Meths lighting torch

I find it easy enough to light the spirit in a spirit cup on a kerosene lantern, but naptha-fuelled lanterns present more of a problem. Long-pattern matches or tapers often extinguish before the fuel vapour ignites, in my hands at least, and the head of an extended stem lighter (I have a Soto) won’t fit through the base plate access holes.

I’ve made a lighting torch by silver-soldering a length of brass tubing to a stainless steel rod, a loop formed in one end (for neatness).




I’ve stuffed a piece of fibreglass rope in the tube to prolong and moderate the burn.




Charged with a dribble of meths from a dispensing bottle, the flame lasts for about a minute, plenty of time to light my lantern.







John

 

What a wonderful idea.
I'm off to the shed to look for the raw materials

 

Come to think of it Robbo, not an original idea. Scaled down in size maybe, but I must have had the lamplighter in mind - pole with some meths-soaked rag in a receptacle on the end if it.

 

Some manufacturers provided a similar method to ignite their lanterns.
Ditmar had a fuel torch that had to be soaked in the tank and then allowed to preheat the vaporizer more efficiently than with a long-pattern match. It can be seen from this post of mine.

 

What a great idea and very nicely executed.

 

Indeed.
Primus had a torch that's very similar to the one Prescall made.
The 1050 had a torch that was stored in a well in the tank where you could have meths. It also work with the gasoline you use for the lantern itself.

 

A bullet cartridge case would be a handy basis for making one.

In the absence of any such spent ammunition, I made a second one, using brass tubing and a length of steel rod.

After the silver soldering, before trimming and tidying-up.






Completed.

 

Thank you for posting. I will be making one for myself.

 

Bullet casings are useful for loads of small projects!

 

A fine creation!

 

Good idea this john think i will have to do one myself
Cheers pete

 

What a great idea....

 

Oh yea, I like that idea.

 

Great idea John. I love such simple solutions. As for the husk. I once used one (9mm), due to the lack of a tube, for a funnel.

 

@Knee
The funnel hits the target with me Stanislaw.

 

Wow, that's a beautiful little funnel you've made! Did you make the cone section or use something you found?

 

John, sorry I got so caught up in your thread.

Thanks @ColinG .
The cone was made for me by a guy who spins brass. Great craftsman.
I just soldered the shell.

 

Not quite as sophisticated as the @presscall torch, but I have a few of these of various sizes on hand for lighting lamps, lanterns and stoves.

They are made from brass wire, with a carbon felt wick.

They are very good, as is John’s torch, for lighting Coleman gasoline lamps and lanterns, because they hold enough metho to preheat the generator a bit, thus avoiding the “Coleman flare up”.




Cheers

Tony

 

I like it, simple and effective and cheap.

Paul

 

When I said that I hadn’t taken into consideration the helpfulness and generosity of CPL members.

A PM to me to ask if I could make use of some spent casings (yes!) and the next day a whole batch of various sizes arrived. Thanks @Fireexit1!




First one off the production line’s gone to Firexit1 as a ‘thank you’, nickel plated as a refinement.




Here’s the second one, also nickel plated.






Instead of a loop end to the handle I’ve added a knob.




Though the cartridge casing’s of larger diameter than the tubing I first used, there’s still plenty of clearance for it to pass through the base plate hole of this Coleman 290A.

 

Now it looks perfect! (of course, the prototype was excellent too)
Looks like you can start mass production now.

 

They'll keep you busy for a while, John.


Cheers

Tony

 

Wow, these look the business!

 

Some excellent products and great ideas on show on show

 

These are great ideas being realized on a practical basis. They do look professional too.
I do have something similar in mind but just a little too lazy to materialize it.

 

.22 Rimfire case would make a suitable size ignition lighter for the NorthStar I recon due
the hole through the heat shield is pretty small

 

Another ‘ammo’ project, a spirit pre-heater cup for THIS AGM Sun Flame lantern, which has a crude fuel ‘choke’ for start-up, resulting in flaring and sputtering until the substantial amount of metal in the burner and generator components reaches vapourisation temperature.

Designed for ample capacity and ‘spread’ of priming flame. Nickel plated after polishing.

 

Is that a bit of an old bike on the bottom of the bowl....

This is fettling in God mode

 

You mean the part I’ve circled presumably. It’s the (rounded) non-return valve end of a stove pump of unknown provenance, found in a batch of damaged, discarded parts I acquired.



On re-reading your question, I think you mean this …




I cut it out of strip brass to mount the spirit cup on the lantern base plate simply by slipping the ‘hook’ bit under the base plate fixing screw. It makes it possible to easily remove the spirit cup for authenticity’s sake, should whoever ends up with the AGM after me want that.

 

Nope...this bit looks like the rear axle holder on a bike...
A very impressive bit of engineering all the same.