Hello, I picked one of these up as my first lamp as I'm sure many here have. It had clearly not been used in some time and had quite a lot of rust on the frame and vapouriser. I did a quick initial clean before changing the washers (all hard / falling apart). It wasn't pressurising with the first pump leather I used (I think it was too wet), so I changed the leather and it worked much better. It's not roaring - it's just giving a gentle hiss at the moment and not as bright as I thought it'd be, so I will see if the tube into the tank needs poking through with a copper wire. I had already removed various dead spiders / egg sacs from the hood / air ways, but I think I'll need to remove the heater to be sure.
Hi and welcome to the forum. The pork pie is a good and robust lamp and I’m sure you’ll get it running as it should. The vapouriser may be a bit choked up with carbon. Be warned, if you get a second lamp, they will breed! Stevie
Hi Wai and welcome. There is much to be learnt here. When you said you replaced the washers - did you use a service kit or just washers from other sources ? There are some good youtube videos about how to service them. The best ones are by "broadlander" who is also on this board as @X246A Pump leathers work best if soaked in oil. Old ones tend to disintegrate. I can see your burner is a newer one than the "pork pie" lamp was made with. It looks to be in good condition. One maybe dumb question - are you using paraffin for fuel ?- I can see bottles of isopropanol or acetone in the photo - or was that just for cleaning ? Chris
Interesting. I dug out two of these a couple of weeks ago and noticed that on both of them, like yours, the tank bosses are at a slight angle to the top of the tank. I wasn't happy to sell them in that condition, preferring to err on the side of caution, so they're still here...
Yes the hood is clearly a replacement as is the new glass. I'm not complaining as it is half to one third cheaper than the ones with a correct hood. I'll be on the lookout for a first version of this lamp sometime in the future. Until then, I just wanted to dip my toe in with an English classic that looks uncomplicated and it was a lot of fun getting this working. I am indeed using paraffin in the tank and the isopropanol was for cleaning. I think I'd get a very different result if I tried using that as fuel! I ordered some washers from base camp along with a butterfly pre-heater, mantle and glass meths bottle. Very helpful lady called Amanda talked me through it all. I did watch broadlanders YouTube video prior to the servicing. Again very helpful! One of the rods was at an angle to the tank, with the others looking straight when I received it. I've not screwed the frame back all the way in yet as it's requiring assistance from pliers and I'm only going to take it off for further cleaning and repainting. Oddly, when I took off the frame the supports didn't look bent, neither did the screw from the tank.
@David Shouksmith Many Pork Pie X246 are found with the tank studs at an angle. I’ve thought it could be from hanging up in sheds for years; others have thought it is from overpressurising. Someone here (was it @Lamp Doctor) demonstrated that the top of the tank can be pursuaded back to level (and the bosses vertical) with a block of wood and pressure. I’ve got a few with the swayed studs: they are used from time to time with no problems. Tony
@Wai Welcome from Queensland Australia. A good lantern to start with. You will now need to get another lantern because one lantern is not enough, more is best. Beware lanterns do breed very quickly and soon you will be enjoying a lot more fettling (restoring). I'm looking forward to seeing your future posts and pictures. Cheers Pete
Thanks, Tony. I thought it was to do with over-pressurising possibly - given the base-plate on these is solid (unlike the X246B) what will distort is the tank-top. When I was fiddling with a very early X246 recently, I was surprised just how flexible the tank-top was and could be flexed by hand if I wasn't careful. It's not so on these later X246s - the tank-top is much stiffer - hence the need for a block of wood and a bit of gentle force as you say. I wasn't particularly concerned about it because there's no seam there to be stretched and I'll happily use the lanterns as and when...
