this part is removable by a small screw, is something like this even replaceable? And the big question is, to polish or not to polish? Forgive me if pics didn't work out. I only see two in the preview and the rest are links. Best wishes. Jimmy
This is quite maddening. Will try again with some pics. Here you hopefully can see the cap for the rapid heater which is a bit broken. Any thoughts welcome and appreciated! Jimmy
The seal on the pre heater may not work but you will find that out when you do an under water pressure test. If it leaks then it just wants a new seal. I am not sure what size these are but probably around the same as the seal in the pump check valve. An old mantle left like that for years does stretch down and look huge. It may be OK though. Ony way to find out is to run the lamp although I would probably replace it anyway. I think the pricker control on these should fully rotate. As it does not that indicates that the pricker rod wants adjusting to lower the pricker a little. If you remove the generator the pricker rod will unscrew and there should be a lock nut at the end so you can alter the position. Mind you if the lamp works as it is then this is not critical. Polish or not is your call. I tend to leave them to acquire a patina but that is partly laziness. Probably best to apply a lacquer if you do polish which will protect the brass. ::Neil::
As Neil says, the mantle often look like this on lanterns where they have been tied in place for years. I've even had lanterns where the mantle reached the bottom of the globe support with a large margin, and they have shrinked to an acceptable size once burned off and lit. But the control wheel on these does not rotate fully around. It will stop at a certain position. The 1200 has a positive shut off valve with a large and extreme taper on which the cleaning needle ride upon in order to give it the up and down movement. The valve is of course there to shut the fuel off properly when using the preheater torch, so it will stop once fully screwed shut, in opposite to the 200 which just goes around and around. If it stops on the position ten o'clock doesn't really matter. I checked a 1200, and it stops when pointing at four o'clock, so if I change position on the wheel, mine will also point towards 10 since there are two ways to position the wheel on the spindle. The important thing is that the needle is adjusted correctly so that it's just barely is protruding through the jet once the valve is properly closed.
That is interesting, because I see a lot of needle coming out of the top when the valve is shut tight, like 1/4 inch. Regarding finishing/polishing, I am leaning toward leaving it as it is. I acquired a lovingly used Svea 123R stove (which started this love for old brass equip) earlier this year with all of its patina and soot and prints and I have grown quite fond of it. Thank you for the advice. Jimmy
1/4 of an inch sounds extremely much! As I suggested above, it's usually enough if you just can feel the needle at its top position. Even 1/16 of an inch is pretty much, but OK. If you don't know how to adjust the needle, have a look at this topic. I would also keep the lantern in the condition it is now. It has that perfect, deep dark brass look that still look clean and nice. And it just gets better over time.
Hello all. I have my Optimus 1200M up and running. Thank you all for encouragement and tips. On the first run, I burned in the mantle, let it cool, preheated, and ran it without the shade for a time just to be able to see the burn in and startup. At some point after many good minutes lots of flare ups occurred and blackened the mantle on some spots. I thought I read on a couple of threads that the black would burn off, but now after several days and a couple hours of burning the blackness is still there. I think it really knocks down the brightness. Should I expect it to burn off someday or just change out the mantle to a new one? I have not had any trouble since putting the globe on, but it certainly isn't as bright as my Coleman 200A. Thoughts? Jimmy in Milwaukee
Let it run several hours more and see what happens. If the black areas still is remaining, I'd change the mantle. Atleast if it's not just a couple of tiny spots we are talking about.
If the lamp dont burn them away itself as Christer suggest and the black areas dont grow, then you can easyli burn them away just using spirit, but over a larger-ish area than just using the spiritcup. Spirit burns without leaving traces. Nice lamp btw Claus C
In the light of today I took off the chimney and saw almost half of one side of the mantle was black and some black spots on the other side. I ran one cup of meths to preheat again in hopes of burning off the blackness but didn't see the much change. I decided to change the mantle out, as it is a wonderfully cool night (52f/11c) and I am impatient I put a new old Coleman Silk Lite in, preheated, pressurized, and it started up very nice and bright. When I came back a few minutes later to sit and enjoy, it had dimmed considerably and I could see black spots had formed, even through the frosted globe. I ran it for about another hour pumping occasionally to see if that would do any good, but no real change in brightness. It ran consistant, if nothing else, no pulsing or surging. The spots this time are just spots, so I think I will let it burn a few more nights to see what happens. Jimmy
Maybe the mantle is a bit small. Shouldn't really cause black spots, but it sounds like you have checked everything else. I have just read Neighbor Al's thread about kero quality in the US. Another possibility?
Hello all. Since burning a couple of tanks of good 1-A and trying different mantles, I have not had the black mantle issues. I have been enjoying it a lot and took it camping this past weekend. I recently purchased and tried a Peerless 111 mantle. All seemed well with a first burn yesterday, but tonight when I went to fire it up I saw the globe had cracked. Don't know if it is from travel over the weekend or the new mantle. Is this mantle perhaps too hot for this lamp? An acquaintance said he never had a problem burning higher cp mantles in lower cp lamps. Perhaps he is wrong. Thoughts? Unrelated question, will a shade for a Petromax fit on Optimus lanterns? I would like to direct more usable light down.
Any ideas on a source for globe replacement? These seem pretty hard to come by stateside. Any other brands that fit from a another 200 or 250cp lantern?Jimmy
Hytta.de sell original globes but just the clear ones I think not the frosted type, and they do post internationally. Note: Optimus 200 is the same as Optimus 1200 without the blowtorch. Edit: I should add that I think the clear glass is better than the frosted as it is easier to see if the mantle has a hole in it. http://hytta.de/glas/Optimus-Glas-fuer-Modell-200-ua-Schott,791.htm The glass for a Petromax/Hipolito 250CP lantern will also fit.
Thanks. I would like to replace with clear glass anyway, as it is really difficult to see the condition of the mantle with the fully frosted glass as you said. Now that I mention it, I did run the lamp for a time at camp with the mantle hanging half off the nozzle because I didn't know I had buggered it up, perhaps when I refilled the tank. Perhaps that is when the crack occurred.
Found a good source on the Flea Bay for all things lantern and stove out of California. Replacement Schott globes and other brands for many lamps. I have two coming. Hope they are real, will be happy if they fit and don't explode with use. They have lots of stove bits as well.
