Evening all, Sometime ago I placed a wanted ad on the forum for a 111 case for my sons first rebuild. Within a day or so a member offered one for trade so I was set, but about the same time nzmike sent a PM stating that he had an old embossed optimus 111 that could also be used for parts or with quite a bit of work could be used in its entirety. Mike was very generous in sending this to me and I still owe him big time for this one as it was a fun, but sometime frustrating project. Mike sent it all the way from New Zealand and when I saw it, I seriously considered using it as a parts stove. After looking at it over the course of a month or two, thinking about its long line of service and the stories it could tell I decided to try to bring it back to life. It had a broken hinge, so I looked high and low for a replacement that was close to original, but came up empty handed until I found a cabinet hinge that I could cut down and make work. Here is the old case closed and a shot of it opened up after receiving it. My next step after stripping it was to let it soak in the electrolysis bath for what I thought would be 2 days . After checking it after the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days I decided to give it a total of 5 days under electrical current and it was stripped of rust completely I started with a cabinet hinge and eventually cut it down to roughly the same size as original and stripped the old hinge plates. I then tacked the new hinge on, filled the holes in the new hinge and gave it two coats of self etching primer, followed up by three coats of Rustoleum Army Green! Last step was to completely disassemble the rest and get it all cleaned up. I found that the spindle had several chewed up teeth, so I pulled it out and noticed that the cleaning needle was lodged inside the burner housing and wouldn't budge even with the spindle removed. After an hour and a half with lots of heat and special made dental picks bent in all kinds of angles I was able to remove the old needle. After a new spindle, cleaning needle, NRV pip, pump leather, graphite packing I was ready to fire her up . Naturally being a Optimus 111 kero roarer, there was no issues whatsoever and it ran like a top . The windshield and tank shield received 3 coats of 2000 degree heat paint, I replaced the pot supports and stole a spanner from my boys stove temporarily and she is complete . Again, a big THANK YOU to nzmike. I owe you buddy!!!! Here she is all finished up, And naturally with the burner running and out of the case as the paint could use a few more days to dry before getting a lot of heat . Thanks.
Super resto job! How do you get the brass to gleem in all the nooks and crannies like that? Is there a post in this forum that explains the electronic etch technique? Also Im sure it is the setting on my computer but the color looks- like 1970s avacado! (sorry I just had to say it)!
That came out great - I agree on it having a really good "story" behind it. And now even the resto is part of it. Nice call on the hinges =)
It looks great and I like that colour. Something you will always feel good about when using it. Cheers
Well done, great fettle. They are the best, used on a regular basis that stove will be good for 20 years without having to do anything to it, maybe nip the gland up.
Hey Dan, I always like to see beautiful work come out of a pile of junk that was left for dead or for parts. Fantastic rescue of a neglected favorite. sam
Well donr there dday a realy superb restoration through out and i must say the optimus111 is one of my favourites very robust and very practicle you have one of the white control knobs as well they are not to common and they look better than the more modern version
Yes, very nice job except that color. I need to work on gettin my brass in order, I have a 111B like your case, looking forward to cleaning it up, great projects the cases are. My first 111T I made into a theme stove, I'll have to post pics sometime.
Hi Guys, Thanks for all the positive comments as they are great stoves that are worth bringing back to life . If you've never owned a 111 kero roarer you don't know what your missing. Steve, the hinge breakdown is just cutting out a original size optimus 111 hinge from a set of hinges that I bought at a local hardware store. The hinges were old stock thats been sitting in a wall cabinet for many years, Other than the factory drilled hole to fill with weld or JB weld, its just a matter of cutting them down and cleaning them up a bit. If your in need give me a shout and I can get more of them for $1 for two hinges and forward them to you. You can see the original hinge in one of my pics and see that you can just cut off a piece of it and it fits great . Chef BC, I use a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar for the original soak. I then neutralize it in clean water for awhile and let it dry. I then give it a quick go over with a dremmel tool set up with a scotch brite disc. I punch my own out and use several different grades from course to fine depending on the use. I then follow everything up with Meguires metal polish and I'm good to go. Here is a shot of the dremmel tool with scotch brite pad. They are maybe an inch to a inch and a half across. I buy small sheets of scotch brite and punch them out as needed from white (fine grade) to black (coarser).
DDAY, It looks easy, but how did you attach them? Solder? Epoxy? And how do you get the old ones to come off...
So Dan, How does your son like his first stove? Did he enjoy working on it as much as we know you did? He sure got a top dog stove for his first one. BTW I really like the color - makes it look military and ready for anything. Dave
It's not the settings on your computer, I've got a jones for guacamole and chips just looking at it! I'll just grab my coat and hat, off to market--- Murph
Hi Steve, I actually just ground the old ones off with a dremmel tool and then used a mig welder to tack the new hinges onto the case. The epoxy was used to fill the holes that were in the new hinges where they were to be mounted to the cabinet if used for carpentry work. I would imagine that you could possibly use a good epoxy to adhere them to the case, but I don't know how well they would hold up to long term use. I am hoping this 111 will be around for at least another 40 years so thats why I took the welding route as opposed to epoxy. Thanks Dave and my boy enjoyed the resto process, but with this crummy weather we've been having cannot enjoy using it on campouts until the weather improves a bit. I thought about starting him out on a 8R, but I had most of the pieces for a 111T so it made sense. I've saved the photos on the computer, so it might be cool to show them to him in another 10-15 years and see if he remembers doing the work. Hopefully he'll still have and be using the stove . Dan
