Murphy's Law states: If anything can go wrong it will, and at the worst possible moment. No one is immune to the Law of Murphy. If you breath air you will be plagued by Murphy's law at least once in your lifetime. If you practice the art of fettling it's highly likely you will be visited by Murphy at least once and in all likelihood more than once on the same project. The pity is we can't always have someone else to blame for our f
Hey Lance, In that second photo, the exploded one, it appears that the leg bracket on the left has a threaded hole in it. What's that hole for? Looks like you have a user there....what kind of stove is it? I have an 00 that needs some of that kind of work and more. Not exploded though. Best, Bob
Wow, If I ever explode a stove I will do exactly what you did... up to the bin part anyway. Great work! Hard to imagine how fiddly it was to do.
Amazing Lance. After a mishap with the air compressor blowing the bottom out like that and then repairing it to such a high standard I will take my hat off to you.That really is a first class job you have achieved. I would never believe that stove had been damaged like that. Very well done, Lance, indeed
Bob this is the same size as a "00" so send it across and I'll be happy to fix you up. The threaded hole is for a fitting which then holds the reserve cap. Look to the referance gallery here to see a Phoebus #30 by Kerophile which has the fitting and the reserve cap. If you have a stove which needs this kind of work (major solder repair) and you don't believe yourself qualified to do the work send me a PT and I'll be happy to respond with my mailing addy. Cost to you (anyone) is shipping from there to here and back plus parts and minimal labour. Of note; there was less than 30 psig in the tank of my compressor when I added the air to the fount. lance
Hi Lance, what sort of solder did you use on the tank base? Soft or silver? I don't suppose anyone has tried the method of using a fireglass brush (scratch brush) to remove excess solder after repairing a stove?
Blackdog i used 50/50 plumbers solder. It's the same as i would use for a leaded glass window. As for the soft bristle brush, i haven't got one, but i do have several cotton rags used for just such a purpose. Lance
Hey, Lance, Outstanding job, CWO!! I think your little #30 is very happy to be alive, once again, and to be of use to you, now that it's finally well! If you want a Phoebus #30 reserve fuel tank cap, Exeter_Yak has graciously offered to give reproducing them a try. Mac (Arch) very kindly offered to allow his own reserve cap to be the test and measuring sample, and when I talked to Doug the other day, he said he was ready for Mac to send him the cap. I'll drop Mac a note, just to apprise him of the current situation, and hopefully, with Doug's hard work, and Mac's generous loan of a sample cap, those of us who need such a device will have one of Doug's outstanding creations to fill taht need!1 I'm ordering one, or maybe two, just in case! I'll post this same note in another thread, so anyone that's interested can sign up. Again, Lance, great job!! Take care, and god Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Hey Lance. Incredible job!!! That was pure drama! I have a primus 100 that I have to do the same work to. Thanks for the awesome text and how-to. Forgive my misunderstanding, can you further explain what tinning means? Sorry for my density. sam
Lance, everyone has already said their piece. I was just shocked seeing how the bottom part just gave way! You made the right decision bringing it back to life instead of leaving it in the bin. Its just like operating on someone who had his guts shot out and stitching it back and is as good as new...well not new but good enough to make blue flames. Wish I was that patient in tap tap tapping away. One of these days if Murphy comes visit me
Sam, 'ell everyone, Tinning is the process of applying a thin coat of solder to the surface of the metals to be joined so that the area is 1. clean, and 2. will take the filler solder which will hold them together easier. Sometimes, when the joint is a really tight fit, the tinning solder is enough to complete the join. In this case i needed to add solder as my joint was more open than i would have liked. The process involves cleanning just the area you want "tinned" to shinney metal removing all dirt, grease, and corrosion. You then coat the area to be tinned with flux and then set to heat with your torch or copper and melt a bit of solder on to the metal. This is then wiped off or sperad around until only the area you want tinned has a thin film of solder. When you join the two pieces together the filler solder will flow onto the tinned area rather easily. What happened with the factory soldering, the area under the flange did not take solder for some reason. You can see that in the second picture. There is a bright line of solder on the bottom piece and then a 3-4 mm area toward the lip which has none. All that area which has no solder, should have had some. If it had the fount would not have "'sploded" like it did. When i tinned the bottom all of the area from the bright line up to the lip then had a bright line of solder and no where else. I have a picture which shows the inside lip of the upper shell after it was tinned. i'll have someone resize it and then insert it here. lance
The brushes I was thinking of were the sort with hard fibreglass bristles, which can be used for scrubbing excess solder off brass, once the soldering job has been finished. I have used them in the past on various brass fabrications, the bristles are hard enough to scratch off solder but not enough to affect the brass other than leave extrememly fine scratches which can be polished out with no effort. Very good work all the same, better you found out the tank was weak with compressed air, rather then when pressurising the lit stove
Hey Lance, I would have done the same thing, I'd pull it out of the trash and see just how good my fettling skills were. I like having a few "user" stoves to cook with, make coffee, etc, and not have to worry about dropping them or scratching them or whatever. Excellent job!!
I see a lot of soldering of this and that when viewing the fettling forums. On this thread 50/50 lead/tin solder was used. That has a 6000psi tensile strength. There is a MARVELOUS product made by Harris called Bridgit. It is lead free and solders just like 50/50. With a big difference. It fills gaps. It also has a 14000 psi tensile strength. Regular flux can be used. I even used it with a big electric iron to do some repairs on a tank. Bob
