Hi Folks, I've managed to drop a clanger of large proportions with my Thermidor picnic. Some time back I reported that it would not light properly. Because the hole was far too large it just shot a jet of paraffin even with a triple priming. So I gave peening a go and over-did it and closed the hole up pretty much completely and gave up on it for a while. A few months ago I saw these on the bay They're 0.25 mm turned down from 1/8" shafts so a regular chuck can be used.... I thought I'd have another go to get it running. That's where the fun really started. Using a drill press and clamping every thing down, I managed to get hole started before the bit snapped off. But I couldn't see any evidence that a hole had even started even with a loupe, so I had another go. Bad move human! That second hole was successful but the vibration caused the original broken bit to re-emerge so that I could feel it and with the lens see enough to get some tweezers on it and pull it clear. Closer inspection showed that rather than not getting started it had actually got right through before snapping. So I was left with this... Two holes!!! of nominally 0.25 mm. I gave up in disgust again. When I was in the shed at the weekend it caught my eye and I thought a bit more about it. A quick calculation suggested that two holes of 0.25 mm diameter should have roughly the same area as one hole of 0.35 mm. I'd read somewhere on here that some yellowing of the flame would be evident if the hole on a 96 was enlarged so that a pricker for a 210 fitted so I thought I'd see what would happen. Sure enough, I got yellow flames but it lit and stayed lit. It tried to flare up when I overdid the pumping but it does at least now want to be a stove and not a flamethrower. I guess I should try a more gentle peening now and see what it does for the flame colour. I can't see the flame pattern improving too much given it's now a double barrel lipstick burner but what else can I do? regards John
John, I'd be happy to fix the tube, using the technique I outlined HERE on a Monitor. PT me and we'll swap addresses. No charge involved incidentally, just helping a stovie in a bit of a spot. John
Hi John, thank you for your very kind offer. I will indeed send a PT. May be a week or so before I'm ready to send the burner as I think I will go ahead and gently peen the holes just to prove a point to myself about the yellow flames. very best regards John
Great minds slight change in topic/John I also have those on order Was going to use with a dremel drill press what did you think of the bits themselves thanks john
Hi John, The bits themselves were excellent but you do have to take your time and any vibration will end in breakage. I would suggest you rig up some form of magnifying lens to make sure that everything is lined up. Also pay attention to having the drill and work piece vertical. If they are at an angle to each other, even if you line up perfectly on the start of the existing hole, once the drill gets going it will try to follow the line of the "pilot" and at 0.25 mm the bit really doesn't have any resistance to shearing off. I think that's where I went wrong with the first attempt. Someone far more mechanically minded will be able to advise on the best speed to use. Best of luck John
Thank you John I have to use a large magnifying glass on most things I do now. that and a headlamp for light where i need it, and away I go. John
So I made time for a spot of peening and as far as the flame quality goes it seems to have been at least partially successful. It's a lot bluer and didn't want to turn into a flame-thrower as soon as I looked at it. So I gave it a test using an unmarked copper kettle that I picked up at the weekend and I was soon supping a passable cup of assam. But when I looked with the microscope I could not see a discernible difference in the two bores. Perhaps the magic happened down at the other end. (the top one is the more recent picture). So I think I've proved to myself that peening should have been a viable option An offer was made to help me out with this and I shall be taking the offer up as I don't want to be unable to clean the jets when they clog in future I'm not going to take it any further. Regards John
Hi Ken, I made that statement 27 months ago Link since when the collection has grown (not too much though). Welcome to the John, John and John show BTW. Regards John
I am completely indebted to Presscall for the fantastic work he has done restoring this burner to (possibly better than) new. This stove is now probably the best performer that I have (so telling me I have more work to do ) Once again, very many thanks to Presscall and others like him who go out of their way to help others like me get the best from this addiction hobby. regards John
Meant to put the link in to presscall's repair of the lipstick but couldn't remember how to until I tried a few things just now. So john's excellent write up of how he repairs lipstick burners can be found here And once again thanks John because it seems you and Doug are on to something with using stainless steel inserts. Regards John
Good to see the Thermidor working well, John. Thanks for the write-up and photos. Hopefully No. 1 of many attributable to that repair technique, which I've just used successfully on an Optimus 111 jet . John
Wow, this thread went to the John in a hurry. Someone stop me before I pun again...... A very nice job as usual. I had my lipstick burner repaired several years ago and it works very well indeed.
Hi Doug, The recent shots were taken on a hand held I-phone 5c using the HDR feature and no flash. Lighting was from 3 old fashioned 60W incandescent bulbs in the roof of the shed. I must admit that I'm very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the pictures that I'm getting from it. My 4s wasn't a patch on it as a camera. Regards John
