Renew that old Zippo

Commander Wallace · 02-03-22, 10:51 AM

This is a cool video of a restoration of a Vietnam era zippo lighter owned by someone within the Army Airborne unit.

Jeff-Groves · 02-03-22, 11:36 AM

If you send Zippo your lighter they replace the inside part.
I've sent several back for repair over the years.
Still have the Zippo I Jumped into Egypt with back in the 80's!
That was sent to Zippo 3 times since.

ET2SN · 02-03-22, 12:33 PM

Zippo never thought about Iowa.

I tried adjusting the wick high and low, no joy.

It just works better out here with a gas/pressure type lighter.
What we consider a breezy day, the rest of you would consider it as storm damage.

And that's the pisser, Old Faithful stuck with me for my five year sea tour. It saw the Philippines in summer and South Korea in the winter with no problems. Then, I moved out to the prairie..

Anyway, the new rig should be here next week. I'll let you all know how it works out.

ET2SN · 02-08-22, 05:55 PM

So, the new butane conversion unit showed up in today's mail.

Some quick tips. If you want to shove one of these into your "old faithful" case, make sure to clean out the insides of the case. Mostly you want to get rid of the old flint dust, mung, and random crud.

The first fill of butane wasn't dramatic, just do a quick purge of the tank, chuck it in the freezer for an hour or so, and page up a couple of posts on how to fill these things. After that, I let it warm back up and slipped it into my old case. I wound up making a slight adjustment to the flame height and that was about it.

One quick note- on that first fill expect to have some air in the tank along with the butane. This isn't a big deal, the first couple of lights will be sloppy as the air gets purged out (butane liquid and gas is heavier than air and the pressure in the tank will push the air out, tout sweet).

So, for less than $20 bucks this is a neat way to bring back or update an old lighter. Recommended.

The only real downside is doing the refills. The new insert fits tightly to the case (which is good) but its also plated in thick chrome which makes it as slippery as an eel in a bucket of snot. So, plan on doing your flame adjustments before the insert goes into the case and take it easy on the flame height, you don't want to be refilling this thing every day. As long as I can keep it working for one to two weeks on a charge, I'll be happy.

ET2SN · 03-05-22, 07:28 AM

So, a final update.

I filled it for the first time on Feb 8th and did some minor tweaks to the pressure/flame height along the way. It finally started to sputter a little today (Mar 6th) so I planned to do the first refill. There was more gas in it when I purged it than I expected.

I'm used to refilling my old trusty Ronson Jet Light and this Zippo unit feels like it has a much larger tank. If anything, I think I slightly under-filled it the first time. Plus, I had to purge the air out of the tank and I wasn't used to this lighter yet.

I did the purge/freeze/refill stuff a couple of hours ago but this time I kept the refill can attached for about twice as long as I would on the Ronson. With the flame turned all the way down and the lighter still feeling a little cold, I'm getting a nice flame that won't blow out in the wind.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention. The spark unit runs off a tiny battery somewhere inside the case. Its listed as having a lifespan of approx. 10,000 cycles, so figure the case should last for several years before the case needs to be replaced, not bad for a $16 gizmo.

The only downside is going to be your donor/outer case. Make sure you clean it out really well (especially the lower part) prior to doing the conversion. Crud like old flint dust can really bind up the inner and outer case and make them a challenge to separate every time you need to adjust the flame or do a refill. Otherwise, highly recommended.

With a full charge and in normal use, expect a refill to last for one month +. Over-all build quality can be described as "robust" with nothing feeling like its being worn-in or worn out so far.

02-03-22, 10:51 AM	#1
Commander Wallace Navy Seal Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Under the sea in an Octupus garden in the shade Posts: 5,323 Downloads: 366 Uploads: 0	This is a cool video of a restoration of a Vietnam era zippo lighter owned by someone within the Army Airborne unit.

02-03-22, 11:36 AM	#2
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,655 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	If you send Zippo your lighter they replace the inside part. I've sent several back for repair over the years. Still have the Zippo I Jumped into Egypt with back in the 80's! That was sent to Zippo 3 times since.

02-03-22, 12:33 PM	#3
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Zippo never thought about Iowa. I tried adjusting the wick high and low, no joy. It just works better out here with a gas/pressure type lighter. What we consider a breezy day, the rest of you would consider it as storm damage. And that's the pisser, Old Faithful stuck with me for my five year sea tour. It saw the Philippines in summer and South Korea in the winter with no problems. Then, I moved out to the prairie.. Anyway, the new rig should be here next week. I'll let you all know how it works out.

02-08-22, 05:55 PM	#4
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	So, the new butane conversion unit showed up in today's mail. Some quick tips. If you want to shove one of these into your "old faithful" case, make sure to clean out the insides of the case. Mostly you want to get rid of the old flint dust, mung, and random crud. The first fill of butane wasn't dramatic, just do a quick purge of the tank, chuck it in the freezer for an hour or so, and page up a couple of posts on how to fill these things. After that, I let it warm back up and slipped it into my old case. I wound up making a slight adjustment to the flame height and that was about it. One quick note- on that first fill expect to have some air in the tank along with the butane. This isn't a big deal, the first couple of lights will be sloppy as the air gets purged out (butane liquid and gas is heavier than air and the pressure in the tank will push the air out, tout sweet). So, for less than $20 bucks this is a neat way to bring back or update an old lighter. Recommended. The only real downside is doing the refills. The new insert fits tightly to the case (which is good) but its also plated in thick chrome which makes it as slippery as an eel in a bucket of snot. So, plan on doing your flame adjustments before the insert goes into the case and take it easy on the flame height, you don't want to be refilling this thing every day. As long as I can keep it working for one to two weeks on a charge, I'll be happy.

03-05-22, 07:28 AM	#5
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	So, a final update. I filled it for the first time on Feb 8th and did some minor tweaks to the pressure/flame height along the way. It finally started to sputter a little today (Mar 6th) so I planned to do the first refill. There was more gas in it when I purged it than I expected. I'm used to refilling my old trusty Ronson Jet Light and this Zippo unit feels like it has a much larger tank. If anything, I think I slightly under-filled it the first time. Plus, I had to purge the air out of the tank and I wasn't used to this lighter yet. I did the purge/freeze/refill stuff a couple of hours ago but this time I kept the refill can attached for about twice as long as I would on the Ronson. With the flame turned all the way down and the lighter still feeling a little cold, I'm getting a nice flame that won't blow out in the wind. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention. The spark unit runs off a tiny battery somewhere inside the case. Its listed as having a lifespan of approx. 10,000 cycles, so figure the case should last for several years before the case needs to be replaced, not bad for a $16 gizmo. The only downside is going to be your donor/outer case. Make sure you clean it out really well (especially the lower part) prior to doing the conversion. Crud like old flint dust can really bind up the inner and outer case and make them a challenge to separate every time you need to adjust the flame or do a refill. Otherwise, highly recommended. With a full charge and in normal use, expect a refill to last for one month +. Over-all build quality can be described as "robust" with nothing feeling like its being worn-in or worn out so far.