A couple of months ago I bought an Optimus No. 199 from a Member here at CCS. When it arrived I was somewhat surprised when I took off the windshield, to discover this: Four pieces of the burner skirt were cut out. Further investigation revealed more carnage: Evidence of rough brazing. After cleaning up the burner. I contacted the seller to ask whether he knew what had happened to the burner. He said he did not know that the burner had beed damaged and contacted the relatives that used the stove. It appears that the stove had been "repaired" in some form many years ago. It had been used since being repaired, but it must have been a beast to use. It was operated with the windshield lifted by 4 bolts that sat in the cuts that were removed from the burner skirt. Being somewhat of a stubborn b@st@rd, and having paid the going rate for a 199*, I decided to see if I could get the burner operating. First I lit the stove to see what was going on: Note how the outer burner cap is not sitting on the burner properly. See the flame emerging under the burner cap. With the burner caps off it provided quite a light show: So I now set off on a long journey to see if I could get this thing to work. First the bite marks in the burner skirt: I cut some fillets out of a wrecked Svea burner to fill the holes in the 199 burner. I cleaned each of the bite marks and the fillets. I applied flux and clipped the fillet to the burner. I used a MAPP torch and a silver brazing rod to braze the fillets into the bite marks. After having cleaned up the big lumps of the ancient brazing on the rest of the burner with a Dremel fitted with a fine grinding wheel, I applied flux and the MAPP torch to the remaining brazing just enough to get it to flow somewhat. The idea here was to see if I could get it to flow into the holes identified above. The end result looked like this: After cleaning again Time to re-light the stove; take the caps off; and discover: This leak. Back to applying flux to the area of the leak, using the MAPP torch and adding some more braze. Then retrying the stove: I thought I may have got it fixed. But closer inspection revealed this: Now it was a bit of a fiddle to braze that leak (three separate attempts), but eventually I succeeded. Light the stove again: But, then... So, one more piece of brazing yesterday. I ran it for a full tank, and could find no more problems. The burner now has more silver than the Australian Reserve Bank. I'm cleaning the burner up again and will take the final photos for when I post this in the Reference Gallery. Cheers Tony *The seller did refund me some $$.
Terrific! Last one leak brazing is almost... hm-m... "medical case" Fillet part brazing and not unbrazing near by other! No words to say - "Mission impossible"!
WOW! What determination! Congratulations @Tony Press , many others (including myself I'm afraid) would not have achieved such a result! All the best, Wim
@Tony Press Admirable tenacity Tony! That sinking feeling of a repair not quite achieved is bleak indeed. Faced with a sieve, you did great. John
@Tony Press , Tony, I'm shocked that a member here would actually sell a stove in the condition that your 199 was received by you!!! Thankfully, you were fully up to the Herculean task of repairing the horrible damage, and returning this neat little stove to service once again!! WELL DONE, my Friend!!! A lesser man, me-self definitely included, would have returned the stove, or simply written it off as a bad deal. I am amazed by your skills, Tony, and also your dogged persistence!! Thanks for sharing this "Sow's Ear to Silk Purse" saga with us, and thanks, also, for the excellent photo documentation of the entire thing!!! Brilliant!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Thanks for the comments. I can assure you the burner will receive no marks for “neatness” - more along the lines of “the story gets there in the end, but your writing looks like flies have crawled across the ink”. @Doc Mark I can only assume the Member had not ever used this stove, nor taken it apart. Apparently it was the property of close relatives. Cheers Tony
Oh what a job Tony, better you than me. The end result seems to be worth the effort, looks and works well. Well done. Cheers Rob
I ran three tanks of fuel through the burner, and took it apart again for one last clean. I am now completely satisfied that the burner is operating properly without leaks. Before last cleaning of the burner. The cleaned burner. Re-assembled after the burner was dismantled and given a bath in Marine Clean; then citric acid; then acetone. Cheers Tony