I have seen some pretty crappy lamps getting restored here on the cpl, where I would have wrapped it all up. Despite my opinion, some people just dont have any reality sense and starts to restore lamps with often amazing results must I shamely admit. Often I dont bother but in rare cases I find a lamp new to me and I make an effort. In this case I found a Primus 1050. Spareparts is as rare as tears in the rain, the Work to do is comprehensive, and a re-enammeling is expensive as the spareparts will be. I just cant decide if this is to end in spareparts or in a restored lamp. Any suggestions and shortcuts is wellcome - also suggestions of shooting it in the backyard. Now put on your protective goggles, here comes King crappy:
The rusty Cage is so thin that if I remove the rust it will look like a sieve. Is it possible to preserve it, ex. letting it soak something up in the rust or do I have to get a rare spare. I have heared about Metalizing where you sprayburn nickel on and it should be possible to build material back on that way, but that would remove details/stamps and so. Also the Hood If I put it in electrolyse-bath I am afraid only the enamel will be left. Is it possible to fit another burner from ex. Coleman? Will that be creating a franken-lamp? The pump-tube is knocked Down in the tank - so it is to be soldered of and the tank is to be straigtened out and the pump to be re-soldered back on. I dont know in which direction to think about this - or if I should wrap it all up. Claus C
The only thing that wouldn't bother me is the comprehensive work, that's the fun part. It's not fun searching for rare parts knowing if and when you find them they are going to cost you your first born child. Enameled hoods are my least liked parts of lamps. It's not fun trying to remove the old enamel. It's worse knowing that once you have removed the old enamel unless you get it professionally re-enameled, all the work you have put into the hood isn't going to last long if you use the lamp. If I was you and knew the parts were as scarce as hens teeth and would be very pricey, I'd put this lamp aside. I'd hope in the following years I'd find another of the same type that could be made into one complete lamp.
Is the hood the same as the primus 1020? If so you could find a spare in good nick and have it re-enamelled red. The cage I would strip the rust with electrolysis and then clear coat whatever is left over to prevent further oxidation.
Because the rust is a serious problem, I think that rather than destroying the rust I would use a commercially available rust converter to help preserve what is left of the cage.
Nope. This one is larger, and also of another construction. The brown ones, as seen here, is rarer than the green and blue (I think). They won't fit straight on, but I assume it's possible to adapt e.g. an old Coleman QuickLite system to fit on the threads of the Primus riser tube. And yes, that would be a Frankenlantern. Not worth doing in my opinion. Keep the lantern as a future donor.
My wildest thoughts was finding a less scrappy(also rarish) 1051 and steal the Hood for re-enameling to redbrown. A Company in Danmark can do that for me. I could also here steal the Cage and collar, but I dont know if the number stamped on the 1051-cagebottom is the same as the 1050-cagebottom. If they are not, then I am back to my feared frankenlamp I think. I cannot read the numbers on the 1050 because of rust so I can compare unfortunately. Again from a less crappy 1051 I could take the burner - were they alike the 1050? The tank would just be hard Work, but possible to fix. All in all if anything of the above is possible then I would still have to "kill" a 1051 some day and I dont know if I have the Heart to do so - but I think so if they share the same numbers and burner. Sometime the 1051 shows here in Danmark - I found 2 last year to be seen on the gallery. James and Mattys suggestion will save the original Cage, but the Cage really is crappy and I doubt it is worth it. Claus C
For the burner you can use a Petromax clone generator ( with the Preston loop) you will need to modify or braze and tap for the correct threads on the fuel pickup threads, and use a 500HK tip and needle, I did something similar on a Primus 1020, which had a rough life in the Andes, had to rebuild the generator and tap for the Petromax 250 hk tip and needle...now it works nice. For the rest, you can remove the rust ( naval jelly/ phosphoric acid) and silver solder holes from behind ( the non visible parts) it would be a long restoration process, but it is salvageable....it could be an excellent user and camping lantern. For the fount, I would soak it in white vinegar, then polish it carefully by hand with Brasso, or another fine brass polish, then clean it carefully with acetone and clear coat it to prevent further corrosion., steel parts could be polished with 600 to 1200 grit sand paper and then painted with an epoxy paint ( solvent resistant).
Now that's behind my comprehension! Why make such an extreme conversion of a petrol lantern to turn it into a paraffin ditto? The thing with petrol fueled Primuses is that they are... oh, well... petrol fueled. Wouldn't it be better to just simply buy a cheap 1020 or similar if you wanted a paraffin lantern? They were the same. I think the only actual difference between 1050 and 1051 was that the latter had a pricker built in to the generator. Regardless that, most 1050 we see nowadays also has the generator with the coleman looking pricker controlled by a wire that enters through a slot in the globe rest. The 1050 and 1051 I've seen has the same text at the bottom of the globe cage telling which fuel to use. the smaller centre disc might differ, though. On some it says "patent sökt" in embossing, and in some it's just a plain disc. However I've seen either versions on both the 1051 and 1050, so I bet it has nothing to do with the model but rather the period or such. Could it be that some 1050 lacks the little slot at the globe rest for the cleaning needle wire?
Thanks for the suggestions and thanks for your knowledge about the cage, burner and numbers Christer. That cleared things out for me. I will check the operation-hole. I will: 1, gather all usable parts from this one, 2, fix the tank, 3, store it in bag and 4, hope to find a not too nice 1051 for spares. Might take some time The work you made Weirdnerd, would be interesting to see here on the cpl, to learn from. I will not do like that, while I will keep this one as origin as possible in form and function, but still your work sounds comprehensive and interesting. If I instead find a 1050, what I doubt, then I can always use this for spares. Claus C
Hi Christer, I did not know that the Primus 1050 was a Petrol lamp... I just learned about it...no need to berate me for not being familiar with it. In my funny little mind I was thinking about restoring creatively a non operational lantern with extremely difficult parts to find with off the shelf parts...something like they do every day in the Andes.
Is it possible to reveal which company that is? It could be nice to know where to go for such matters. Does anyone know of similar companies in Sweden?
Hi Jørgen This Company should do special orders if contacted. They are very skilled. http://www.ramsign.dk/background.asp Claus C
