I just received a Radius 119 today and unfortunately it has a cracked inner chimney which the seller neglected to mention. I'm guessing this can't be used safely until repaired / replaced? I ordered some JB Weld (high temp adhesive) to try and fill in the cracks.
Personally, I'd get it repaired before using it. I have no experience of any JB Weld products so can't comment on your choice. Have you considered silver solder, or are the cracks too wide ?
The cracks are quite small. Unfortunately I don't have a blow torch or high content silver solder, just a soldering iron and fairly low temp solder - I'm guessing around 200C. Would using one of those old paraffin powered blow torches be sufficient?
I might have that part from a wrecked Aladdin 1A (that is a copy of the Radius 119). If you want it, letnme know. Tony @Wai
I really dont think the performance of the lamp will be affected by the cracks, but it would still be a good idea to fix it. I would straighten things up a bit then silver solder it. Maybe you know someone who has the gear to do silver soldering.
I would agree with the thorough cleaning/light acid clean and silver-solder repair technique suggested. Perhaps you can find someone to do this for you. Alec.
I would clean it and silver solder. JB Weld Extreme heat paste is supposed to be good up to 1300C. Not a product I have ever tried but may be OK for the job as I doubt the part gets much over 400c. A low temp solder will not work in that location as it will surely melt. ::Neil::
JB Weld "might" work... that's a lot of heat though. I agree with everyone else, I would silver solder it. Regular solder won't hold it. I've been there, done that!
Thank you for all the suggestions. Taking the chimney apart, I could see that the cracks were caused by pushing onto the top of the vapourising tube which seems to be half a cm too long, thus causing the deformation. Since the chimney part is fairly thin brass, I managed to push it back, however fitting it back in caused it to deform a little again. I checked the well where the vapourising tube sits and could see an old lead washer stuck in there but nothing else that would cause this issue, so possibly a incorrect replacement vapouriser or the gallery is a replacement and not long enough. The former seems more likely. The tube itself was slightly bent so I straightened it a little. Taking apart the inner hood, I could easily access the top of the hole and I used some of the JB Weld paste. It required 2 applications as the first attempt cracked after replacing the hood and caused some deformation: I waited 12 hours and lit it. I haven't changed the existing nipple and needle, which seemed ok. It is very bright with a slight hiss: I will check the JB Weld after a few uses. And yes it is the extreme heat version which can tolerate temperatures up to 1300C.
Tony - thank you very much for the offer. I fear a replacement would suffer a similar fate to the original part unless I can troubleshoot why the vapourising tube is too long.
Just wondering, would it have been even necessary to do anything with this other than straighten it just a bit?
