Hello all the way from Pakistan. I have long admired petromax lanterns and have always wanted to have one since I got to know about them. I am a vintage motorcycle enthusiast, and have quite a few motorcycles from the 1950s and 60s. With some restoration experience on hand, but your guidance will be greatly appreciated, so I don't mess up anything along the way. I recently bought a petromax in used with the box and all the goodies, only to find out it was a Chinese one. But then found my grand father's petromax 826 stashed away in the store room . Sadly the nickel plated parts have oxidized pretty badly. Although it will never look perfect again. Will appreciate help to make it look and function good. Many thanks, Sameed Nakai
Welcome to the forum Sameed. You will end up restoring both I am sure. The attached file by Jan Moeller will get you started. You will also find much by searching this website (there is a search function) if you have never done one before I suggest the more modern one first to learn with. We look forward to pictures of your results ! Chris
Many thanks for sharing that restoration guide! I cleaned up the pressure gauge and the pump rod and nut today. Soaked it in a white vinegar solution for a bit then mild scotch pad and it really worked. Attaching some pictures. Not a through cleaning but enough to get rid of most of the oxidation. Also the modern one is Unused NOS, and even though it's a later Chinese petromax, which I learnt on this helpful forum, 11 sun rays is Chinese 10 is German. Want to keep that in un used condition.
Looking at the condition of it I think you are doing well so far..Keep going. Have you found replacement seals yet ?
So far the diluted vinegar bath seems to have worked wonders, there is a pretty hard caked up layer of oxidation and dust, takes about a 30min dunk in the vinegar to get it loosened up. Will keep posting pictures as I go along. My only concern is the vinegar might also be affecting what is left of the nickel plating. Yes I have ordered some new parts for both the lanterns, the leather for the pump seems to still be supple from over 50 years in storage but have gotten a new one just Incase. Attaching some before and after pictures of, a bit of cleaning up done last night.
My friend, you may consider a good wash first. This will remove any dirt and dust that is on the lamp. Vinegar will not attack the chrome or nickel plating but it will reveal the places where both are gone. It may look therefore that the vinegar has done so.
Many thanks for the guidance. Yes I am giving all the parts a water rinse before giving it a vinegar bath. Doing each part individually, instead of dunking everything in one go. Just cleaned another part. Keeping in mind I don't want to overly clean it, just remove as much of the oxidation as I can, without destroying patina.
Hello all! Okay so the cleaning is going good so far, today I opened up the carburetor, everything was a bit stuck, so a good bit of sitting in the ultrasonic cleaner helped in getting things functioning again. Including loosening up parts that I thought were not meant to be removed. I have a few questions before I go ahead and order new parts. Questions are as follows. 1) The original 350 jet seems cosmetically okay, should I just clean up the tiny hole and use it as it or get a new one? Bearing in mind the petromax won't be used much. Also would modern petromax parts be a plug and play or do they have different thread sizes? 2) The inner end of the control knob seems to have had a peg at some point in it's life, that goes into the slot, that inturn controls the brightness. Should I drill and install a new peg, or should I order a new part of they are available? Some pictures of the mechanism would be greatly appreciated. 3) At the very end of the carburetor, the part that sits inside the tank, there seems to be a fine mesh with a spring holding it down, there seems to be a rubber o-ring as well, which will need replacement. 4) what websites would you guys recommend for getting parts? I'm okay with US or European sellers, I would prefer if the parts can be sourced from the US though. Lastly my sincere apologies for, my lack of vocabulary in naming the parts, as mentioned I'm motorcycle restorer so using motorcycle vocabulary mostly.
I would try and buy a service kit. In the UK I would speak with The base camp and ask them to build you a kit. Email him and ask Petromax Spares Price List Service kits contain all the seals and jet (carburettor) and cleaning needle as well as pump leather. The control rod engages with the eccentric rod (via the missing peg) connected to the control wheel. it is not a valve, it's only job it to move the needle in and out of the jet to clear blockages. You are correct that the "peg" is needed. You can repair this or buy an new rod - part 105 the end of the control rod should have a needle on it - this screws on. The needle and jet should match in sizes. So you want a 350cp Petromax needle and jet. parts 50 and 68. Threads should match still. the other part you speak about is the non-return valve that sits under the pump tube. - the rubber pip will also be in the service kit (or make your own) this is helpful for part names - even though it is for optimus lanterns they are similar What do I call this part?: Optimus
I would go for a German reseller like Hytta.de Since you have a "modern" lantern new parts should fit. One thing though: the hand wheel does not control the brightness ! It's on or off with this brand ;-)
If you look at picture 7 on page 4 in the PDF document, the part you describe is number 193. You will also need a new control rod part 104 because the one you have is incomplete, it should look like this I don't think you can get each part seperately. Bear in mind that wherever you buy genuine Petromax parts, they are made in China. Depending on how close to original you want your lantern to be, Prabhat and Gold Mohar parts will fit and you may save money on postage.
I've already done this by pressing a small & fitting steel nail into a hole I drilled in place of the broken off peg. After this, you only need to file the steel nail down to the right length. Works perfectly for me so far.
@Fireexit1 Many thanks for sharing all this knowledge! I have sent an email to fellows over at base camp let's see what they have to say. @WimVe Many thanks will check out this German supplier too, current their website is not working till the 1st of may. Ah you learn something new everyday, I thought the control knob would dim and brighten the light a bit too. The cleaning needle also seems to be broken on mine. @Henry Plews I have the complete control rod, it just seems as though the upper part has jammed it's self in place due to carbon, as the cleaning needed was also highly carbon fowled. Seems like no amount of cleaning or even trying to hammer it out is working. So I will have to order a complete rod unit too. Sadly even though India is next door getting things from there isn't too easy. @Martin K. Perfect I will give that a try too.
Have you tried "heat and quench" ? The thermal shock helps to crack and loosen the carbon. You will probably have to repeat the cycle a few times.
I wanted to try to do that, but was a bit concerned I might damage something beyond repair in the process. I was going to order parts from the UK, but luckily came across a later Chinese made petromax 500cp going for cheap. So picked it up and will be using it to get the German made one running, I will still need seals so will order those. Attaching pictures of my growing pressure lantern collection. Left to right. New old stock Chinese petromax never used followed by my grandfather's German made petromax in the middle and on the right, the most recent parts salvage one
The clean up has turned into a mild restoration.finally got the conducting rod out, despite my best efforts to salvage it. The rod had carbon welded itself into the tube. Last resort was to insert needles, and try to break up as much of the carbon deposits by tapping on the needles. An hour or two and much tapping later the rod was finally free but still not completely out had to cut it in half and finally removed .
