Burner is date stamped 1922. The tank was dismantled, annealed, reshaped and re-assembled. No badge on it and I can't see any sign that there ever was one but maybe it fell off. The inner reflector is a bit ratty but it is pretty sound. The outer reflector is borrowed from another lamp. Anyone fancy making me a globe cage for it so it will sit upright without the aid of a pile of books?
Basically once it was in pieces I heated the tank to a dull red with a blowtorch to soften the brass to make it easier to hammer out the dents. It will also relieve any stresses that may have built up and hopefully prevent stress cracks from appearing in future. There are pictures of Pete doing the process in this thread: Dealing with stress cracks
Hi James, I don't have any wire but I can give you measurements I've taken from my example. The construction method is basically the same as the wire guard on a Tilley PL53 but there are 6 legs. The wire is 0.128 inches diam. (whatever gauge that is). The bottom ring on my example is a little distorted but averages 11.25 inches diam. The upper ring is 12 inches diam. and sits 2 inches above the bottom one. Unlike the PL53 guard, the legs come up the inside of the rings and are (silver ?) soldered in place. After the legs have come right round the upper ring, they step out 1 inch before rising 2 inches. They then go inwards, then outwards approximately 0.75 inch before coming back in 1 inch and finish with an outwards facing loop. Hope this helps, Henry.
James, Was Blanchard making this style of lamp before W.T. Barnard took over? Providing the burner is original to the lamp, surely a date stamp of 1922 would make it Blanchard ? Henry.
Thanks for the pictures and measurements Henry. How is the wire joined to form the rings? Is it butt welded?
@Henry Plews Tip: take the same pictures with a 5mm raster paper as a background. This give a good idea of the real shape.
@James, Sorry, I forgot to mention that. The rings are joined with sleeves which have been made by rolling strips of thin steel sheet into a tube and soldered.
Wim, I hadn't heard of Raster Paper so I Googled it and everything became as clear as mud. Basically glorified graph paper ? A useful tip though and I must get some for future use. Thanks, Henry.
@WimVe I'll stick to using a camera with plain paper as a background thank you, it's easier than trying to understand raster.
@James Your guard certainly adds the "finishing" touch, at least from my point of view. Well done. What sort of wire did you use ? I have some lengths of 3 mm stainless steel wire and had thought about having a go at making one myself for my model 1397, that is, until I found out the price of flux I need to silver solder stainless steel. Henry.
This was the stuff I used, just galvanised steel wire: 3mm x 20m Garden Wire Galvanised - Fencing Training Fixing Etc
@ James, Thank you. It should be much easier to work with than the stainless wire I have, it has quite a spring to it and needs to be red hot to get a tight loop in it. Did you remove the galvanizing where the uprights loop around rings and add a little solder / weld ? Henry.
Yes I sanded the galvanising off and then soldered it. I had to heat it red hot to get the tight loops. James.
This was my technique for making the uprights. I printed the photo of the upright onto paper to the correct scale and taped it to a thick wood offcut. Using the photo as a guide I hammered nails where the tight bends needed to go and cut the heads off. The looser bends I drilled larger holes and left the drill bit in the hole. I was then able to wrap the wire around the nails and drills to form 6 identical uprights. The hard part was I had to heat the wire red hot with a blowtorch to bend it properly. Of course this chars the wood. I would pour water on it every so often to keep it from burning too badly. Maybe I could have put something on top of the wood to protect it from the heat e.g. a sheet of thin metal. Messy business. If there's a better way I would like to know.
Pictures ? The technique you mention is the right one. A piece of metal as a base sound good to prevent fire damage. If you aim to make more then one set (hint) then a metal base plate with metal pins would do the trick. To prevent the heating you would need to use a small kind of pipe bending device to make the tight bends.
