S.T. Dupont Lighter Owners Club

[BT1974]

^^^ Also, any roman numerals stamped into the beauty plate (the plated piece with the lines on it) of the lid? I believe when you see that, it indicates some sort of factory service, or maybe only factory warranty work has been done, I think.

No roman numerals that I can see. There is also no dimple/swell mark for the spring box.

The shim, which I am still hoping will turn up, was a piece of metal about the thickness of the gas shutoff spring, but wider. It was about 1/4-3/8” long and had a 1mm hook at the end making it look like an abbreviated lower case r. I believe the wear mark you pointed out on the spring box is where this part of the shim held the spring box in. So at least I can make a new one if I need to. The broken gas shutoff spring is almost perfect.

i feel like it would be easier to do as Sigmund said and just replace it with a brass one, which was my plan before.

But I like oddball things. And if this is original I would prefer to work at making it work as is than just do the easy thing. As if anything is easy with these.

The filling valve is fixed. The exhaust valve has an expected leak, but I am also out of butane.

I have an extra gas shutoff spring for a table lighter which will work for testing until the replacement arrives. It’s funny how the table lighter parts are the exact same, but 110% of the size.

 

[EA-6B]

Btw. If you have one of these old ones with the screw mount spring you can take parts from a more modern version and retrofit everything from a newer l1. The only thing that wont fit is the slide lock lever and you can just use the old one.

Sure its not original but I think the updated design is better

That's interesting, I've never had to try swapping different-style castles around. There weren't clearance issues where the spring eyelet sits beneath the nozzle? I'll have to try that out the next time I have a chance, just to see what works. Wonder if it works both ways, but maybe problems if one has the valve part that hooks onto the flat spring & the other doesn't. Would be fun to experiment to see what works.

Slide lock lever = flint release button on the side? I have had to swap those around between the different styles in order to replace one that had been chewed up on the outside, & they can fit. How?

No roman numerals that I can see. There is also no dimple/swell mark for the spring box.

The numerals that I have seen were visible as soon as I opened the lid & looked at the inside, on the bottom right corner of the beauty plate. (other side of the plate in your pic), just for future reference. At least you can tell that the lid is original to the body since the stamped numbers on the lid & body match.

No stake mark hmm....I'd need to go back & find one to see if I can look at some of mine to see what's there. The L1 version you have with the screwed-in flat spring is a little less common, I'd say maybe only 10% or 15% of the ones that I've seen have the screwed-in spring. so I would have to see if any of mine with the metal spring box have that stake mark or not. I seem to remember them always being there, but maybe they aren't on that style, even with metal spring boxes. It's small enough in general & it's a less common style of lighter to where maybe I didn't notice when I was working on one. I can tell you I've never seen the delrin spring box, I would most likely have noticed one of those right away. You're kind of deep in the woods on that thing. Delrin spring box is weird, & the broken spring is also weird. I wouldn't want to deal with the spring box. I don't mess with those things other than clean/dry/oil/grease, & set in place so they don't move. Been there, done that on one that let go on me unexpectedly & flew everywhere, not fun. It took me a couple hours to find that damn ball bearing, & then I shot it across the room again when re-setting it, lol.

 

[BT1974]

Everything else still looks legit, except I can't speak for the delrin spring box.

If it's factory I've never seen one, & I've probably been inside around 150 L1s by now.

The delrin part looks like it could be factory, but if there are shims floating around & if the spring-box isn't set into place & not moving, then that doesn't really sound like factory. Maybe 3rd party parts & repair, or something.

Perhaps someone 3d printed it, or maybe even machined it out of delrin. I checked around on the aftermarket & didn't see one, but maybe they're out there & I haven't seen one yet.

Do you have a pic of the shim or whatever was floating around in there?

I can't tell from your pics, is there a stake mark on your lighter to hold in a spring box?
View attachment 407074

That's interesting, I've never had to try swapping different-style castles around. There weren't clearance issues where the spring eyelet sits beneath the nozzle? I'll have to try that out the next time I have a chance, just to see what works. Wonder if it works both ways, but maybe problems if one has the valve part that hooks onto the flat spring & the other doesn't. Would be fun to experiment to see what works.

Slide lock lever = flint release button on the side? I have had to swap those around between the different styles in order to replace one that had been chewed up on the outside, & they can fit. How?


The numerals that I have seen were visible as soon as I opened the lid & looked at the inside, on the bottom right corner of the beauty plate. (other side of the plate in your pic), just for future reference. At least you can tell that the lid is original to the body since the stamped numbers on the lid & body match.

No stake mark hmm....I'd need to go back & find one to see if I can look at some of mine to see what's there. The L1 version you have with the screwed-in flat spring is a little less common, I'd say maybe only 10% or 15% of the ones that I've seen have the screwed-in spring. so I would have to see if any of mine with the metal spring box have that stake mark or not. I seem to remember them always being there, but maybe they aren't on that style, even with metal spring boxes. It's small enough in general & it's a less common style of lighter to where maybe I didn't notice when I was working on one. I can tell you I've never seen the delrin spring box, I would most likely have noticed one of those right away. You're kind of deep in the woods on that thing. Delrin spring box is weird, & the broken spring is also weird. I wouldn't want to deal with the spring box. I don't mess with those things other than clean/dry/oil/grease, & set in place so they don't move. Been there, done that on one that let go on me unexpectedly & flew everywhere, not fun. It took me a couple hours to find that damn ball bearing, & then I shot it across the room again when re-setting it, lol.

I haphazardly picked up the spring box to play with it. I knew better. Spring and ball fell out and I heard “tick…tick…tick” as it bounced on the floor. Looked down and saw the spring right away. Had to eventually sweep the floor to find the ball.

Went to where I was working to put it back together and the spring shot out, hit me in the end of the nose, and rolled across the floor of THAT room And the search was on again.

I have had springs that screw into the lid, springs that screw into the body, springs which just lay flat….. Seems like the same is true with exhaust mechanisms and lid shut offs. And those are all Ligne 1s!

 

[EA-6B]

Sometimes I'll temporarily put a box on its side & work in that, or just a clear plastic bag. I had one with some damage on the outside of the shut line along the back edge of the body below the lid, right where that cam lays down on the edge of the body if you take the lid off. Normally with no damage on the body where the cam ends up, the cam rests against it & stops in time to keep the bearing captured. Well this one kept going due to the damage, & out shot the ball bearing! That one was fun to get back together because I had to keep the cam closed to keep the bearing in place, while getting the lid back on. Also in general I avoid taking the lids off unless necessary. (Looking at the bottom of your slide & it looks like your lid has to come off in order to get the castle off.)

Adding in that I'm remembering more about working on that lighter where the cam opened too far due to the damage on the body, I guess I had to hold that cam closed far enough to retain the ball bearing while re-attaching the castle, then continued to keep the cam closed while getting the lid on. I'm pretty sure I had to take the lid off on that one to get the castle off, so it was a whole chain of events just to get it back together, in order to keep the ball in place.

I'll take a look at some of my stuff to see if I have any like yours with the spring screwed to the bottom of the castle, but with a metal spring box & no stake mark. I'm curious to see if they stopped doing the stake on that style, but with the metal box. If so how is it staying in place? I doubt I'll find a delrin spring box in any, but I'll keep an eye out for that too. Not sure when I can check anything, but I might have a couple that I might be able to check more quickly than others. I've never come up with a 100% sure-fire way of telling if it will have a screwed-in spring or the longer version, just by looking at the exteriors.

 

[EA-6B]

Recently sent out a silver-plated Line 2 shorty Gatsby with Pipe-Flame nozzle (Serial # : 1J7DF22 ) :


Enjoy!

 

[dorfinator]

I've been a lurker on this thread for some time and thought I'd post some of my experiences with my ST Dupont Legrand my wife purchased for me while visiting Boswell Pipes a while back. I had purchased the "expensive" red ST Dupont butane and have tried a couple of the brass adapters with out much success. So I tried something different I haven't seen mentioned. I removed the plastic nozzle from the ST DuPont butane canister and noticed the nozzle on the canister was shorter than the nozzle on my "regular" butane canister. I trimmed the nozzle on my less expensive butane canister down to the shoulder as indicated by attached photo. I was able to push the plastic DuPont on to it. It fits perfectly into the recess area just like on the DuPont canister. So far the refill process has worked perfectly.

 

[Sigmund]

good thats working

Maybe you have the wrong brass adapters. You need the one that has an o-ring on the shoulder. I use them all the time. The only important note is you need to have the lighter upside down on a flat and solid surface. Then you keep the can at 90 degrees and fill. If you try to freehand it fluid will go everywhere. If you dont have a ring on your adapter you have the wrong one.

 

[dorfinator]

good thats working

Maybe you have the wrong brass adapters. You need the one that has an o-ring on the shoulder. I use them all the time. The only important note is you need to have the lighter upside down on a flat and solid surface. Then you keep the can at 90 degrees and fill. If you try to freehand it fluid will go everywhere. If you dont have a ring on your adapter you have the wrong one.

I have tried a couple different adapters that have the o-ring but have not had great luck at filling with them. If this solution quits working I will look at purchasing a different brass adapter than what I have now.

 

[EA-6B]

In my experience, the non-threaded brass 'L1 Tall/Dupont Red' adapters don't work well. Sometimes you can stack a second matching o-ring on it, & that might help. I don't recommend them though. I have one & never use it, because it's pretty bad. You should have better luck with the red plastic adapter from a can of Newport if your solution wears out or if you toss it by mistake, etc.

 

[daveinlax]

It was Christmas in August last week. Two angled flame Dupont L1 pipe lighters arrived. The large striped lighter was beautifully refurbished and sold to me by member @Sigmund. The table lighter is weighs in at 12 ounces!

 

[EA-6B]

L1 Tables are a little different underneath, & have a blind hinge-pin.
Here's one that I had, a while ago:

Enjoy!

 

[EA-6B]

From the bench:

Put a fresh lower adjuster seal into the L2 Twin-Flame, also cleaned, polished & lubricated the associated parts.

Checking for any issues before giving it a final cleaning & polishing, & then sending it to a new owner soon:

Thank you, enjoy!

Then I'll be out of L2s, so I plan to have some extra nozzles & stuff available soon, probably as a single lot.

 

[EA-6B]

L2 update from the bench:
I needed to move the adjuster-stop two teeth in order to get less gas flow at the lowest setting...

...& it's been happy ever since.




I have it to observe for a couple more days before it's getting shipped out, but I'm pretty happy with how it's running. Plus it still has that great ping!


Another thing I was thinking about was I saw the topic of Line1 & older Dupont lid angle pop up again on the reddit forum recently, & that is an interesting topic of discussion, here is what I know.

I can only speak on Line1 "BS" models, but the cause is wear on the lid-stop pad located on the bottom of the 'castle'. On the BS models, I've seen three specific factory variants for the lid stop pad. The original design (I'm guessing) is the flat brass area on the underside of the castle for the lid-stop to hit. That's what causes the wear over time. Version 2 (probably) has a thin flat steel plate pinned into the brass area. Version3 (I'm guessing) has a wide steel cylinder pressed into the brass area. From what I've seen, the plain brass versions wear the fastest, where the lid will start walking up as it wears, until it finally frees itself past the 'castle'.

The thin steel plate versions tend to wear the same way, but take longer for the steel to wear out. The steel cylinder post versions are probably the most durable factory solution. Also, I've noticed that the lighters with the wide steel post for a stop pad tend to have lids that open slightly farther than the others, it's just how they are. It's like a degree difference.

If I see a brass lid stop pad area with no wear, I leave it (!). It will still take years for that to wear through to where the lid even starts to change position, & btw I have a custom fix for that! So if I see the brass area with wear then I do my custom fix, which I have yet to see fail. If I see the thin steel pinned plate, I'll leave it if it looks new or with minimal wear, but if it looks bad then I'll remove it & do my fix as before. I have seen those thin steel plates wear badly enough to need my fix. If I see the wide steel cylinder post, I think I've always been able to leave those even though they usually open slightly wider to begin with, as mentioned. I don't think I've seen one with the wide cylinder for the lid-stop have bad wear. I think my current daily has it (the wide steel cylinder stop-pad), so guess I'm testing it now.

My Line1 template:


I'll use this to fine-tune my custom lid stop pads after install when needed. I traced this off of one of my 'zero-wear' Line 1s with the original brass pad.

I don't know how many of these I've checked, but I check every one of them that I refresh, & have installed a bunch of lid stop pads whenever needed.

Before I started sending them out to other people, I ran them on my daily for probably around a year & checking it a few times before calling it a good fix. Since then I've installed it on a few more units that I dailied for at least some period of time. I use mine all the time. If one of my customers comes back with one of my pads having worn out or let go after 5 or 7 or 10+ years, I would probably clean it out & install the same thing again & say you're good for another 5 or 7 or 10+ years.

The last group of L1s that I refreshed had all three pad variants across them, but none of them needed my custom pads.

 

[BT1974]

I've been a lurker on this thread for some time and thought I'd post some of my experiences with my ST Dupont Legrand my wife purchased for me while visiting Boswell Pipes a while back. I had purchased the "expensive" red ST Dupont butane and have tried a couple of the brass adapters with out much success. So I tried something different I haven't seen mentioned. I removed the plastic nozzle from the ST DuPont butane canister and noticed the nozzle on the canister was shorter than the nozzle on my "regular" butane canister. I trimmed the nozzle on my less expensive butane canister down to the shoulder as indicated by attached photo. I was able to push the plastic DuPont on to it. It fits perfectly into the recess area just like on the DuPont canister. So far the refill process has worked perfectly.

I did the same thing. On one of them I had to trim the "flange" pieces to fit.

 

[EA-6B]

What did you end up doing with your springbox issues? @BT1974

 

[BT1974]

What did you end up doing with your springbox issues? @BT1974

I was trying to source the screw in shut off spring and kind of went around and around with a seller and got really frustrated, so I took a break. I overloaded myself and it stopped being fun. I bought an L2 and cannot get the gas adjustment valve out. I think it was dropped (it is in HORRIBLE condition, but I wanted to play around with an L2.) and the hole closed up ever so slightly. I have 3 working and 4 which still need overhaul. And speaking of that, one is an L1 Table lighter and here is my dilemma. It is the hobnail pattern, but it is missing the center piece on the body at the lid hinge. Any ideas on getting that replaced? Or should I soldier on without it? I also have another L1 Table body. The lid from the other one doesn't fit, but it looks like they could be mated together. The hobnail pattern seems to match up. The other body is in much better shape, but I will probably end up having it re-plated anyway.

I really do want to get that L1 Tall with the delrin spring box up and running because it is in beautiful shape. And the Table lighter will be a keeper for me. Not that I do anything but give them to friends anyway...

 

[Mury]

are the St Dupont lighters superior to the Dunhill Rolagas?

 

[EA-6B]

are the St Dupont lighters superior to the Dunhill Rolagas?

Line1's allow for easy on-the-fly one-handed flame adjustment, that's one reason I like them the best.

I was trying to source the screw in shut off spring and kind of went around and around with a seller and got really frustrated, so I took a break. I overloaded myself and it stopped being fun. I bought an L2 and cannot get the gas adjustment valve out. I think it was dropped (it is in HORRIBLE condition, but I wanted to play around with an L2.) and the hole closed up ever so slightly. I have 3 working and 4 which still need overhaul. And speaking of that, one is an L1 Table lighter and here is my dilemma. It is the hobnail pattern, but it is missing the center piece on the body at the lid hinge. Any ideas on getting that replaced? Or should I soldier on without it? I also have another L1 Table body. The lid from the other one doesn't fit, but it looks like they could be mated together. The hobnail pattern seems to match up. The other body is in much better shape, but I will probably end up having it re-plated anyway.

I really do want to get that L1 Tall with the delrin spring box up and running because it is in beautiful shape. And the Table lighter will be a keeper for me. Not that I do anything but give them to friends anyway...View attachment 426928View attachment 426927

If the hole for the L2 flame adjuster had been pinched down from a bad corner shot to where it interferes with the adjuster action or removal of the valve body, you can open it up. Roll 150g sandpaper into a tight solid tube to the diameter that you need & sink it into the opening & start spinning. If you go in the opposite direction that you wrapped the tube in, it will open up a little & grab the walls better as it sands. Once it's clear enough, you can polish it the same way with finer paper. I had that happen once, & that's how I solved it.

The L1 table with the missing area of the lid, if it's cosmetic I guess you could use it. If it's missing anything that needs to be there then I guess you wouldn't be able to use it. Swapping lids isn't really what you want to do in general, but if you have to do it to make it work, I guess you could. Do you have pics of the inside of the lids side-by-side? It's tough to tell what's there & what's missing.
Re-plating? I've looked into it before, I came to the conclusion that it's not worth it to have a pro try, & not safe to try it at home. Very expensive either way. For the same money, you'll buy more better examples of Dupont lighters that are good to go, than you'd end up with by buying poor examples & replating them.

The L1 that needs the screw-in spring, you should be able to find one of those springs, although they are a little more scarce than the other style. Someone on ebay (not me) just posted a bunch of individual authentic L1 parts the other day, maybe they have one.
Getting the spring box to stay in place without moving is the real trick. I actually "pre-emptive strike" that issue on every one that I refresh now with a little custom upgrade that I came up with a few years ago. Although I'm not sure if it would work on the delrin box, I've only ever seen the metal boxes.

 

[Mury]

Line1's allow for easy on-the-fly one-handed flame adjustment, that's one reason I like them the best.


If the hole for the L2 flame adjuster had been pinched down from a bad corner shot to where it interferes with the adjuster action or removal of the valve body, you can open it up. Roll 150g sandpaper into a tight solid tube to the diameter that you need & sink it into the opening & start spinning. If you go in the opposite direction that you wrapped the tube in, it will open up a little & grab the walls better as it sands. Once it's clear enough, you can polish it the same way with finer paper. I had that happen once, & that's how I solved it.

The L1 table with the missing area of the lid, if it's cosmetic I guess you could use it. If it's missing anything that needs to be there then I guess you wouldn't be able to use it. Swapping lids isn't really what you want to do in general, but if you have to do it to make it work, I guess you could. Do you have pics of the inside of the lids side-by-side? It's tough to tell what's there & what's missing.
Re-plating? I've looked into it before, I came to the conclusion that it's not worth it to have a pro try, & not safe to try it at home. Very expensive either way. For the same money, you'll buy more better examples of Dupont lighters that are good to go, than you'd end up with by buying poor examples & replating them.

The L1 that needs the screw-in spring, you should be able to find one of those springs, although they are a little more scarce than the other style. Someone on ebay (not me) just posted a bunch of individual authentic L1 parts the other day, maybe they have one.
Getting the spring box to stay in place without moving is the real trick. I actually "pre-emptive strike" that issue on every one that I refresh now with a little custom upgrade that I came up with a few years ago. Although I'm not sure if it would work on the delrin box, I've only ever seen the metal boxes.

Sounds tempting to get one

 

[BT1974]

Line1's allow for easy on-the-fly one-handed flame adjustment, that's one reason I like them the best.


If the hole for the L2 flame adjuster had been pinched down from a bad corner shot to where it interferes with the adjuster action or removal of the valve body, you can open it up. Roll 150g sandpaper into a tight solid tube to the diameter that you need & sink it into the opening & start spinning. If you go in the opposite direction that you wrapped the tube in, it will open up a little & grab the walls better as it sands. Once it's clear enough, you can polish it the same way with finer paper. I had that happen once, & that's how I solved it.

The L1 table with the missing area of the lid, if it's cosmetic I guess you could use it. If it's missing anything that needs to be there then I guess you wouldn't be able to use it. Swapping lids isn't really what you want to do in general, but if you have to do it to make it work, I guess you could. Do you have pics of the inside of the lids side-by-side? It's tough to tell what's there & what's missing.
Re-plating? I've looked into it before, I came to the conclusion that it's not worth it to have a pro try, & not safe to try it at home. Very expensive either way. For the same money, you'll buy more better examples of Dupont lighters that are good to go, than you'd end up with by buying poor examples & replating them.

The L1 that needs the screw-in spring, you should be able to find one of those springs, although they are a little more scarce than the other style. Someone on ebay (not me) just posted a bunch of individual authentic L1 parts the other day, maybe they have one.
Getting the spring box to stay in place without moving is the real trick. I actually "pre-emptive strike" that issue on every one that I refresh now with a little custom upgrade that I came up with a few years ago. Although I'm not sure if it would work on the delrin box, I've only ever seen the metal boxes.

That's a great idea for reshaping that hole on the L2! Thank you so much!
I have an uncle who is a silversmith which is the ONLY reason I bought that particular table lighter. I didn't pay much for it anyway, and I think it will be absolutely gorgeous replated. Might even look as nice as yours! My uncle also has a sapphire mine, so that's been spinning around in my head for a while. Interesting that yours has the hidden hinge pin. Mine has a screw in pin.

I noticed that the place where I got my pipe and dual flame nozzles seems to have shut down. That's too bad because they seemed to be a good source of parts.

Oh hell! Now you have me excited about working on these again!