CCS member Dan ('dday') got in touch, having seen my '38 Coleman post in the Stove Reference Gallery, and offered me a 500 he'd not been using that he knew he had somewhere (in his 'man cave' pole barn he said!) that I could canibalise for parts. Dan emailed a pic Now get this, Dan wouldn't take payment, saying he just wanted the satisfaction of seeing the '38 Coleman completed. Bowled over by Dan's kindness and generosity, and resolved to get him his wish, I took Dan up on his offer and had soon taken delivery and stripped the stove down to its component parts. Here's the font, a Canadian Feb '47 model I'd wondered whether I could justify taking parts from a possible 'user' stove, but there was a corrosion hole in the steel-based brass font, so that crisis of conscience was over. Knowing the tank was scrap, I took the opportunity to open up the base and take a look inside. It confirmed there was a lot of rust in there, the crust collapsing into the font bowl when I touched it I admired the safety feature of the tube leading from the end of the pump tube to the top of the tank, ensuring that petrol vapour and not liquid gasolene would be ejected into the pump tube if the check valve ever failed The burner base pan too had a bad attack of tin worm I'd already resolved to leave the '38 original in place with it's rivetted repair completed some years back by a previous owner TO BE CONTINUED in a 'reply' to this topic to get more photos uploaded
Ok, next instalment. To strip the stove down, I'd had to unfasten five of these screws (burner to burner pan - two; burner discs to burner manifold - two; air channel cover to burner manifold - one). All but the screw affixing the air channel cover on the burner manifold ... ... which I like to remove to clean out cobwebs and debris, sheared off Sure, I'd taken a blowtorch to them to loosen things up and had soaked them in releasing oil ... I had some brass equivalents to hand, which shouldn't seize up as the steel ones had. Sheared off stubs were drilled out (4.2 millimetre drill) and the holes were tapped for 5 millimetre threads Now, Terry Marsh and Fred Kuntz kindly agreed to place their detailed study of the '500' in CCS's Stove Ref Gallery and Fred's '38 Canadian example had a rounded end to the burner manifold. Later Canadian models had a cast projection (which Dan's stove burner had too). Here's one from a '42 example I wanted to get a reasonably accurate reproduction of how the '38 would have been, so I ground the projection down to produce the authentic rounded end Job done, it just remained to strike a light and flick through the heat range from full blast to simmer that these stoves are capable of I couldn't resist one last shot of that distinctive 'L' shaped fuel/air control lever, that I'd thought might be a later replacement, but was evidently original to the '38 year of production Thank you so much, Dan. You're a star! Regards, John
Nice work John . Your posts are worth every bit of that old 500 I sent and I am glad that you researched everything to make the parts work. I was just happy that you could utilize the parts you needed. I am happy as you just by looking at that great flame you have created. Fantastic job and take care of that lovely 38, its a beauty. Keep your great posts coming! Dan
Cheers Dan. I'll do my best with the posted topics. It was fascinating taking a look at the inside of that Coleman's font. Always wanted to do that and check out the pump tube arrangement. It's a prized possession now, not destined for the dumpster, I can tell you (the rusted tank, I mean, not just the '38 one!) All the best, buddy, John