Hi all, I picked up a rough looking Primus 1020 on eBay for just £22.49. It's just arrived and bar from being filthy (It has been used as a garden feature) it is nice and solid. The hood has some rust, and there's no spirit cup, bail or globe, but for this price I can't really complain. The date mark is Y 13 which is 1934 and I wonder if a reproduction Mica Globe might be a better choice than some unbranded/Coleman glass. HD
The mica globes look good and they were never branded, which makes a modern replacement more "correct". Glass does look a bit classier though, but the chances of finding the correct branded glass are pretty slim.
Thanks Nils, I doubt I'll get it back to a nice shiny nickel finish, so I'm planning on going for an aged look and that may suit a Mica globe better. I'm also trying to find out how likely it would have been for a 1934 model to leave the factory with a Mica globe. HD
I'm pretty sure there aren't any factory records covering that anymore, plus any lamps you find now are either missing the glass and have possibly had a new fitted at some stage of their life. My best guess would be about 20%, but that is not based on anything but my gut feeling.
HD, I am a great Primus 1020 fan and you'll be amazed at how well they can clean up. At the risk of preaching to the choir, I will repeat here what works well for me: If you are lucky and the nickel is just a bit oxidized, it is easy to clean with a soft sponge and warm citric acid solution. I use a heaped table spoon in a liter of warm water, and add a few drops of dish washing liquid. Afterwards, neutralize the acid by bathing parts in warm soapy water. The vapouriser, air tube and inner hood can be immersed in the citric solution for a longer time and the brass and steel rubbed with fine steel wool. Metal parts that have hardened gum, fuel residue and carbon on them can be soaked in a warm caustic solution like diluted oven cleaner or toilet bowl cleaner and brushed with an old toothbrush before they go into the citric. Best not to soak different metals together. Do not use any of the above on aluminium, zinc galvanising, plastic, bakelite, porcelain enamel, painted parts or on decals. Plated parts should come out bright and shiny after just a few wipes. The trouble spot for deeper corrosion of the plating is around the lighting hole in the frame base and on the collar adjacent to it. You may end up having to make your own spirit cup as they are almost impossible to find. It clips into the groove of the vapouriser nut. The oldest 1020 spirit cups did not have the curved vertical section. There has been quite a bit written on the forum about Primus pump NRV removal. If no lead seal was used, it can be a bugger to get out without damage. Put a little penetrating oil in the pump tube and heat the head of the NRV with a very hot steel rod or cheap badly fitting NRV tool. Repeat a few times. Then with a well fitting tool, try to tighten the NRV by one or two degrees before loosening. It should come out without damage to the head. The pricker knob is secured to the spindle with a pointy ended screw which scores the spindle shaft and can break it if torque is applied. If the spindle is frozen, it is better to remove the knob and box nut and apply a bit of penetrating oil and heat to free it. The packing in the box nut is asbestos string impregnated with graphite. It is easy to replace with snippets of graphite sheet; just fill up the box nut and tighten up to form a new seal. Good luck with the fettling; the 1020 represents fine Swedish engineering at its very best!
A few different variants of the Primus spirit cup. The one on the right is a "reasonable facsimile" that I cobbled together one afternoon.
That reasonable facsimile looks good to me. Are you going into production? Just for info, the one 2nd from right started in 1934 and was replaced by the one which is second from left (missing wind shield) during 1937. The one on the left is the final version which came around 1946/47. The little tab on the 1934 version originally had a small piece of asbestos string attached. I believe this was to act as a wick to aid lighting the alcohol. The next two versions have a small hole in the wind shield where the string was attached.
A 1937 Primus 1020 long bail which should also be correct for the 1934 vintage. The wire is 3.6mm thick and is fairly soft steel. The ends of the ears are bent slightly outwards.
Thanks for the advice and help Phil & Nils. I think the first thing I need to do is gently wash the tank and cage to get the coating of soil off and see what I've really got to work with. Maybe I should charge my camera and take some picture as I go along, I'm a bit lazy when it come to that. HD
Nils, it started out as a brass napkin ring and a few bits of scrap brass sheet. But I think about half the weight is now silver solder. I just kept heating, bending, filling and adding bits and then grinding away with the Dremel until it looked right. Not economically viable, I'm afraid I suppose if one started with a Petromax cup and just added the clips and plate it would be quicker and cheaper... HD, anything to inspire you to get it running again. They are very sweet lamps and I think well worth the effort.
Hi Phil Reverse letter punches are available in SA at +/- R1500.00 a set if you want a more authentic look. Andrew
Thanks for the tip, Andrew! But I think that would come too close for comfort to counterfeiting, or am I flattering myself?
Hi Chaps I used a spirit cup from an old Chinese Petromax copy like an Anchor or similar as there are always spares available of this type on the bay of evil Here's mine , a simple homemade spring clip to holds it in place on the vapouriser... Does the job & has the flame tube too when the cup runs dry . Up & running with thanks to a really great member here who helped me with advice & spares 8) Hope this helps too , Stu
Fantastic working area . how do you get to the bench ? a nice lamp to show the way helps great stuff .
I have a few Petromax/clone and Bialaddin spirit cups around, I'm sure I'll find something that works. The date stamp is actually Y 15 now that I look at it again, am I right in thinking nobody's quite sure what the numeric digits represent? HD
Phil, you were right, the NRV is being a bugger to get out even though someone has used a lead washer. I have a cheap NRV tool handy so I'll try some heat. This 1020 has not been used in a very long time, I pulled out the pump rod to find no signs of a pump leather at all. On inspection of the pump tube dust that used to be a leather was found. Does the 1020 need any packing at the control wheel? Thanks, HD
HD, Oil and heat will usually getthe NRV out with no damage. For the control wheel graphite/asbestos seal, it is probably best to pry it out of the box nut with a fine craft knife and replace it with new graphite. The old stuffing hardens with fuel residue and tends to start leaking if disturbed. When the seal is good, the shaft will turn freely with virtually no resistance and still seal well. You can probably fit viton o-rings but it will not have the same feel to it when turning the knob.
