Beiträge von Brie

  • Methanol / Spiritus lamp

    I heard that burning methanol / spiritus would have the risk of getting a rusty tank -- or getting trouble with the vaporizer valve (i.e. the spring would rust).


    Would you need to modify the tank, i.e. cover the inside of the tank with a plastic coating?


    If the vaporizer valve is a problem, would it be easy to replace the spring with something that doesn´t rust?

  • Happy birthday Brie!!!

    Thank you, thank you, I'm very honored :)


    I've moved country -- living in the UK (England, really) now, haven't unpacked everything yet but I think I broke the glass of my lantern. *sniff*


    Been a bit busy with moving, and I'm largely off-line still, but I'll come say hi when we're better set up.


    Greetings,


    Arno

  • Trying to light HK500B, incomplete?

    It keeps pressure overnight, gasoline might be something to try. I don't have a backyard, just a balcony.


    Is lighting the lamp with gasoline any different from lighting it with petroleum? I would imagine the preheating time is greatly reduced?


    Arno

  • Trying to light HK500B, incomplete?

    The black spots showed up while lighting the lamp. The mantle was new. I've managed to remove them by burning the mantle in a gasflame -- now the mantle is "white" again. I may have also tried to turn off the lamp with the knob instead of with pressure, I can imagine that would cause the tube to cool down, when relighting it a little after some petroleum may have come out.


    Does the lamp burn as bright with a "wendelvergaser" / curvy tube vaporizer as it does with the version without?


    When preheating, would I see the mantle glow up and then turn the knob?


    Arno

  • Trying to light HK500B, incomplete?

    I swapped the old "innenmantel" / "inner hood" for the version that matches with this lamp.
    The pictures should show how it looks like now.


    Now, it's getting better, it will light, but the brightness is not what I remember it would be.
    I'd guess it's about as bright as a 40Watt lightbulb. It burns irregular, there's a halo around the mantle.


    What could I do to improve that?


    - I get black spots on the mantle, see pictures


    - I've preheated for about 2 minutes with the rapid preheater


    - I've adjusted the gap between the mixing chamber and the vaporizer top to 14mm according to the measuring tool.


    - The vaporizer is a gasoline vaporizer, does not have the curvy tube.
    I didn't use gasoline / Benzin yet, which I might in due time


    - As fuel I'm using "Wunderblitz LampenOel" which says "liquid parafin/petroleum" on the bottle -- is this the right fuel?


    How to proceed?


    Arno / Brie

  • Alternative fuels

    Rumor has it that a Volkswagen Diesel (TDI?) engine will run just lovely on sunflower oil -- but of course a lamp is not a TDI engine.
    http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_TDI.html
    One of the modifications that is advised is to add a heating coil to the tank to preheat the fuel / sunflower oil so it is more viscose.


    I can imagine that the Rapid Preheater would not work very well, the oil might need to be hotter.


    I'm not a chemistry student -- so I'm fairly ignorant of what would happen. I know that vegetable oil needs a much higher temperature to burn, it would also be to thick if it is to cold to properly "flow".


    What happens in the vaporizer that would make it clog up?
    If the vaporizer is hot enough to completely gassify the oil, what would be the residue?
    If it needs *more* heat, would it help to modify the upper part of the vaporizer with e.g. another coil, or stuff the existing coil with steelwool so it would have more heating capacity?


    Arno

  • Alternative fuels

    I was wondering if it would be possible to use alternative fuels in a Petromax lamp -- i.e. would any of these work?


    - spiritus (yes, needs adapter)
    - diesel (yes but causes a lot of soot -- can that be solved?)
    - biodiesel


    Or, thinking wilder (these work in a wick lamp, and burn very well in an overheated oil pan):
    - salad oil
    - sunflower oil
    - olive oil


    Would these work, given enough preheating?
    Would they need any changes to the lamp?
    Would it be necessary to make a mixture of say part spiritus, part sunflower oil?


    Brie

  • Trying to light HK500B, incomplete?

    It should be nickle plated brass. As far as I understood the HK500 "domestic version" was made in two versions -- chrome plated steel, or nickle plated brass.


    The bottom of the tank is not plated, so it has about the same color as the vaporizer tube has, looking like brass to me. It's not steel or stainless steel. I'll try to take some pictures later.


    The pictures may make it look a bit more yellow then it really is -- I took those pictures without flash and with normal lightbulbs on so the ambient light might have a yellowish hue.


    The knobs are a darkish brown, almost black, looking a bit like bakelit to me -- but I cannot tell if it's that or plastic. The ones I've seen normally have blue colored knobs like the color on the bottom of the rapid preheater "Kipphebel".


    Arno

  • Trying to light HK500B, incomplete?

    Still have problems with the needle -- it doesn't fit on top of the rod. Looks like it is not the same screw thread, I might need to replace the top rod to get a fitting part.


    I've preheated a little longer, about 2 minutes -- since it does not have the curve on top I figured it might need more time. I increased the distance between nozzle and mixing chamber as far as I could, which helps. I'm still not yet getting the bright white light that I expected tho -- that will come with time when I find the missing part.


    It's a hobby thing -- if I wanted a perfect lamp I would have bought a brand new one in one piece. This way I get to learn how it works and I can actually take care of the thing if it would break down one time when I'm in the middle of the jungle on expedition.

  • Trying to light HK500B, incomplete?

    The innenmantel is a "clone" -- it's not a Petromax part. But since I got the whole package (innenmantel, mischrohr, mundstuck, tonbrenner) and this whole thing would in fact fit, it didn't seem like a very bad idea.


    The trouble is, the distance between the nozzle (50) and mischrohr is too tight. It was originally only about 4mm -- so I'm getting flames out the top. With a lot of McGyvering (some of the screw thread is gone so the "beautiful piece" is not adjustable very well) I've managed to get the gap larger, about 9mm -- and it works better, but not good.


    It should be about 14mm as I found out in the chat, courtesy of Joern.


    I should be on the lookout for a fitting original part...


    Brie

  • Trying to light HK500B, incomplete?

    Let there be light! (well, nearly)


    Cleaned the rapid-preheater with aceton (nail polish remover really, it was what I had in the house, courtesy of the mrs.).


    Build up pressure, about 2,5 atm. Now being a little more careful, it would not light. Dropped pressure to 2,0 -- would light sometimes. Dropped pressure to 1,5 atm -- IGNITION!


    Kept pumping a bit to keep pressure around 1,5 atm, slowly increasing to 2.0, counting down about 60 seconds. Turned the knob... light? But flames coming out of the top.


    Need to practice a little more I guess :-)


    Brie

  • Trying to light HK500B, incomplete?

    Re -- German vs. English terms


    I have the "official" manuals somewhere in two languages, I'll do my best and make a list of part names in German and English. If I say "flamethrower" people understand what I mean, but the proper term would be "rapid preheater".


    I've been confusing some terms already -- English is not my first language either, that would be Dutch -- "gasmantle" in English is "Gluehstrumpfe" in German, and not Mantel. When in doubt, it might be better to talk by numbers and just refer to the numbers given on the schematic.


    Arno