How a Zippo Armor lighter should have been made

I’ve bought like 40 jet flame lighters over the time, from AE & locally, some very expensive ($25)… and ALL of them stop working properly after a few months. I mean they don’t hold the flame anymore, and you have to adjust the gas rate to the max to get it to hold. I think the problem is that over time the little holes in the burner get clogged, or maybe something caused by the gas pressure.

The gas lighters with normal flame do not have this issue apparently, but I suggest you get them with metal gas containers. They are rare and more expensive, for example the Dupont fakes on AE are made like this. Or this one.

I like the most the ones that work with oil/kerosene. Thy are full metal and never fail. And on AE you can find some models with seals, that hold the fuel very well so it doesn’t evaporate. For example 1st model here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32961854198.html

I got a Zippo jet flame insert, the one with 2 burners just yesterday - about 30-35$, just to see if it fits that titanium case from AE and ofc it doesn’t :slight_smile:

It’s metal on the outside, but plastic inside. I am pretty sure it will have the same problems as every other jet lighter.
I like the jet flame the most because it’s hot and works well in windy environment, but there just isn’t any reliable jet lighter out there.

I’m not “a lighter guy”, but got a Zippo a few years ago just to learn tricks (I like fidgets and things), and used that ’til the hinge pretty much exploded and the lid went sailing across the room.

Just for lighting stuff, I got a few of those with X-type electric arcs. Hot do they fare, relative to jet-type and flame-type lighters in a practical sense?

(Those lids, with the switch, aren’t too amenable to doing tricks.)

Nope, that’s why I use an intermediate material like a piece of tissue.

Same with lighting a tiki torch a coupla summers ago. Really needed one of those longneck lighters like for fireplaces, but I just used a thin strip of paper rolled into a tube, lit one end with the lighter, then stuck it up the hole to light the wick.

I gather most people who have those arc-lighters just light cigarettes (or fuses) and not much else. Same like lights. A thrower is nigh useless for flood, and a good flooder has almost no reach.

So an arc-lighter is pretty much impossible to blow out, but can’t do something simple like lighting a pipe. Whereas a regular open-flame lighter can do that easily, but forget it in any wind.

Was just wondering if others have the same observations as I do.

I don’t think a jet lighter with metal/glass tank exists.
But if there is one, the best place to look for is AE- the store that sells Dupont replicas, don’t remember the name.
The replicas are actually very well made for $40, I took one apart and the internals match a real Dupont lighter, they didn’t just stick a plastic tank inside. And the machining is pretty good. But now I don’t know how to assemble it back, too many little parts and springs :frowning:

Those are plastic inside most likely.

This is one all metal:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32925786506.html
Ignore the cotton from the pics, it’s misleading. The lighter uses gas.

This is all metal too, but way heavier:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32275972924.html

Btw, just looked at the zippo gas insert box, and it says “manufactured in China” :slight_smile:
Same type of insert you can find on Aliexpress for $4. Aliexpress has much higher prices than chinese-targeted markets like Taobao, so that means that this insert probaby costs less than $0.5 to produce. But people will buy it for $30 thinking they`ll get some super quality product. Like I thought:)

Boy, talk about thread drift and this thread going into a completely different direction! :person_facepalming: No problem though as that’s how most threads go nowadays. :rage:

To get back to the original topic, Swosh, I ordered those O-rings you linked to and with shipping they were over $1.00 apiece! Not that big of a deal as I now have plenty of extras to play with and thanks my friend! If you would like an extra, I’ll send it to you.

By the way, I discovered some inventive rubber plugs that replaces that silly square cotton piece on the bottom of the lighter insert. They are a really nice upgrade and have a built in holder that holds an extra flint and a nice firm flap that you lift up to fill the lighter and it folds back nice and tight. I had to trim a tiny bit off the flashing on the bottom to have it fit in our Zorro lighters correctly but it was minor. It’s a great addition to our lighters!

Today I tested the zippo double jet gas insert at 6-8 degrees C and surprise - it fails, just like all the other jet lighters.
At 12 degrees is working again.

Best jet lighter I have so far is this one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808993205.html

It has 4 flames and it fails after a few months like the others, but if you give it more gas it does seem to work again. The others stop working properly even if you turn the gas to the max.

“It can keep humidity and raise eggplant.”

What???

Hah! The derailment is strong with this one :person_facepalming: :smiley:

Don’t worry about the O-rings, I have the spare ones that came with the Zorro itself and if mine start acting funky I’ll just get the ones I linked you, but thank you very much for the offer! :+1:

Regarding those rubber plugs, can you shoot me a link? The ones I know about are made of rigid plastic and not of rubber, and they always gave me the feeling of being a minor improvement overall given how much fumes any Zippo oozes out, now we have the added lip and the o-ring already making a big difference, it could be worth going full bore optimization mode and getting one of those aswell!

I’d love to know your personal experience after a little bit of usage, especially regarding fuel optimization, btw IF you got the ones I am thinking of, once you open the lighter give it a little blow to “shoo away” the vapor build up or otherwise it might take a few attempts to light, or light with a bit more “umpf” than what you want :smiley:

Let’s see if I can load up some images on the process my Zorro undewent :smiley:

!!
!!

Now you can see the nickel coming off and revealing the beautiful naked brass underneath, needless to say I went over the brass with progressively finer sandpaper up to 7000 grit which gave it a nice mirror finish, not perfect but it didn’t need to be.
Later I’ll post a picture of the final result which already lost its shine and is getting close the Zippo’s patina :slight_smile:

!!
!!
!!

Boy, you got that right!

Swosh, I’m not very techie savvy and you are and I still haven’t figured out how to post pictures here so email me at genesederholm@yahoo.com and I’ll send you pictures of the insert.

I solved the ignition problem when opening the lighter by carefully stretching the flint spring a bit and now the lighter lights every time.

Unless you’re a lowly cigarette smoker, nobody wants to use a petrol lighter.

Butane for the win!

Chris

Yeah, good stuff Chris! Thanks for your engaging post that contributed a lot to this thread. :person_facepalming:

I’m sorry that you’re a cigarette smoker and that the truth hurts.

Chris

Fact checker, we need some fact checkers here.

What do you need to fact check?

White gas, Naptha, Petrol lighters impart a taste that is unwelcomed if you’re a smoker of any sort. Cigarette smokers aren’t a picky lot, lol.

I’m a cigar smoker and I’d never think of lighting a cigar up with a Zippo and I have similar ‘white gas’ lighters here.

Now, if you need to build a fire to survive, you might have a point, but there are better options out there.

Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.

Chris

I just wanted it confirmed if I was lowly or not :stuck_out_tongue:

Are you a cigarette smoker?

If so, then you’re at the bottom of the rung, for smokers: cigars and pipes.

Maybe weed would be above cigarettes?

Just kidding of course, but petrol lighters are so 1930s.

Chris