ok, I have three Zippo-style lighters. Two are actual Zippos, the third is a Winston one.
On my silver zippo and my Winston one, the lighter wheel thing seemed to be "stuck" in place, so the wheel could not move, and would no longer spark.
So, I took them apart to check things out. I also took my third zippo apart to see if I could find any differences.
Apon unscrewing the little screw in the bottom of the lighters, and pulling the spring out, there is a little cylender type peice of metal that fell out of my new one. Both of the ones that were "broken" did not have this. So I took it from my new one, and stuck it into my other "broken" zippo. It then sparked and lit, etc. Same with the Winston one.
It appears (my hypothesis) that with the metal to metal grinding to make the spark, the metal itself actually grinds down into nothing. Hence the spring-to-wheel contact, preventing the wheel from turning.
Anybody know where I can get a few of those small peices of metal that go infront of the spring? Does it have to be a certain type of metal?
Thanks,
ComputerGuy