After removing the top rod (shade holder post & nut) and globe holder clamps, we'll start by unscrewing the burner & valve assembly from the feed tube.
Now the handle lock nut unscrews.
The handle just lifts off.
At this point I want to point out that I don't believe that the feed tube is removable from the fount. While I'm not sure how it is joined to the fount, it certainly doesn't appear to be threaded in. Given this, plus the fact that the parts list for this lamp does not list it as a separate part #, I believe that it was supplied as part of the "Fount, Complete 129-165". The small amount of crud that was present washed right out with a little water, so it was a non-issue anyway.
Now, to the burner & valve. I am removing the generator here:
Removing the Air Tube-to-Valve screw.
Ahhh...here, at the base of the air tube and the valve boss, I find a nice surprise - a mud dauber nest (see the shiny spot in the center nest opening? It's the head of an almost fully-developed wasp).
url=https://postimages.org/]
[/url]Since I have a phobic fear of bees, hornets & wasps, this sent me running for the Raid Wasp & Hornet Killer, just in case! After I nailed it, I used a rifle brush under water t0 finish off that nest.
I have to say, I don't know what these little beasterds use to attach the mud of the nest to the metal of the tube, but it's harder than concrete! It took me three hours of scrubbing, scraping & soaking to get every last remnant of the nest from inside the air tube. What a PITA!
Now we unscrew the burner from the valve.
Remove the air tube-to-mixing chamber screw.
Unscrewing the burner tubes
and now the air tube
Here we're getting ready for our citric acid soak (lemon juice).
I separate into 3 different batches. 1 for nickel-plated brass, 1 for plain brass, and 1 for steel.
Here are some of the parts after the bath and rinse. After they dry, I'll just give them a very light polishing with 0000 steel wool, to bring out the shine.
Now that everything's been polished, I've re-assembled the burner & valve in reverse order of disassembly.
OK, on to the fount. Anyone who's read Frank Bebb's tutorials on FFR'ing, know that he always used a rubbing compound and Simple Green mixture to polish his founts. Well, I always use a rubbing compound and Formula 409 mixture for mine. First, I am not a "greenie", second, that's the cleaner we've always used around the house, so when I first got into this, I decided to give it a try. Works great!
Here's the fount after getting the dirt and crud off with just 409:
Now we mix a little 409 into the rubbing compound.
The fount after polishing with the mixture:
The inside of the fount just needed a little cleaning up. I used BB's and lemon juice just to clean up what little rust was inside. Then I rinsed it out, dried it, and washed it out with alcohol to be sure all traces of water were gone. Good as new!
Now we re-assemble the fount assembly, handle slides on, then the lock nut screws down:
'Twas a little tedious getting the pipe joint compound onto the threads of the feed tube, while inside the lock nut, but a little patience and a toothpick accomplished the task!
We now screw down the burner & valve assembly onto the feed tube and tighten it securely (good & tight).
Time to assemble the very top of the lamp. Looking at the globe holder clamps, you'll see that one is flat, and the other has a formed ridge near the center hole.
Begin by placing the flat clamp on top of the mixing chamber, parallel to it.
Now place the formed clamp on top, perpendicular to the first one
Screw in the Shade Holder Post & Nut and tighten.
That completes the re-assembly, with the exception of the filler cap. I saved that for last. Here it is all together:
and disassembled into its component parts:
Even though what was left of the gasket had rotted away, I used Frank's torch method to incinerate the sticky goo that remained. It then removed easily!
Cleaned up and ready for the new gasket:
Voila! That completes the mechanical assembly of the 129 lamp!
Now, to tie-on and burn off the new mantles.
We are ready for the test. After filling and lighting the preheater cup and letting it burn down we open the valve and -
Success! (somewhat)...Let me explain. The 129 lamp originally used the T44K generator (with a "V" tip). That is what came with this lamp. It was in good shape and cleaned up beautifully. However, as some folks here have mentioned before, the V tip does not run well with today's kerosenes. I am here to tell you that this sentiment is 100% accurate. Even though it really isn't apparent from the above photo (because of the camera's automatic white-balance circuitry, I'm sure), the mantles burned quite yellow, with a definite odor of kero, and there were flames burning external to the mantles.
So, I built the proper 220 kero generator using a 220 gen body, with the innards & "6" gas tip from a 200 generator. And...
Burns beautifully, bright white, no odor!
All I need now is a 355 globe to finish it off, but here's a preview of what it'll basically look like:
And now that I have a globe (albeit a Northstar, for now), here she is burning brightly:
Well, my fellow Colemanites. I can only hope that my effort here will be a worthy addition to our Coleman library.
BobA
