I could only get a bad photo of the ashes, but here you can see two layers that have been ontop of each other.. it felt really thick to hand when tying it on too.
Never heard of double-layered mantles as the norm. I've made my own before(one mantle inside another) but they don't light up well anyway.
@WimVe The Tilley SL20 had a double-layered mantle. Is that a Tilley package in the background of @Heering80 ’s photo above? Tony Edit: See here: “Double texture shock-resisting mantle” https://classicpressurelamps.com/threads/1950s-tilley-searchlights.1578/#post-4253
Nope, that might be mcdonald's bag in the back I've never had any tilley stuff. The red paper in the picture might be mantle package though, and if I remember correctly, it was Luxor. The mantle didn't have a hole in the lower end. It was sewn shut from the bottom.
Thanks Tony - I did know that because I'm always having to change the mantles in my SL20s - they just don't seem to last 5 minutes these days...
Argh, after I got the second lamp to burn well, it out ran the first one in brightness. My first thought was to ultra sound wash the generator and the jet. I did just that, and after putting it all back together, it doesn't work anymore. Only gives me orange flames and halo ball of fire around the mantle. It was working steadily, although a little dim, before. I've tried a different jet with similar results.. Two things that make me wonder.. 1. The needle holder rod has some black stuff on it. But it did have it before also.. 2. The ceramic mantle attachment thingie has quite worn threads on it. But.. ..it had them also before. I'd like to get some ideas instead of buying and changing parts randomly. I changed the mantle (because I broke the old one), but it seems to be of right size and has a nice form.. somehow it feels as if the kero isn't flowing enough. But this might be just my imagination. The hissing sound isn't as loud as it might be I guess.. Thank youuu!
I'm by no means a Petromax expert - far from it - but the black stuff, if it's carbon, is probably nothing to worry about. Just clean it off. The nozzle I think it's more usually called, is another matter. These have been known to unscrew slightly (all the way sometimes), giving exactly the problems you describe. I'd try screwing it home firmly and then securing it in place with a dab - just a tiny dab otherwise it'll never unscrew again! - of car exhaust putty. If that doesn't improve things you may need a new nozzle. Right, congratulations are in order - you now know as much as me about fettling Petromax lanterns and their clones - 'orrible things...
So you never did test or checked if if fuel was coming out of the jet at all ? Remove the head, pump her up and open the valve, OUTSIDE, then a straight stream of fuel must leave the jet. If so, fuel isn't the problem. If not clear the blockage. Ultra sound normally doesn't clean the carbon inside the coil. I have even tried to solve carbon with benzene in a ultra sound bath in the lab at the office. Nothing came out.
As far as I'm aware, carbon simply doesn't dissolve in anything. That's it / end of / nilch / nada / but YMMV...
Haven't tried how straight up it shoots, but there is gaso flowing at some rate because the thing gets wet very fast and it drips allover before bursting into flames. Before all this, it was easy to ignite without this phenomenon.. I guess we'll just have to take somee beer during the weeknd and see what we can come up with.. I don't mind dismantling the thing and putting it back together, but the time to wait it cool down is a real pain in the ass!
I don't think there's anything that'll dissolve those hardened, coked almost pure carbon. If the ultrasonics can't, you might want to do the old heat & quench treatment on the vaporizer. Sometimes even this would not remove everything especially round the loop. Too much of this thermal shock treatment isn't good either as there's a tendency for the brazed connections to give way. I would normally burn the carbon around the loop off by injecting pure oxygen into the tube after heating it to dull red. Of course, I would block off the constricted part in the vaporizer first so that the oxygen only flows though the loop. You'd need to control the burning so that the brass doesn't get too bright a red or 'orange'. Otherwise, it'll melt instead.
