I recently bought a chrome plated X246A which seems to have suffered from over-enthusiastic pumping by a previous owner. The base is slightly convex and bulges slightly under pressure to the extent that, on a flat surface, the lamp won't sit straight. I've read several posts that describe such a fount as 'scrap' but it still holds pressure and the lamp burns well at 50-60 strokes of the pump. Is there anything that can be done, or am I risking a catastrophic and potentially disastrous leak by using the lamp in this condition? Phil
Hello Phil and welcome aboard! Once the tank has blown then that's the end of it, but that's a fairly common lantern. So you should be able to obtain another and scrapped lanterns/lamps are very useful as a source of parts. The blown base plate can be cut out and used as a reflector for the Tilley AL-15 etcetera, Jeff.
Hi again Phil i would go with Jeff if the bulge, has gone beyond the rim of the tank like your one where it wont sit straight or wobbles,it is a scrapper the X246 are common i have seen plenty for sale on ebay, Just beacause it is holding pressure at the moment, it has become weak,and more than likely the soldered seem has started to come away,so it could fail at any time.
Hi Phil, What a shame, the X246A is my personal favourite from the X246 series. The X246 and X246B are common on Ebay but there are fewer of the X246A's as they were only produced for 3 or so years (1962 - 1965) and to procure a chrome plated one thats a scrapper is even more a shame . Good luck on finding a replacement tank and be sure to post a pic when its complete
Hi Phil, I have two 246A surplus to my needs. One is a standard gold painted tank version, with a small dent and the other is a "Speculum" plated version. Both are working. As far as I am aware Tilley did not use chromium plating, but used what they termed "Speculum" (literally A medical mirror) this was their own version of that type of plating. The Speculum plated one that I have was painted red!. Apparantly this was common if the plating was not up to passing quality control, so it went to the paint shop and was sprayed the colour of the day. PT me if you want more info on the lamps. Steve.
Hi Phil & all If the lamp still holds pressure you could try tapping the base in gently with a fubber or wooden mallet. The result will not be pretty from underneath bur it should still work. I did this on a friends lamp (given to him as not working) several years ago and to the best of my knowledge it is still a servicable field lantern. All the best! Regards, Jeremy
Thanks for all the replies and interest, chaps. Steve, I've replied to your PT, thank you for the offer. I have nothing to lose by hammering the old one from underneath, I suppose. If I had a vacuum pump - which I don't - I would try sucking the base back into shape too. In all fairness, the speculum plating isn't in brilliant condition anyway. Thanks again all, Phil
Knocking back the base plate will make it sit right again but will not cure the problem. The extra metal that allows the bulge is because the solder seam has started to seperate and allowed the base plate to dish down. So in efffect you have a partially failed base seam which can only be repaired by removing the base plate and after reshaping refit and re solder. Having said that there is no real problem in using the lamp. They don't normally go bang. The normal fail is a bulge to one side and then a leak under the side bulge. Makes a mess but if in use outdoors that is not a big problem. I tend to scrap them though because I see no point in retaining a common lamp with a failure issue. ::Neil::
Hi Neil, I concur that the X246A is relatively common in relation to other models, but as has been said earlier, the speculum-plated variant is rarer than most, and if possible I'd like to keep it in working order. I also appreciate the advice about failure modes, very helpful indeed. Phil
Fast forward nearly 10 years... Someone has just given me another X246A, and guess what? Its tank is blown as well! I have dealt with dozens of Tilleys but only three X246As, two of which had blown tanks, a 66% failure rate, despite having a pressure indicator ‘pip’. I have never seen a blown tank in any other model of Tilley, even the X246B. Was the X246A tank base too weak and prone to failure, thus ending its short production run? Phil
Hi Phil, There are lots of x246bs out there ballooned as well As you probably know, Tilley decided in the late 50’s to reverse the baseplate, making it much more prone to ‘ballooning’ .. Ive seen a lot of broken or malfunctioned pressure gauges/nipples from around this time as well.. I often wonder if a few different factors combined and had adverse effects resulting in folks over pumping the lanterns.. ? All hindsight and musing I know .. probably been said before as well ! best wishes pb
