I have bought this railroad lantern from the scrapyard and don't have much information about it. During the restoration process, I have found that it was produced in 1976.
Restoration process:
First, I disassembled all the parts. One bolt was very rusty, so I had to cut it off.
I washed all the parts with soapy water and applied a rust remover. Rust remover didn't work well, so I have to use a wire brush and a sander. The rust was still there, so I moved to sandblast.
I did not use it from the beginning, because the metal was too thin I was afraid to damage it.
After that, I soldered the holes in the bottom of the lantern with a tin. After, I have applied putty and sanded it all over again. Then I have painted it with primer, wet sanded, and painted it with car paint.
I have made a new wooden handle.
The old batteries from the lantern were dead. I decided to replace it with something more powerful, light, and modern. I have had a used Apple MacBook Air battery left after I replaced them with new ones. It fitted the lantern perfectly. I found a circuit board from the power bank and decided to use it also.
Both switches of the lantern were broken. I've replaced one and fixed the other.
One light bulb was dead. I didn't find a new one, so I made a "led bulb."
During the soldering of electric components, I have had a short circuit. I was scared there were lots of smoke I thought that lithium batteries got fire. Luckily everything worked out.
This restoration took me three weeks. I am happy with the result.
Restoration timecodes:
0:00 "before" condition
0:40 disassembling
4:42 stuck bolt
5:50 battery testing
6:30 drilling a screw
7:50 washing
8:55 chemical rust removing
10:00 wire brushing
10:58 sanding
11:56 sandblasting
12:49 soldering
13:19 putty
13:48 putty sanding
14:10 priming
14:49 putty sanding
15:08 spray painting
15:55 internal parts cleaning
17:07 switch repair
17:52 reflectors cleaning and polishing
18:56 new wooden handle
19:47 plastic parts polishing and painting
20:20 new battery soldering
22:00 light bulb to led conversion
24:26 electric parts assembling
26:50 --- short circuit and smoke ---
27:34 testing
27:45 final assembly
27:52 "after" condition
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