I've recently acquired a well-used Primus 71L, and the case is pitted and rusted - similar to the one pictured below - although it's otherwise in good shape. The silver-colored coating next to some of the pitted areas is also flaking off. Were these originally painted with a high-heat paint? Thanks in advance.
Most of the older Primus 71's and Optimus 80's I've seen have at least some damage to the paint, so I don't think they had heat resistant paint. The cases are somewhat flimsy poorly tinned sheet steel and will rust at the drop of a hat. Primus, at least, used to sell an aftermarket pot stand adaptor thingumbob for just that occaision. I shamelessly copied it to make stands for a 123 and an Optimus 80 for which I have no stand / windscreen. The 80 is accompanied by my prototype 3mm key. You wouldn't believe the crap I went through before I got one which actually works. I'm not good at all with math, so figuring Angulatory cosinulations and post chordal addenda are impossible. So I measure as close as I can, then guess at it. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries. Gerry
Now, Gerry, I do believe there is a market for those brass thingulators, especially for the 71/80. Sigg is great for the 123, but the 71/80 can-potstand isn't up to it.....
Gerry, Have you considered using (or forming similar) Phoebus-type potrests. Then they would turn-in to enable the stove to fit in say, a coffee can whilst still being able to provide broad support when reqd.
Look closely at the pictures. The band which the tubes that hold the legs is soldered to is barely a snug fit and comes off very easily. I adapted the pot legs from suprema el Cheap-o steel wire tent pegs. They work well as they are and even better behind a wind break. My wind break of choice is a large dead animal. Wapiti (Elk) size large, although a deer, or llama will work in a pinch. I don't like goats for this purpose, too d?class?. Burros are even more so. A caveat. Making a large animal dead might be considered poor form in some areas at certain times of the year. I suggest doing it far from thickly populated areas and heavily travelled roads. Gerry
John - make a clean up on this 71 case, and spray it with silver high temp painting. When painting has dried up - temper the painting at 200 - 300 degrees celsius for half an hour. I could send you picture of the decals.
John--decals--you bet..these hard core stove guys come up with everything.. you get decal paper for your computer printer--when your done it will look brand new----i always did wonder why they made such a solid stove and a a junky tin case for it..
Have a look at this Internal Link Bear in mind the original post is over 3 yrs old, so some of the links within it may not still work
Argh! I finally got around to seeing about doing this, and the link in Ian's note above is dead - although by searching I think I have found it: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/1337 But, the links in that thread to the decal files also seem to be dead. Are they still around somewhere? Thanks, folks.
Hi Ross, Would appreciate reviving the dead link? :-) I would like to have the decals too. I got a 71 and 71L and did not want to fret the case for losing the artwork. Thanks. cp
Hi, Soooo, that is how you keep the high temp silver paint permanent.... Gotta try this method. Thanks. cp
These are smaller files than I've shown before but should do fine at actual size. If not send me a PT. They look big but should print at the right size. The internal decal is missing the accents on some letters. At the time I did it I didn't know how to do them. I may do a more accurate one when I get time.
Ok - I've done a new internal with the appropiate accents - I drew them in as I'd flattened the image & lost the text layers - you'll never notice on the actual printed size. I also discovered another internal version on the Hjorth 71. I've quickly knocked one up. It had less languages in a bigger font & slightly different wording on the French warning. Again I reckon these will print fine but if you need higher res send me a PT. My 'originals' are 11-13mb!
Here's the patient in question that started off this thread in the first place. On the outside the case wasn't all that bad, but once opened up it was in rough shape. The stove, made 1961 according to the code at the base of the vaporizing tube, has clearly seen some hard use (a few dents in the tank and to the burner head, for example), but otherwise looked to be in pretty decent condition. However, it would not work at all. The nipple was totally clogged and the stove still wouldn't work even after I cleaned out the nipple and had also scraped out a fair amount of carbon that was in the upper part of the tube. At that point I stripped the thing down and cleaned everything out, replaced the graphite, etc. And that's all it took - first time after reassembly I got healthy, steady blue flame. Cleaning up the case took a lot of hand-sanding to remove the rust and smooth out the pits, and with some silver high-temp paint and new decals (and thanks very much for those files!) it now looks pretty decent. And after a ungodly amount of cleaning and polishing with Brasso, this little project is done.
Hi John, That is really nice work on the tin, and the stove looks smart as well. Great fettle. Cheers, Graham.
