Life has kept me busy for a while but I still want to find time for a bit of fettling. I bought two cupboards for my ever chaotic garage, so I went to pick them up, guess what I spotted a couple of lamps and couldn't resist a quick haggle. Not the rarest or most valuable but that's not the point they needed saving. The Tilley is actually quite tidy and looks like it has not had that much use, as impatient as ever I thought I should test it. New mantle and pump NRV fitted and away it goes but soon lost pressure, the pump seal is old and perished but soon fitted a new one and tried again it's a lovely old lamp and pretty bright i am quite pleased that it now saved. The vaporlux one seems to have a much different history and needs to wait a while until I can make some time to do a decent job on it.
I saw the lanterns and figured you must be in the UK. The empty can that says "Steak and Kidney. . . ." well no need to check your bio.
Absolutely no need. Those pie tins are great for holding parts when dismantling, standing lamps on while spray painting, or protecting the work area from spillage. But I'm also using some plastic trays from M&S omelets.
Another boring winter day so I went out and lit my bowl fire and gave the new lamp a bit of a clean. I've decided to strip this one and spray it, hopefully it will come up nicely , the hood is a bit rough but should be acceptable. I like the preheat cup works on these lamps lifts up while in use then you can drop it down.
Getting the bug again so I put some paint stripper on the old paint Leave it a day then clean it with a pot scourer and plenty of soapy water. Put it to dry. Next lightly sand to key the surface Notice the healthy diet option Low Fat Greek Yogurt, to avoid worrying about my pie intake. Then spray with primer and keep it warm for an hour Leave it overnight to harden up a bit, here the pie tin come into it's own, you can stand the lamp on it and it won't affect the paint on the bottom edge. With apologies to any vegetarian readers.
A coat of Halfords silver enamel Then Halfords clear laquer And it's looking a bit better, I messed up the silver enamel because as I was spraying it a bit of paraffin ran out, had to rub it down and put some more primer on, it's not my best effort but looking a bit more ready for the next twenty years. Better start on the pump and seals.
Cleaned some of the brass and soaked the vaporiser in caustic solution for a while, then gave it a run in the ultrasonic cleaner not much carbon came out. Blew out the burner head with air, seems OK So I assembled it with new seals and pump washer Pumped up the pressure and left it for an hour it seems ok so i filled it with paraffin then fitted a new mantle and fired it up It's not as bright as the tilley so call it work in progress. But that's two old lamps rescued, would be nice to think that in years to come someone may use the for family barbecues and appreciate the beauty of something well made.
One last picture I have it's cousin in my garage so I re United them. I assume the vapalux always had the black hat, I wondered if it should have a red one?
Great job Ray ! i think that Vapalux with the silver tank/font were black .. I haven’t got Ian Ashton’s book to hand to double check tho..
Yes - I have never seen any 320 with a red top. Green or black (apart from the Rothmans blue edition - but that was a chrome tank) , 320 or M320. But never say never in this game ?
Thanks guys, I don't have the depth of knowledge on these, I looked them up on the refence section but just wanted to be sure. The red cap lamp came with a slightly worse condition hat but I found the one in the picture in a box of bits which I managed to find, I am well pleased with that one. Suddenly I am realising that I have a few variations on a similar theme.
Spent a little time checking the vaporlux lamp and tapped the vaporiser stem slightly to try and peen over the jet very slightly, but I also noticed that the hood and therefore the burner assembly were not sitting fully down they were jammed on the screws which pass through the bail and trap the hood in place I pushed it fully down and then lit it, wow its quite a bit brighter than before. Just wanted to share this.
Yes and even more so in the first picture of the lamp assembled, I must be more careful and observant
