Preamble For the past 3 months, in the quest for lamp treasures, l have been dropping into a Bric-a-Brac / old wears seller here in Toowoomba. Each time, I have seen and passed up as “too far gone” a Veritas 350 lantern. The asking price was $65. Being influenced by my successful fettle of a Veritas Supreme and encouraged by @ColinG fettle of his Veritas Supreme I weakened. I bought the derelict 350 for a princely sum of $40. This is how she looked. The Fettle The 350 was stripped and each part was assessed. The following parts were either broken or not fit for service: The original globe - broken. The jet pricker - missing prick wire. The jet - excessively worn. The valve / fuel pickup assembly was removed from the fount and along with the other parts soaked in a warm diluted citric acid solution for approx 30 minutes. After a vigorous scrubbing with a hand brass brush the parts were rinsed and put into the ultrasonic cleaner for a final clean. The fount was initially cleaned with oven cleaner. The oven cleaner removed a surprising amount of the aged built up crud. Marine Clean was then poured into the fount and left to soak overnight. After a good soak the fount was rinsed and dried in the kitchen oven. I brought the temperature of the oven up to 200degC, turned off the heating and then placed the fount in the oven using the oven’s residual heat to do the drying. The fount and frame rest were then polished with Mother’s Mag Cleaner. The Hood The hood is in 2 Parts, the dark mauve enameled hood top is in very good condition however the actual steel hood under was in poor shape. Originally it was nickel plated, however over the decades, rust had penetrated the nickel and attacked the steel underneath. What to do ...... I soaked the rusty hood overnight in Evaporust. Next morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Evaporust had dissolved/dislodged all the rust leaving the bare steel and also the remnants of nickel plating. The once smooth finish now looked like the skin of an orange. I decided to replate the hood in nickel with the orange peal finish. First I copper plated the bare steal then applied the nickel plating. The orange peal nickel finish is quite attractive and I’m very pleased with it. The Frame The original frame was also nickel plated and as the hood it suffered from the rust erosion. Again I soaked it overnight in Evaporust. After all the rust had been removed I then replated the frame with nickel. As with the hood, the result was quite attractive. The frame has the numbers 551 stamped into its rim. Could this be the date of manufacture? I built an new replacement pricker from 1/16” brass tube threaded one end 2.0M and the stainless steel .006 prick wire crimped into the tube using my home made crimping tool. The fuel shut off valve’s shaft required new graphite packing. The various parts were collected together ready for their final assembly. A very kind CPL member, @Norman sent me a new replacement reproduction glass. An Aladdin 1A glass will fit nicely. A Veritas 350 NOS jet was sent from England by another kind CPL member @paul m . The assembled Veritas 350A A low cost Butterfly 300 - 400 CP mantel was installed and now the money shot ....... The resurrection was now complete. After fixing a leak from around the jet’s thread, and then a preheating, the 350 lit without fuss like the grand old lady she is. Summary This Veritas 350A’s fettle was very enjoyable. A number of challenges were encountered that stretched my capabilities and my experience expanded as I overcome these issues. I’m very satisfied with the results, she’s a keeper. Note. This is my 3rd Veritas lantern fettle and they all light without fuss and are very well behaved. The Veritas lanterns seem to have a reputation of being absolute horrors to light, undoubtedly well deserved. In my case, I have not experienced any lighting or running issues whatsoever. Acknowledgements I take this opportunity to acknowledge the help received from the following CPL members: @Norman @paul m @outback boy Thank you gentlemen, I’m very grateful. Thank you for looking Cheers Pete
Hi Pete, as always an absolute delight to follow your fettle. I think the orange peel nickel plating works a treat and the overall look is spot on.another fine fettle. Stevie
A very well documented fettle of a grand old lady, and what a looker! Thanks Pete, this is an inspirational post that I'm sure many people will use as reference for their own projects.
Hi Pete, Well done well done indeed. She is a grand looking lady that's for sure. Your 350 runs as it should and will serve you well for many years. I have a Veritas Superb which runs very well indeed. I enjoyed the presentation. Thank you for sharing with us. Cheers, Norman
Well saved and well presented! PS., Forty Australian dollars currently equals Twenty pounds and 73 pence, so in my opinion, that was a good deal.
@AussiePete Congratulations Pete, a great result. Q. Why is the nickel plate wrapped in a cloth during the plating?
@ROBBO55 There are 2 reasons for wrapping the anodes in cloth, in this case it’s cheap Chux wipes. 1. It helps prevent the accidental shorting out with the item being plated. During the plating process volatile gases are released and, any sparking caused by a short circuit could ignite the gases. 2. Although a minor concern, it stops any crud breaking away from the nickel anode and contaminating the electrolyte with particulates or solids. The aim is to keep using the electrolyte for as many times as possible. Cheers Pete
Hi Pete, Congratulations on getting the lamp back to tip-top condition! And thanks for taking the trouble to lay everything out in such detail ... I didn't even know it was possible to re-plate things in a home workshop environment? A real eye opener!!! The trouble is that the bar/ standard keeps getting set higher ... Well done! best wishes, pb
Great job, i have a Veritas 350a, i fettled back to life, i had to modify an pricker i soursed frome the bay, it got the job done and with the help and generosity of some of the fellas from the group, it did fire up well, i do like your pictures of the restoration and i do like your crimper as iv bought cheap and expensive type crimpers and they are never square and straight, i like this group and the fettling tip, job well done and presented
@AussiePete That's a nice report on fixing your lantern! I also found (again) a Veritas lantern. I really like these petrol lanterns because they do work very smoothly. With my lantern there was a problem with the needle bar, it always got stuck. I made a small modification: An excenter of a HASAG 551 filed to the correct size and a shortened needle bar of the 551. The needle, which also comes from the 551, I had to adjust in the upper area so that it remains movable in the taper at the top of the carburetor. I then simply silver soldered the needle onto the needle bar.
