How to you clean or make a tiny hole?

Harbor Freight sells sets of very tiny carbide mill/drill bits (in random sizes) . Not sure just how tiny you need , but I had some that were so small they'd break if you breathed hard on them . Takes a very accurate machine to use 'em .

Think of a stranded wire - use one wire as a push / cut - Make a D shaped cutter and see if it will cut/clean.

Mart> Butane gizmo. Got it at a yard sale. Not clear it ever worked. > Is full of Butane.

You might give it a bit of suction (syringe and a small-bore teflon tube was how we did that kind of thing in the lab). Or, paint it with glue that doesn't stick to brass, then peel that off when dry, and hope it pulls the clog out.

Laser, EDM, or #80 drill are all kinda standard. Perhaps also chemical etching. One cute way, is to stack a dozen pieces of shim, and poke 'em with a needle. Then look at the top one. If the hole is too big, look at the second... and so on.

In days gone by we had (there is still one in my workshop) a device called a PRIMUS PRICKER for just that job in Primus kerosene stoves. They consist of a short piece of fine wire crimped in a cheap tin plate handle :-Z

mike prodded the keyboard with:

You could always try a bristle from a wire brush !

Clean it with a ultrasonic machine. Try water, then 180 proof alcohol. (Vodka works) Avoid sticking anything through itty bitty holes to avoid making itty bitty burrs that can be a big problem. Your local jewelry store can clean it.

I've wondered the same about the orifice in propane torches. They're made of brass and the holes is barely visible. A #80 drill bit is much much larger than those holes.

I do not know, but one way would be to put a aluminum wire inside a brass tube. Then draw the brass tube down in size, machine the brass to the right dimensions and then etch out the aluminum.

They make 10 ma fuses in a similar way. Except for the fuses they put an platinum wire inside a copper tube. And etch the copper off the platinum. A 10 ma fuse is so thin, you can barely see it with a magnifying glass.

Dan

Good call. Ultrasonic cleaner fixed it. Plugged up again. Seems that the foam filter designed to keep crap out of the orifice was depositing crap in the orifice. Took that out and it's working. Assume it will plug up from crap in the butane tank, but I'll worry about that when it happens. For now, it works. Thanks.

By the way - the tank I had in the backyard that was locked up during winter - we are using it now. The central core expanded into the cylinder around it that squeezed down on it - locking it tight.

Put it on the Barbecue and there be flames. So in a 'pinch' one could pour a pan or water cooker over the knob section to warm it up and get the gas available when freezing.

Mart> >>>> Butane gizmo. Got it at a yard sale. Not clear it ever worked.