S.T. Dupont Lighter Owners Club
- Thread starter EA-6B
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Like a bad tattoo. The menu at a Chinese restaurant.I like! Can anybody here read hieroglyphics? I wonder what it says!
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At it again, & this one needs some extra love:
Rusty flint-grinder was stuck to the top of the scroll (not common), flint was dissolved & packed in there, but I was able to free everything. Grinder will get replaced along with the seals & whatever else it needs. Maybe a new delrin bushing for the top of the scroll, since it's still stuck on there & might not come off without damage. Too early to tell.
This one needs the lid to be removed in order to disassemble the rest of the lighter. Some L1s are like this, some are not.
It's important not to drive the splined end of the hinge pin through the lighter. I take a pic so I don't forget which way it goes back in:
Bathtime next...
Rusty flint-grinder was stuck to the top of the scroll (not common), flint was dissolved & packed in there, but I was able to free everything. Grinder will get replaced along with the seals & whatever else it needs. Maybe a new delrin bushing for the top of the scroll, since it's still stuck on there & might not come off without damage. Too early to tell.
This one needs the lid to be removed in order to disassemble the rest of the lighter. Some L1s are like this, some are not.
It's important not to drive the splined end of the hinge pin through the lighter. I take a pic so I don't forget which way it goes back in:
Bathtime next...
Hey Ea, have you ever come across a stuck screw? Specifically the one under the flint holder that holds the top to the body? What methods have you found successful for removing g it without stripping?
Those can get chewed up pretty easily. How far-gone is it?
There's an old farm trick where when you find something too tight, just tighten it some more!! That'll show it!!! Then you loosen it! You actually still might get away with that, if you have the proper-sized driver bit with no twist or chips in it. Otherwise you'll probably just chew up the other side & have to drill out the head anyway. But starting out you want the proper-sized bit & hopefully an undamaged screw. Also make sure the slot of the screw is fully cleaned out. And apply good downward force any time you put torque on that one. I'll try to loosen it with normal force. If no, then I'll tighten it with around the same force, then try to loosen it. I don't care if it moves when I put the tightening force on it, & I'm not trying to move it. If all of that doesn't work, then maybe a drop of PB Blaster on the head, stand it up on a heating pad overnight, & repeat.
If you end up stripping out the slot badly enough, then I guess you'll have to drill off the head & source a replacement screw. I've never had it get that bad to be honest.
If you end up stripping out the slot badly enough, then I guess you'll have to drill off the head & source a replacement screw. I've never had it get that bad to be honest.
I had one where I could not get the screw out. I had to destroy the screw.
Its a tough screw to find also...not that I have access to the best assortment. Glasses screws were too little, others too big or the wrong thread count.
Just a secret. I had extra old nozzles and they are threaded the same. You can make one into a replacement screw in a pinch. Use a cut off wheel on a dremmel and cut the flame section off. Then while holding with some small pliers cut a slot in the top for a screwdriver. Not a cheap way to fix it compared to a screw but it works perfectly if you cant find one. You dont need to crank down on them when replacing. That screw just secures the top. There is really no force working against it. You just want it tight enough to where it stays put.
Its a tough screw to find also...not that I have access to the best assortment. Glasses screws were too little, others too big or the wrong thread count.
Just a secret. I had extra old nozzles and they are threaded the same. You can make one into a replacement screw in a pinch. Use a cut off wheel on a dremmel and cut the flame section off. Then while holding with some small pliers cut a slot in the top for a screwdriver. Not a cheap way to fix it compared to a screw but it works perfectly if you cant find one. You dont need to crank down on them when replacing. That screw just secures the top. There is really no force working against it. You just want it tight enough to where it stays put.
Some progress:
Needed to replace the spring & the flint-follower (the small brass part at the end of the spring). Had a like-new spring & follower, & a new grinder, all factory parts. Kind of a pain to swap springs because they're staked into place with that little dimple near the end of the tube.
Needed to replace the spring & the flint-follower (the small brass part at the end of the spring). Had a like-new spring & follower, & a new grinder, all factory parts. Kind of a pain to swap springs because they're staked into place with that little dimple near the end of the tube.
Smart! You can’t find those screws anywhere. Tried all kinds. If anyone has a lead on some that can be used, please post where to get them!
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Wherever I can, there's no honey-hole. The spring with the follower came out of a bag of used original parts that I spotted online. Another time I was lucky to find a bag of new factory grinders, so I bought it. Someone else was selling a bag of around a dozen used L1 D-ring gold-plated fill caps for a good price which I needed, so I bought those, & they're all back out there now. Still need a half-dozen more of those. Something like the new delrin bushing is aftermarket. It's been a while since I've shopped for any parts, but if there was something that I needed & I saw it for a reasonable price, I'd buy it.
Here's another one in progress, cleaned & beginning to re-assemble:
It had some rust in a part of the gas valve above the 'wick', & the wick was clogged with rust within the brass ferrule. This is salvagable:
This is not savable:
That sits right on top of the ferrule, & gas flows through it & out of a hole on the other side. There's a steel cone pressed in there, & gas gets through somehow. I'm not exactly sure how to be honest. It's all rusty & clogged. This is not common. I have one spare on the shelf, going in.
The hinge pin for the one I posted the other day has been taken from me by the wind, so I have to source a replacement. Going to be searching for 'stainless splined link pins', or something like that.
It had some rust in a part of the gas valve above the 'wick', & the wick was clogged with rust within the brass ferrule. This is salvagable:
This is not savable:
That sits right on top of the ferrule, & gas flows through it & out of a hole on the other side. There's a steel cone pressed in there, & gas gets through somehow. I'm not exactly sure how to be honest. It's all rusty & clogged. This is not common. I have one spare on the shelf, going in.
The hinge pin for the one I posted the other day has been taken from me by the wind, so I have to source a replacement. Going to be searching for 'stainless splined link pins', or something like that.
Found the missing hinge-pin:
It turned up out of nowhere in my cleaning basket when I was cleaning parts for another unit. I think it may have crept up into my soft-bristle cleaning brush, even though I checked for that at least two or six times!
Starting to work on this one now:
It turned up out of nowhere in my cleaning basket when I was cleaning parts for another unit. I think it may have crept up into my soft-bristle cleaning brush, even though I checked for that at least two or six times!
Starting to work on this one now:
