Bialaddin wire and spring question

Hi everyone, I'm wondering if anyone could help with advice about getting my Bialaddin 300 going. I have cleaned it up and had a look and have couple of questions:
Does the knob that lifts and drops the cleaning wire come off the shaft? It seems really tight.
The exploded diagram I have seem shows a spring on the cleaning wire. There isn't one on this lamp, unless it is stuck up the vaporiser.
Also, the cleaning wire doesn't seem to have anything on it to stop the spring just sliding up and down
Thanks Oliver

 

Hi Oliver.
The knob is screwed on. Pliers with a bit of leather are your friends here. This allows you to get he threaded cap off, so you can see the shaft seals.
There should be a spring - as you say it might be trapped up there in the vapouriser. The spring stops against a plate with a hole inside the vapouriser. Sometimes they jet stuck in with grime. if you put the needle back in and push the vaporiser down on a hard surface you should feel the spring as well as the very tip pop through the jet hole at the top.
Good luck

 

The early Bialaddin control knob has a screw in the end which holds it to the shaft, the later ones have an internal thread and they screw onto the shaft, they unscrew anti clockwise, but they can be difficult to unscrew, so try tightening it a tad first as that often frees it.

 

Thanks Firexit, I'll see if the spring is hiding up the tube. But there's no bounce in the wire when I push it on something so I'm not hopeful

 

Thanks Jeff I'll give that a try

 

If you have lost/never had the spring I am sure I can scare one up for you. Contact me via private message and I will put one in the post.

 

Thanks for the kind offer firexit1 but I've had another look and now I'm sure there is a spring. I couldn't get it out though. But maybe that doesn't matter as the cleaning wire came out spotless and I've soaked the vaporiser in vinegar and only got a few bits of debris out?
But I can't get the plastic knob off the shaft even after using mole grips and mild brutality. This matters because once I tighten the sleeve around the shaft (the one with the washer inside it) the shaft won't turn so the cleaning needle won't go up and down. Bit stumped at the moment.

 

Well, it may be that you have a working vaporiser... they are a bit of a lottery, but mostly they will work to some degree. I would try it out and see how it goes.

The sleeve or cap actually compresses a rubber seal around the shaft of the jet cleaner. If overtightened it will stop the jet cleaner operating. The trick is to have it tight enought to stop fuel leaking, but loose enough to allow the thing to work.

You could try penetrating oil on the back of the knob, as well as putting it in hot water to see if that frees it up. They are quite often difficult to get moving, but it will need to come off if you want to change the seal under that cap.

 

@Oliver Laws You can get gas ptfe tape , pull the gland nut back and wrap a bit round the shaft.. do a dunk test to check for leaks

 

Thanks guys, I've made good progress following your advice. Got the plastic knob off, after hot water treatment and oil, and popped in a new washer and the shaft turns well, no leaks, and it should lift the needle. I can feel the tip of the needle coming out of the vaporiser but it doesn't fall and rise when I turn the knob so no fuel spurts out. Next I thought I might soak the vaporiser in Redex and have another go? It's still got the spring stuck up it.

 

Perhaps the tip has broken off the wire and is stuck in the hole. The end of the wire should look look very similar to this from a Tilley.

 

Notwithstanding the good point (!) Henry makes, it may also be that the spring is being held captive by crud, unable to do its job. Time to go fishing for it ?

 

Thanks Henry. the needle in this lamp doesn't look like the picture you kindly sent over; it's really thin with only a tiny point on the end, not as long a point as I've seen on other lamps. I'm now wondering if I need to get right down to the bottom of the mechanism down in the tank to see if that's where the fuel is getting blocked.

 

good idea, will do

 

@Oliver Laws

I think you may be misinterpreting the photo of @Henry Plews

It might clear some issues up if you post a photograph of your pricker and detail of the pricking tip.


Cheers

Tony

 

@Oliver Laws perhaps I should have emphasised "very similar to this from a Tilley" or better still, dug out an unused (i.e. clean) Bialaddin wire.

Near enough 1mm

 

Thanks guys, it turns out I was wrong and there was no spring. I've now got one fitted and the lamp does light however burns weakly. There was a good spurt of fuel shooting out of the vaporiser so I am soaking all the bits in the top of the lamp in citric acid to see if having them clean helps.

 

Great ! that sounds like you are making progress .. hurrah

yes, even a few cobwebs in the burner can make quite a difference to things ; you might think they would burn away with the meths preheat or the consequent mantle heat, but no

you can do a test burn without a mantle to give an idea of the vapourisers condition?
blue flamelets.. good
yellow flamelets .. hmm

regards
pB

 

How much pressure are you putting in ? low pressure can cause a weak burn (as can a pressure leak). You can also do a "dunk test" by pressurising the empty lantern with the top removed and putting it into a bucket of water, watching for any stream of bubbles.

Be careful if soaking brass in any acid as it can remove the zinc in the brass alloy - you will see it turn more copper coloured.

 

I swapped the burner with a working 305 and it burning really well. I suspect the dome on the burner, which has a split it the tread and is loose. Can I use some sort of fireproof tape to seal it?

 

Quick answer is no. You’ll either need a new part, or you will have to silver solder the split.

Tony

 

As Tony says either replace the dome or silver solder (silbraze) it up. Looking at it you would have to solder the dome onto the burner body and accept it will never open again. Not neccesarily a concern as the need to open them is almost never. Or just buy a second hand burner assembly. Plenty on ebay or from the usual sources.

 

You could try a liberal application of copper based grease at the top end of the thread.

 

Hmm.. yes, it’s kernackered :-)

all good advice there
i can only suggest to try some exhaust paste before the silver solder?.. it would help to be able to have some thread purchase to help tighten a little ?
All these extra bits and pieces can add up to more than a 2nd hand burner!

perhaps a phone call to Mike at base camp