First night home alone since I finished the workshop improvements. Spent the evening taking a thick layer of dust off the collection and the first proper light up in a while. Got the Petromax 821 running for the first time with no prior fettling. Burnt brightly for about the length of time it took to take the photo, then lost pressure. Making a new cap seal for it now. Coleman 427, Optimus 930, Petromax 821.
I have taken over one half of our double garage. I had to put racking in there to create the space. Then a 6ft workbench which I topped with 2mm steel then yes, I found a second hand catering sink unit on eBay. Keeps my messy work out of the house.
Yes, hot and cold water. I had already run the feeds into the garage when we had a major renovation of the house a few years ago, I’ve just had a plastic box under them until now. I love the rinse hose on the sink unit, good for all manner of tasks.
@Scott D , thank you. I am on the search for such a light for some time now. They come (?) is various sizes but are more or less rare. I alsways wondered if the lamp would stay upright in the gimball at all. Since it isn't heavy and like in your case, it has many rotating points with friction. Would love to see it in action.
It will be on the workbench before too much longer. There looks to be quite a bit of play on the rings to enable balancing. Then there has also been small holes drilled in the rings which I presume are also for balancing. One of the rings on this has been bent out of alignment so I’m hoping that should be an easy fix. It is then as you say a case of cleaning the contact point sufficiently to reduce the friction. That said, I am unlikely to have it on a ship in rough seas. Would be nice to have it working properly though. I still need to do some research on these lamps.
Well that is always in the back of my mind: did they use it on a ship at all? The outer ball itself would swing around, I have a hard time believing that all the inner rings would rotate so fast in the opposite direction, just far enough, to keep the light upright and not spilling the oil. Ok, whale oil would be thicker but once lit the heat would make it soft enough for a wick to use. If you would mount the outer ball fixed to the ceiling then it would make more (working) sense.
@WimVe - I’m not sure of the authenticity. I had someone suggest on a FB forum that they would never have risked a naked flame on a wooden ship but I’m not sure how accurate that is given the limited options at that time. Even if they are a gimmick, they are very cool still!
