Hello all, Been working on a Optimus 80 recently. Thanks to Bryan Miller, finally got the parts needed. Put it all together, fueled the tank and light it up. Good flame ! Then I tried to switch it off No joy. Turned the control spindle as tightly as I dared, was sure the thing was about to deform, but the fuel just kept vapourising out the jet. Finally had to knock the flame plate off and staunch the fuel flow with an old rag! Any ideas? Did I miss something when I re-assembled the control spindle ? Photos to follow ... gotta tidy up the mess before 'The Boss' arrives Spudz
Is it the one that has the worm-gear that acctuates the needle? Might just need to make sure the 'worm' is in the right position...
Bagsy, No worm gear on this one. No cleaning needle, just a straight burner. Slight deformation on the vapouriser tube! No wick in the tube, had to make one following Ians great tips for the 8r. Lovely detail in the engraving. Seriously damaged nut at the end of the vapouriser. After a rub with Brasso, and a few pieces replaced. Spudz
You could have probably blown it out. Did you then open the filler to stop the fuel flow? Sounds like there may be a bit of 5h in there stopping the valve from seating properly.
No. Didn't want pressurised petrol spurting all over the place. Better a petrol soaked rag , than a petrol soaked me ! 8) 8) Already did a 'heat & quench' routine on the burner, not much muck came out, Had a look at the parts list for a 71. Don't think I'm missing anything from the spindle. I'm wondering if it might be due to the vapouriser being slightly skew ways, it's barely visible in the 1st photo above. Spudz
Once the stove was out , if you'd cracked the filler open the pressure in side would have escaped and stopped fuel coming out of the nipple . No fuel would have come out of the filler unless ther tank was over-filled. Blow it out and open the filler is the standard shut-down for a Primus 70 which is effectively a pri.71/Opti80 without a valve. If, when removing the vapo/burner (which you suggested was not easy) you bent it where I've arrowed it, that may be the cause of your problem If it isYou might get away with very carefully bending it back. Dismantle the stuffing box/ packing/valve assembly first, of course, and keep checking it as yo go by screwing the valve shut and blowing up thru' the vapo (take the wick out first)
Hell, I've got one of those as a SVEA! Great stove, very conservative on fuel. Is there a seal that the key seats against to block the pressure? I've never had mine apart but this design has been around forever. I can't help but think a little emory cloth polishing or fettling the seal will fix it.
Ian, Info, regarding shut-off understood and stored in the memory bank. The damaged nut on the bottom of the burner was not caused by me , that's how the stove arrived from ebay, It was also minus a jet, burner plate, wick and graphite packing. The burner bell was also deformed ! (How do you do that arrowing on the photo, by the way? Most handy.) No, the burner 'deformation' is at the base of the burner tube. In the 1st photo, you might just see it above the key chain that's wrapped around the burner. I suspect the stove took a tumble some time in its history and the burner took the brunt of the impact, possibly even whilst still hot, and thus bending the vapouriser tube. Thanks for the help so far. Might have to contemplate a little vapo. tube straightening yet. Spudz
A bend right down there isn't going to affect operation of valve. Bend in lower vapo is barely noticeable. I should leave it alon and concentrate on getting valve to work properly. (copied image, added arrow,put in PhotoB, posted in thread.)
But how ? Point taken about bend low down in the tube. Which brings me back to where I came in ... why the f... will the valve not shut off the fuel ? A few more rounds of heat & quench ? Can't do much harm ... can it? Have to say, I really like the stove, even in it's cantankerous mood. Might just get to admire these petrol burners .. at least, for the moment, there's no supply problems with that fuel, here in pastaland ! Enjoy the Flame Spudz EDIT: Well just because the spindle ain't working, doesn't mean I can't Enjoy the Flame Hey Ian, 'puff & open' works well in turning off the stove, but how would one approach this if the stove were in the appropriate tin ? p.s. The spindle doesn't seem to be doing anything at all. Opening it up had no effect on the flame size or strength, might as well leave it closed for now.
"But how?" Copied image into my printshop prog., added arrow there, proceeded as previously stated. " 'puff & open' works well in turning off the stove, but how would one approach this if the stove were in the appropriate tin ? " If it were a 70 it would have a littlttle handle to pick it up with but as it isn't, it doesn't. Lift stove out of tin using key. This is awkward if tin doesn't have a slot at the front (but you can always cut one.) Better to sort the valve problem. The valve appears not to do anything because, at the moment it doesn't. All the variation in control in these stoves is in say, the first half a turn from shut. They will simmer but its not a variable simmer like a 111, its a precise point where the valve is just letting enough fuel through for a simmer flame. Your valve isn't closing that far.
Hi Spudz, Have you had a good look at the spindle, it cuts the fuel off by way of a tapered end entering a tapered seat, if there is a miss alignment of said tapers, fuel will get through. Maybe you could roll it on a flat surface to see any wobbles, or put one end in a drill and see if when rotating it is true.
That's easy for you to say - but how...? Where did the arrow come from in the first place? Is it a function of your/all photo-manipulation programs? Can we have a tutorial? Which program do you use BTW? Personally, I just can't be doing with Photoshop - it's simply far too powerful/complicated for my very basic needs e.g. cropping and cloning (and adding arrows! ) I did have something once, called Corel PhotoHouse which was like 'Photoshop Goes to Toytown with Noddy and Big Ears, meeting Janet and John on the Way' and suited my requirements admirably. So my friend's son helpfully deleted it (presumably because he thought it was crap) when he upgraded the twin-core bizilium interspooling zygotron ion-hyperdrive in my 'puter to half a terato mega-twermits or something - bah!
The valve is simply a cone shape machined on the end of the valve spindle. It seats in in a simple hole in the burner stem. If the needle valve is deformed by over tightening, the only cure is a new valve stem. You're going to have to take the valve stem out to inspect it. Gerry.
Spuds try a bit of bearing blue or white board marker on spindle. re seat and inspect. Should be a complete ring on spindle where it seated in the end of tube. Be only thin .2 mm maybe. Sometimes heaps. Depends if it has a taper on the contact side. The check for run out is a good idea too. Get some good light and have a sqizzy down the end there. Could be Carbon like Ian said. Could try a match/scewer and spin it on the seat? May clean it up. I you have a ringed groove on the spindle taper then it means it wont seal as there is no good contact in to the seat. It is possible to open the seat dia slightly by using a drill bit with the same angle as the spindle and honing by hand. A few twists in the hands to clean up edge/ widen the contact area a bees dick so it now seats. But first the spindle has to seat straight on to the seat to form a seal. Hows that idea from a dropkick!! Hope it sounds logically enginerringly right enough. If not I'm more F*@#ked up than I thought.
Hi Spudz Take he burner apart (spindle out) and take all the burner parts in vinaigre for 2 hours. Clean it afterwards - and from upper and downside there is 1 small hole (1 mm) clean these carefully with a small drill - only turning the drill with your fingers. From the spindle side use a pipe cleaner, and clean also the spindle - specially on the noose. At last wash it all in warm water with a little soap, make a new wick and remount the spindle (using graphite tape in the stuffing box ) And with a cleaned jet - and OK filling lid packing - you will get a beatiful burning stove.
Looks like this only the jet bit chopped off . The hole that goes past the end of the valve on the inlet side goes up a bit so as to I suppose heat the fuel more. The hole in the thick bit is where it enters the jet thead bit. Barra
Folks, Thanks for the renewed interest in this old problem. I suspect that the problem lies here: I didn't notice this repair when I first got the stove, I suspect it was done by the previous owner, wasn't a success and so the stove was sold on ebay. I had already soaked the vapo. tube in vinegar, heated & quenched a few times and even passed a very thin metal thread through from top to bottom, but after many attempts at sorting out the problem, with no success, I believe the only answer to be a new vapouriser.
Hi Spudz, By the looks of your picture, someone who did not have a lot of experience with soldering obviously has tried to fix it. It looks as if the valve holder is not soldered in at the correct location/depth. I would suggest to disasemble the valve and the jet, than unsolder the lot, clean out/off as much of the old solder as you can. Than, after checking that the valve seat is still OK (with all this removed you should be able to see it clearly) or just clean the seat with a drill bit spinning it with your fingers as suggested before, check that the valve and the seat will "mate" again. Than with the valve fitted and turned down (shut) and than 1/2 turn back you place the valve holder in it's place and push it in untill it won't go in any deeper- the valve stopping at the seat. You now mark that position with a pencil and than after removing again the valve, solder the valve holder in the position of your pencil line. The best is to use some sort of "Flux" to make the solder 'run' and on this sort of soldering I use "S39", but I don't know if you have anything similar, though, I have found it all over the world in the DIY stores where they sell copper tubing. There is no need to "plunk in" lots of solder as the best solder joints have only a little bit of solder. After cleaning you will see that it will work as new. Cheers, Joseph.
