Today I found a fairly nice Coleman 413D at a flea market. Right away I spotted its defect, so I didn’t pay much for it. For those with brazing or silver soldering experience, is this repairable? I have done some soft soldering in my life, soldering copper plumbing pipes, but that is the extent of my experience. The tank is bone dry, so I am not worried about it being explosive. As you can see, someone tried an epoxy repair. In the other pic you can see that someone bent the valve/fuel pickup tube at an angle, causing the crack.
If the tank is generally sound, without substantial rust or corrosion, it should be possible to solder or silver braze this bung. Complete removal of the epoxy, proper surface prep and bing, bam, boom. Good as new/
I would just clean it up good---real good-----really really clean is the key-----and then just soft solder it. The key is CLEAN SHINY and LOTS OF FLUX and PLENTY OF HEAT. If you don't have all three it will not work well. Or I have a 413 E tank I would be happy to send you for the shipping.
You don't need silver solder or brazing rod. Plain old soft solder (50/50, 60/40) will work fine. I have several early stoves, Turner, PW, AGm and others with cylindrical tanks that are completely assembled with soft solder.
I straightened the valve/fuel pick up. It is clear what happened. A PO tried to remove the generator and bent things. I removed as much epoxy as I could and pressure tested with air and sprayed windex. Bubbles emerged from the side with the most solder globs. Clearly someone tried to resolder this without much success. It is hard to tell what is epoxy and what is solder at this point. Should I grind it off with the dremel, clean it up, then solder?
you can heat it up to melt the solder then wick it off, they make products for this, or I blow it off with air, or wipe it off with anything that works. Bear in mind holt solder is going to fly around a bit . Personally I would not grind it off.
Thanks @Majicwrench and @kerophile . I lightly ground off the top of the biggest gobs of solder. Then I cleaned with acetone. After brushing with flux, I heated up the bung area. I wiped off much solder and added some in the dished out area around the bung. It seems that some liquid impurities rose to the top. I don’t know if it was some epoxy I missed or something in the flux. I missed a small gob but I am reluctant to reheat things so I will scrape it off as kerophile has suggested. My initial test showed no leak, so I am optimistic. Right now the check valve is soaking in place with carburetor cleaner, so I must pressure test again later. Will post a pic later. Thanks.
Today after cleaning the fuel tank, generator, and valve assembly, I did another dry pressure test of 60 pumps. I sprayed windex around the bung and there are no bubbles. I am ready to put fuel in it and pump up to check for leaks, but…, there’s always a but, the check valve passes air into the tank but is not stopping it from returning. I have already done the overnight soak with carburetor cleaner which has always worked in the past. When I grabbed my check valve tool it did not fit. Mine is the newer wide fitting. I just ordered the dual size tool, so I am waiting. While waiting for the tool, I put more carburetor in, why not. I had not planned to paint this 413D, but the interior of the case had a good bit of rust, so today I painted the case. When I am satisfied the tank will hold pressure and be serviceable, I will paint the old cylindrical tank as well. I promise some pics if all goes well.
@Majicwrench , yes I know about the check valves, but this one does not seem to even slow down the release of pressure. It just gushes out! I no longer have lacquer thinner on hand, but I always have acetone for my tank BB dance. Then the alcohol rinse till clean.
@BradB I figured you did, just had to ask I bought a 285 lantern a few years ago that I couldn't get the CV to seal AT ALL but if you just cracked the air stem and pumped like mad you could build some pressure. When I finally took a look at the CV the little ball was gone.
Hi guys, Lot's of great info on de-soldering here. Perhaps this was mentioned and I missed it but here are a several items I've found very useful for various de-soldering tasks. De-soldering braid aka soldering wick. The braid will suck away solder as it melts. There are also small rubber bulbs with heat resistant tips that do the same thing but not as well. eg: NTE Electronics SW02-10 No-Clean Solder Wick, 4 Blue.098" Width, 10' Length: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement Anti-flux for keeping solder away from areas where you don't want it. I've skipped the anti-flux step more than once and then wished I had taken the time to use it. Kool Jool or similar to help prevent de-soldering something near the part you are working on. A damp rag works, but this stuff works better. Here's one US source for the last two items: Anti Flux & Heat Shield - FDJ Tool Larry
Seems my good luck has run out. While my amateur soldering job does not leak, when firing the stove I found a pinhole leak on the bottom of the tank. No, it did not ignite. Darn, the whole reason I bought this stove was for the old cylindrical shape tank. View attachment 268639 View attachment 268639
