I have managed to make a makeshift wire mantle for tilley radiators from a Stailess Steel sieve. What I like about it is :- the materials were very easy to come by, the tools needed are very basic and not a lot of skill was required. I have included some pics to show how I did it. First the Sieve was from asda price £2.47. (Cost me nowt as it went in with the shopping ) I cut the mesh from the sieve with a pair of tin snips Drilled a 13mm hole in the middle of the mesh. Sandwiched it between two flat pieces of metal to get the hole as cleaan as possible Next thing was to form the mesh into a sphere. A golf ball was just the right size as it turns out To complete forming the mesh I cut off the excess and cut some V's down the sides. And here it is working. It's not going to win any beauty prizes but It works just as well as a tilley one. In fact I'll be using it and saving my tilley ones. Hope you find this uesful or at least intresting Ozz
Nice piece of inventivness Ozzy! Did you get the wife to pay for the golf ball as well? Seriously though, that is a good idea, and even if only used for test burning heater lamps it is a good cost saving device. I may try one myself if the wife is not in the kitchen (nick her sieve? who me?) I might also try one as a test mantle for Tilley lamps, just to see if I have got them right, before fitting an expensive Tilley mantle. Very well done mate. Steve.
Yes Jeff and it was weeks before she asked where the new sieve went no steve she didnt pay for the golf ball Im not that good and besides didnt want to push my luck or it would have been more just a GOLF ball rolling about in the garage
Hi Ozzy ingenious work looking at it fitted on your tilley working it looks like an original wire globe
Thanks Mr O though It realy dose'nt stand up to close inspection. But if I had a smaller pair of tin snips and a little more practice I might have been able to make bit neater job of it. However as you can see it works well and I don't need to burn out the original Tilley ones. Ozz
Now, ozzy thats a cracker I'd never of thought of using a kitchen sieve (Least of all one that my wife had paid for Mmmm insult and injury spring to mind) As for looks, well, it looks pretty good to me ozz, If its the first of many then you can only improve aye ! Top marks and as i guessed, this thread was waiting for
Thanks Ray. I will be making a few more of these and as you said I expect I'll improve with practice. I also have a few other things I would like to have a go at and will post any successful ones. I'll be trying to stick with the same theme of using easy to obtain materials and simple methods and tooling Ozz
Hi OZZY, nice work. I'm guessing that your local Asda will soon be out of stock on their sieves . And don't forget paid for by the wife
However as you can see it works well and I don't need to burn out the original Tilley ones. Ozz[/quote] Hi Ozzy you are welcome and i did not relise what a good idea you have there, useing a home made globe so that way you do not need to burn a original one, which are becomming rarer as they are no longer being produced preserving the ones that are left,and your have shown us a good easy way of reoroducing ones that will work as good as originals wekk done there
I tried this once a few years back and the mantle fell appart after ten minutes because the steel burnt out. So you will need to make sure you have SS and not some cheap steel type. ::Neil::
I ran this for half an hour Neil and it was fine but It's a good point and raises the question how long will they last? I will do some extensive tests and report back Ozz
For those who want to try this, I can bring some SS mesh to Newark. I send some to Stu, but don't know if he tried it out. Any news on these Stu? Not having tried them myself I don't know if they are any good. Best regards, Wim
Save a bit for me Wim as I would love to have a go at making one. Look forward to seeing you again. Steve.
Hi Wim I'm still experimenting in between jobs , i find that the older type of burners from the R1's ( the more solid cylindrical ones ) are a bit tempramental on my Tilley IF542 but i havn't tried them on the R1's yet & i'm now starting to try the others when i can I'll do a post as soon as i can , but i've been up to my eyes in lipsticks http://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/showtopic.php?tid/26535/ Stu
Yes Steve, I also look forward to taste some more of your Sloe-gin! Ozzy, I tried a little experiment at work today, there's no need to drill a hole in the mesh, as it only weakens the globe. Using a pointed tool I made a hole in the mesh, simply pushing it through with a "wiggling" motion (hope that makes sence?! ) The pointed tool was only 10mm, so I used a 14mm bolt, after grinding a "slope" on it to finish the hole, worked perfect. What's the diameter of a golf ball? (don't play golf myself, see ) Best regards, Wim
Yeah, I was a bit worried until I remembered (I think) Stu was in the RAF . So maybe has progressed from Brylcream to other cosmetics? Mind you, I was in the Navy and was once invited to a dance in the stokers mess, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, on HMS Eagle . I went of course as they were buying the beer!
I ran the R1 with the manlte for 1 1/2 hours, then let it cool then another 1 1/2 hours and let it cool again. Then the same for a third time. The mantle shows no sign of deterioration. In fact it looks as bright and shiney as it did when I first fitted it. and it feels just the same in that it is no harder or softer than before. Thanks Wim that should make the job even easier. As for the Golf ball I'm not sure but it's just a standard size golf ball . Ozz
Hi Ozzy, Nice work indeed. It does not appear that you added the two additional bottom holes found in the factory mantles with no apparent ill affects to it's operation. Does anyone know why these holes are there? Dan
I think I read in a post that those holes were to let out spent gases. I left them out deliberately to see what would happen then forgot all about them. As you say Dan they don't seem to be needed.
My guess would be that the exhaust gases are escaping from these, so you didn't need to cut the holes...
Brilliant work Ozzy, now get your thinking cap on for a poundland fix for tilley pre-heater torches. Note to self, convince missus that she needs a new sieve for the kitchen. What diameter are the "proper" tilley ones?
Thankz iwoo, i once made a preheater torch out of 2 foil cups that tea light candles come in. And just wired them to the vapouiser as for diameter of tilley wire mantles I don't know exactly but the one I made is prety darn close and works realy well. Better tell the wife she needs some tea lights too did i mention asda sell paraffin too
At our asda in hartlepool its £5 for 4 letres but who cares if the wife's paying Theres a garage in winyard rd in hartlepool sells it from a pump for 85p a letre
