Fettling a pre-1911 Primus No.5

Discussion in 'Fettling Forum' started by Tony Press, Dec 7, 2015.

  1. Tony Press

    Tony Press Australia Subscriber

    Offline
    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2013
    Messages:
    9,295
    Location:
    Stinkpot Bay, Howden, Tasmania, Australia
    This pre-1911 Primus No.5 is in the Reference Gallery, here.


    Here are some notes on the fettle.

    1. The burner.

    The burner came with a wrecked outer flame ring and no cap; and a brass inner flame ring which was (is) fused to the spigot:

    IMG_6770.jpg


    The damaged outer ring was removed:
    IMG_6774.jpg


    The remnants of the ring were ground down with a Dremel (following advice given here):

    IMG_8460.jpg


    ... and a standard primus-type outer ring fitted:

    IMG_8445.jpg


    I used my fingers and a rounded bar to get the bell of the burner back into shape, but it is still a bit wonky - I don't want to distort it too much.

    IMG_8455.jpg


    2. The rest of the stove was fine, except for a bad patch of scratches and the rather sloppy job of re-attaching one of the legs:

    IMG_7303.jpg


    This proved to be a rather bigger job than I anticipated. The leg had been re-attached with a thick band of silver solder which would not run under normal soldering temperature. I filled the tank with water and plugged the pump tube with wet rag and then used a MAP torch to melt as much of the solder as I could without damaging the rest of the stove:

    IMG_7317.jpg


    I then has to cut away the last bit of hard solder at the bottom of the leg with a small hacksaw blade. I removed the leg, cleaned up the previous repair and re-attached the leg with ordinary solder:

    IMG_8487.jpg


    This job, and some previous scratches meant that I had to polish the stove to get it even (Autosol and rag - no . I will now wait until it develops a bit of patina before it heads off to to Mawson's Huts museum in Hobart.


    Cheers

    Tony
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2015
  2. Robert Bruce

    Robert Bruce SotM Winner Subscriber

    Offline
    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2007
    Messages:
    1,732
    Location:
    Springrange NSW Australia
    Looks so good, better than the late model they have. I will look out for it next time I visit.

    Cheers
    Rob
     
  3. kerry460

    kerry460 Australia R.I.P.

    Offline
    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2010
    Messages:
    2,357
    bloody nice job mate

    kerry
     
  4. ROBBO55

    ROBBO55 Subscriber

    Offline
    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2014
    Messages:
    2,212
    Location:
    Somersby, New South Wales, Australia
    Excellent work Tony. :clap::clap::clap:
     
  5. hikerduane

    hikerduane Subscriber

    Online
    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2010
    Messages:
    9,742
    Location:
    Plumas County, CA
    Nice repair, some of you guys do great work.
    Duane
     
  6. kerophile

    kerophile United Kingdom SotM Winner Subscriber

    Offline
    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2004
    Messages:
    14,192
    Location:
    Far North of Scotland
  7. Tony Press

    Tony Press Australia Subscriber

    Offline
    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2013
    Messages:
    9,295
    Location:
    Stinkpot Bay, Howden, Tasmania, Australia
    Thanks, @kerophile.

    I'll give it a go next weekend...

    Cheers

    Tony