Optimus 8 (‘F’ variant) cracked fuel pipe sorted, a second subject for repair was this pump cap with a badly worn bore. The stove’s a rather interesting fixed leg two-pinter, with a fuel flow regulated in the fixed riser tube rather than the burner (a standard roarer burner). @Driftwood will be able to enlighten us as to what’s engraved on the fuel tank, since I forgot to take a photo of it and came away from Newark with just the pump and the regulator spindle, which is in need of graphite packing. Here’s the regulator assembly, with a rather splendid brass control wheel. The word ‘Original’ leads me to believe that the stove’s of Indian manufacture because it often appears in the names of paraffin stoves and lamps made there. Though THIS thread doesn’t depict the same stove the name Kingson appears on it, as well as the ubiquitous ’Original’ on a silent burner outer cap (which may not have belonged to the stove - er - originally, it’s true). The consensus in that thread, which I agree with, was that the stove in question was of Indian manufacture. So, the repair. I used a technique I’ve used often, to use silver solder to gap-fill and secure in place a short length of brass tube with an interior diameter giving a sliding fit on the pump shaft. Cutting the insert to make it slightly longer than the original bearing surface length doesn’t compromise the effective pumping stroke but offers the prospect of a longer working life before it reaches anywhere near the state the pump cap was in. John
Another original repair- sorry I will get my coat ….. I haven’t unpacked the stove yet, I will take some pictures of it tomorrow. Thank you for your work.
John, that’s rather neater than the very old repair done with plumbers’ solder on this Primus No. 733: Cheers Tony
@Tony Press Neater I suppose Tony, but there’s no denying that’s a functional repair and like the rest of the furnace, demonstrates a determination to keep it running, regardless of looks. I suppose the other failings overcame a previous owner’s ability to repair or replace parts. At least it didn’t get scrapped. By the way, Royal Mail tell me to expect a delivery from Taz on Friday! I’ll message you. Cheers, John
@presscall Another excellent very neat and virtually invisible repair, a little wear looks good as it shown the amount of use and history of the stove, but then in this case the wear is to much and a repair is needed, a good decision john in repairing the pump cap well done there Jhon
It says - HEAVY AND STRONG TWICE SOLDER TANK Not necessarily in that order as there is no definitive start and finish. Crown No1 Superior to any Made in Sweden on the release key is - Alux Stockholm Original- in script all the rest is in capitals. and Original stamped 3 times on the pot rest.
@Driftwood Great, photos! Thank you. More confirmation of Indian manufacture I’d say, not least the ‘Original’ references on tank and pan ring. On the one hand the proud boast that it’s ‘Superior to any made in Sweden’ yet the engraving of ‘Sweden’ is significantly mis-aligned, which wouldn’t have got past Swedish quality control. Of the Princess it might be said ‘The lady doth protest [her excellence] too much, methinks’ but unlike Hamlet the outcome is far from a tragedy, since it’s a product that’s positively oozing character. It occurs to me that compacting the graphite sheet strips into the packing nut is a bit of a non-starter @Driftwood without that threaded spigot on the burner riser to screw it onto. I’ll pack some graphite sheet with the package heading your way when I’ve finished off the Optimus 8. John
They certainly got their money’s worth out of the stamps, I don’t think there is room for any more. They didn’t hold back on the brass either, it’s a heavy beast. Thank you.
