Hll I had three AGM 256A table lamps turn up from Canada recently & as usual they were blighted by the dreaded stress crack syndrome which would usually mean the scrap pile , but i'm not having any of that nonsense oh no , not on my workbench I have been getting an idea of how to try & sort out this problem having done similar work on a few stoves with the same problems I know a few will frown on me for trying this but nothing ventured , nothing gained So with nothing to lose i started by drilling a small hole at the top of the crack to stop it going any further ( if after nearly 80years it had only gone this far i reckoned i had a good chance of stopping it in its tracks ) this was done by hand using a pin vise/mini drill chuck holding a 1mm drill bit i also chamfered the hole slightly with a 2mm bit to clean up the edges Next job was to grind out the crack with a dremel type tool fitted with a mini 0.5mm thick cutting disc to a depth of about 1/2 to 3/4 mm The crack also went round into the inside of the rim & this was ground out too The area around the crack was then cleaned up to give a proper surface to work with & a smear of good plumbers flux was wiped into the cut/groove , a line of good quality electricians solder was then layed in ready to be melted into place with a mini propane torch I carefully heated the area around the crack slowly working the flame closer to the solder until it melted into place , then adding a little extra solder to leave a slightly proud repair , this could be polished away to leave a nice clean repair line I then did a full pressure test on the solder repairs to make sure i had a good seal all round first using the soapy water trial , then in the water bucket of truth No leaks found & the fount was left pumped up & after three hours still holding very good pressure , fuel was then added & a pressure leak down test was repeated to see if the fuel could still be found leaking , not a drip This fount had come with no burner so i fitted an old early Coleman twin mantle type to get the old girl running & this is where i'm up to so far A nice blue flame from the rebuilt vapouriser , but thats another story & a couple of peerles mantles fitted 8) She still needs a bit of love & attention , but thats another old girl saved from the scrap & working like intended , dont give up on a stressed tank if the cracks are not too complex to sort out it's always worth having a go if your confident doing a repair yourself 8) , just make sure your happy with the pressure/leak down tests before adding fuel & firing it up Best regards , Stu
This is one of the best stress crack repairs I've ever seen! Well done, and probably a lot cheaper than POR-15! Some of these AGM lantern stress cracks want to make you break down and cry. I found an AGM lantern many years ago and I counted at least nine stress cracks! I gave up on the damn thing and it went into the junk parts box! I've been collecting pressure lanterns for well over 30 years and AGM seems to lead the field when it comes to this problem. Coleman, on the other hand appears to have conquered this problem. In all the years I have been collecting I found only two Coleman lanterns with stress cracks! Maybe I've been lucky? George
I cant see why any one should frown at this life saving surgery. Another fantastic repair. You never cease to amaze me. Regards, Jeremy
Nice work, I bet your blood pressure rose while dremelling the groove One more fount saved from the scrap heap Steve
What a great way of repairing a stress fracture. I was looking for just such a tutorial. Thanks for sharing.
Damned nice work! I tried to do something similar on my Bialaddin fount but there were too many of them too close together.
Very neat craftmanship, Stu! I wonder whether the tensile strength of the solder is high enough to prevent the joint from cracking after multiple pressure cycles. A leak could be rather problematic especially with gasoline.
How we wish Stu @loco7lamp, a true master, would join us again. His inspirations are still doing their work.
That is definitely the spirit we wish we have. It takes a lot of determination to accomplish such a feat. Its never dead till its dead.
I know this is an old post. Great job! As a welder I can tell you that is exactly how it should have been done.
It’s good to see Stu’s crack repair method. I’ve learnt a lot from it. There is so much expertise and experience amongst us. Cheers Pete
That is so true Pete. I've learned loads and got the confidence to attempt way more that I ever imagined!
I've used this method to repair stress cracks on several bialaddins without any problems, still leak free a few years later. Regards ian
Fantastic work, just been through this myself and it had already had a repair with soft solder.I used 15% silfos but left the welds proud.
"... a hobby I should have found long ago". Definitely a confirmed case on lampelitis! There is no hope for you now, Roy. Tony
