Repairing Faults

These lamps haven’t been made for over 50 years, so any spare part you need will have to be cannibalized from another lamp or made. However, provided you have some basic metalworking skill, it’s not too difficult.

The two most common faults on Famos burners are:

a) broken claws in the wick cage.
b) worn gearing in the wick raiser mechanism.

Removing The Rack
When carrying out burner repairs it is usually necessary to remove the wick cage from the burner. If the wick cage is soldered to the rack, you can simply unsolder it and pull the wick cage out the bottom and the rack out the top. If the wick cage is riveted to the rack, it’s probably easier to grind down the flat portion at the top of the rack so it’s lower than the base of the teeth, and the rack can then be wound all the way out.

Wick Cage Repair
One broken claw in the wick cage probably won’t affect wick raising, and two broken claws on opposite sides of the wick cage won’t either. However, if there are two or more broken claws close together, the wick may sag on that side. However, you can easily make a new claw from 0.5mm brass sheet, with a long tail that can be soldered to the inside of the wick cage.