New Member - Just acquired 2 lamps

Hi All,

New member here, though I have been scouring this forum, Coleman Collectors Forum and Classic Camp Stoves for the past few months.

I became interested in liquid fueled appliances not too long ago and started off poorly by purchasing a well used Coleman 414 Powerhouse stove. It was in fairly poor condition, though I have cleaned it as best I can and found that the check valve is missing it's ball and it is no where to be found inside the tank. It is awaiting parts from the US to fix it. At the same time I acquired a used Coleman 533 Sportster II stove, this one works well.

Onto my lamps, I have 2 x Coleman NorthStar Dual Fuels, picked up for a snip at a camping store's sale because they even sold me the demo lamp for peanuts as they weren't sure if it worked (it does..).

I have just taken delivery of two Kerosene lamps and will need some help with getting them into working order.

The first is a Coleman 249 Scout, made in Australia, dated 2/51 or 61 (looked more like 51 to me. Seems in good condition, though the base of the fount has been resprayed at some point with the tell tale sign of rust pitting underneath.

The second is an Austramax 3/300, no idea on the date, there is a small amount of rust on the underneath of the base. The pump on this one offers no resistance at all.

I'd like to make them both safe for lighting.

Pics to follow.

 

Welcome Inertia8
Yes good start with those 2 lamps both kero .
I think the Austramax is the brightest of the 2.
Bob .

 

Hi Inertia8 and welcome aboard fello Aussie

They should become a couple of nice lamps once you have given them a service. I managed to pick up one of each at a swap meet last weekend, my first 249E and Austramax. The 249 is so rough lm thinking of just putting it aside for spare parts, still it was a whole $5. The Austramax is a lovely little lamp though.
I could be wrong here(and if so no doubt someone will chime in) but l believe that the Austramax company is still in buisness and based in Melbourne and no doubt if you have been reading here a little while you might have heard of T W Sands a specialist lamp store based in Melbournes Cbd and carry pretty much every spare part you might want.
Anyway you have come to the right place the people here know pretty much everything there is to know about fettling lanterns.
Grant

 

G'day inertia8 and welcome to CPL. They are two nice lanterns to start with. There are Austramax 3/300 lanterns shown in the Reference Gallery. They are hard to date but Nils has done a good job listing the variations in some sort of order. For a start have a look at these posts, it shows most of the components in an Austramax.
Link

[url=http://0flo.com/index.php?threads/8810

There are other posts also worth searching for.

Looking forward to seeing your lanterns and if you have a question just ask.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Thank you all for the warm welcome.

Bushwacked, I had heard of TW Sands mentioned but never bothered to look up the store. I think I will be paying them a visit at some point as I need mantles for both of these lamps.

The 3/300 appears to have been polished by either the seller or previous owner, as there are tell tale microscratches and evidence of surface rust pitting... The pump cup in the 3/300 is leather and shrivelled up badly, I'll be trying to soak it first. It doesn't look to have been used very much based on condition of ventilator, generator tube etc, but that could just be the aforementioned polishing job at work.. There is 0 markings on the globe, so I'm thinking perhaps someone tried too hard to clean it and scrubbed off the decals?

The 249 seems to be in more original condition, it's fount is dulled, it's glass simply says Pyrex Coleman 550 Globe.

What I'd like to do is replace all gaskets to be sure it can then pressure test for safety followed by a test light to see if the generators need work.

To that end I am trying to go through and work out the relevant part numbers I will need to order.

Here is some photos of the two lamps

 

And some pics of the 3/300.

 

G,,day mate and welcome .
a couple of nice lanterns to start with .
can you fill in personal details so we know where you are ?? i promise i will not stalk you . HAHA

kerry

 

G'day inertia8, Two nice examples and I would say both lanterns have been cleaned and polished. I think you may be right regarding the Austramax, It looks to have had very little use.

Here is a link to parts list for the Austramax John Gannon

 

Tried removing the pump cap from the 249. Undid the screw and then tried removing the pump but the cap is on very snug. What's the best way to remove these without damage?

 

Welcome another of us Aussies also a Model Flyer. Wrap with leather then grip with (pliers or multigrips cautiously) hot air gun & or solvent may help ( Sorry read as 246 as in Tilley )advice much the same but a bit of penetrene may also help

 

Thanks for the Welcome Graham.

Kerry, I've added location but I'm not getting more specific than that! .

What I also need is some instructions for both.. Only every used CF/Shellite lanterns and they all have the fast lighting feature with the F/A tube.

Now, I'm assuming the following for after I make sure the have no leaks and after fitting and burning in the mantle.

Please let me know of any errors in my assumptons.

Coleman
1) Ensure Control Valve Closed
2) Pressurize lamp
3) Take off bail, ventilator and globe
4) Fill pre-heater cup with alcohol and light
5) Re-fit glove, ventilator and bail.
6) As alcohol is close to burning out, crack open control valve, stand back from initial fireball.
7) Pump it up a bit more.
8) Enjoy the light, re-pressurising, as required.

I'm assuming I can control the intensity of the lamp with the control valve as per a CF/Shellite lamp.

Austramax 3/300

1) Ensure eccentric knob is pointed up at 12 O'clock.
2) Ensure screw in fuel cap is tightened
3) Pump up lantern
4) Remove bail, ventilator and globe
5) Fill pre-heater cup with alcohol and light
6) Re-install globe, ventilator and bail
7) As alcohol is close to burning out, turn the eccentric knob down to 6 O'clock position and stand back for the initial fireball.
8) Pump it up a bit more.
9) Enjoy the light, re-pressurising, as required.

Can the intensity of the Austramax be adjusted by altering the position of the eccentric knob between 6 O'clock and up?

Thanks in advance!

 

I did some searching and found these instructions for the Austramax from Tony Press.

Here is how I light my Austramax (almost brand new - same as yours):

1. Make sure the pricker knob points down.

2. Unscrew the pressure release valve (red thingy) a few turns.

3. Make sure the kerosene is not too full (500ml is enough).

4. Fill the spirit jar with metho and light.

5. Let it burn for 2 mins then tighten the pressure release, and pump 15 to 20 times to get the mantle glowing.

6. When the metho has burned out completely, steadily pump (70 pumps with 500mm is the maximum). It should be very bright!

 

Just searched to find that for you but you are onto it already, one thing to add, if pre heating has been insufficient liquid kero will produce a smokey yellow flame,release pressure, when out redo preheat.
To shut down release pressure by loosening screw in filler cap. Pricker is only for clearing carbon in jet.
Coleman is the same but has a fuel shut off and separate pricker, the pump is the same as their gas lamps turn pump knob anti clockwise to and pump with thumb over hole when pressurized turn c/w to seal font..

A small squeeze bottle with a thin tube and bent over end is used to fill spirit cup through large holn bottom plate.

 

Thank you for the assistance.

I've had a chat to TW Sands and will head in there during a lunch break to pickup some mantles and fuel cap gaskets for both of these Kero burners.

Shall see if they have those spirit bottles available too.

Any parts I should be looking to get, other than the filler cap gaskets? Any other common gaskets/graphite seals I may require?

 

It might be worth asking while you are in Sands as they sometimes have photocopys of orginal operating instructions.

 

Welcome, another Aussie...

Nice Lamps to be starting with.

 

There are graphite seals on the operating spindles, the Austramax may have O ring seal on later models (not sure when they changed). But you won’t know if they need changing until you pull them apart of pressure test the lanterns.
Also clean the inside of the fonts and inspect. Old kero can leave a heavy sludge like the one you found in the pump. Both lanterns have steel bases so they could be rusty. If not fixed particles can affect the operation of the lantern.
The Coleman has a standard Coleman check valve at the bottom of the pump. The Austramax has a spring loaded NRV at the bottom of the pump. The PIP in the NRV may need replacing. But you won’t know if it needs changing until you pressure test the lantern.

 

Thanks Robbo,

I will be filling each with lacquer thinner to start with, which I used with good success on my stove tank.

I am certainly concerned with the rust on the bottom of each.

The Coleman has been painted on the bottom and it is rather rough, so I'm not sure how good a job was done there.

The Austramax has some rust, but it doesn't look too bad.

Perhaps I should go over each with a wire brush and some sort of rust converting gel and a coat of kill rust?

 

My advice would be to rinse out with kero or petrol rather than lacquer thinner. Keep rinsing until all crud is gone.

Then do your pressure testing.

Cheers

Tony

 

Noted. I guess the thinners may affect the rubber in the austramax nrv.

Where should I source my kerosene here in Aus? I see 2 kinds available at the big green place, blue dyed muck for cheap and low odour for not so cheap...

 

I've been using the blue dyed muck with no problems.

 

Don't use the low odour kero it stuffs up the tilley gennies just use the blue dye stuff .
Bob .

 

Blue dyed it is

 

I got to TW Sands today and have all the bits required to get these two burning (provided they pass the leak tests).

 

Great news!

Happy fettling.

Cheers

Tony

 

Ok, a good days fettling I guess you'd call it.

I started off by throwing a new leather cup into a small cup of motor oil and then I took the pumps out of both the 249 and the Austramax and let them soak in there with the new cup for about 90mins or so.

I then looked at my d414 powerhouse stove's tank. I placed a new Check Valve into it, then pressure tested it, found the control valve to be leaking, tightened it up till it stopped, then the lighting lever was leaking, tightened up and no more leaks.. yay. Installed new generator, put the stove back together, it now works well. Result.

Onto the lanterns.

249:
Dismantled, finding that the various nuts were mostly on finger tight.

Checked generator, it's complete with both springs and the pricker rod appears fine too, I can see it exit the gas jet when moved to the up position.

Not wanting to damage the pricker, I left it be for now and will see if it poses a problem in future.

Tightened up all the nuts on the 249, put the rejuvenated pump in and checked that I could build pressure. I could hear a hiss, so tightened the control valve more, the hiss lessened.

Dunked the 249 (keeping pump above the waterline) and many bubbles exiting the control valve, along with a black slime. I could not really get the valve tight enough to stop leaking.

Filled it with fresh kerosene and swirled it around, shall leave it in there.

Any ideas on what I need to order to fix this leak? a graphite valve packing? and if so, which one of the two available from OldColemanParts? I did order one for my 414 stove that I don't need but it looks a bit big for the 249?



Also, with the 249, is this the right preheater cup? it seems very loose to the generator.. not a good fit.





3/300.

Took the manifold off, leaving just the generator, dunked it, found the filler cap to be leaking... spent a fair time trying to remove the gasket, which looked ok to me but upon gouging it out, it was crumbling and hard. That done, re-tested and no more leaks!

Filled tank with fresh kerosene and swirled it round, left it sit for an hour.

Poured out the cleaning kero, refilled with new, test lit the burner. All good.



Installed mantle, burnt it in, should I have manipulated the sock to make it more bulbous and remove the crease from being folded? I just tied it on flat and lit it...



After this it was showtime, so preheater lit for a little while longer and it lit perfectly.

It burns reasonably well but I'm not sure it's burning as bright as it should, I can still see the mesh of the mantle even after pumping it up.

Btw, excellent lighting instructions Tony!

 

Those carbon gland packings on Coleman actually reshape and compress when hot so you may find you can tighten the gland if you gently heat the part. You can howver just add a twisted length of PTFE tape around the spindle and tighten the packing nut down on that. Works well and PTFE is quite suitable since it operates well under heat and does compress. It will provide a permanent fix.

The meth cup looks right to me. ::Neil::

 

Thanks Neil, I shall try some ptfe tape.

The 3/300 started dripping kerosene from the pricker control knob after it heated up. Need to tighten it up.

 

You really need the Gas tape. More expensive than the thin tape used for water plumbing but twisted into a string it works well. Handy stuff to have around since you can also use it to seal screw joints in a lot of lamps. ::Neil::