Finally the Aladdin oil lamp is running correctly with a homemade mantle, it gives out near exact amount of light compares to a factory made mantle.
It looks marvelous. Congratulations. It must have taken many trials and experiments to attain that result. Homemade preformed mantles comparable to actual factory-manufactured ones.
Yes, a lot of trial and errors. More than 70 attempts to achieve today’s result. Now I really don’t like Aladdin lamp for a lot of reason. Aladdin overall is a poorly designed lamp compared to my Famos that I accidentally broke it chimney one night. The wick carrier itself is horrible is is not accurate and you have to purchase special Aladdin wick. where as Famos has the best wick carrier for very even movement of wick. The efficiency for Aladdin is also very poor. Famos 120cp is far more efficient for the same amount of oil used than Aladdin 60cp/40w, since they have the same 1 inch wick tube. Lastly Aladdin is running on the printer company scheme, where they sell the lamp cheap, but the mantle extremely expensive, which is probably not an ethical business practice.
Here is some image. For the shape of the mantle is critical for the correct operation of the lamp itself. In real life off grid situations I would choose a E&G 20 long matador oil lamp, since there are no fragile mantle to deal with and also produce a ton of light.
Well done - last year there was a shortage of these some many of us started looking at alternative solutions. You seem to have done it
So Aladdin lamp is still used by many people? What other alternative solutions that other people found, I want to hear about it.
Aladdin 23 burner is so horribly manufactured in Hong Kong with extremely poor tolerance, no matter how hard I tried to trim the wick by correctly charring and the use of wick trimmer the flame still spikes due to the poor air seal inside the burners mixing chamber. The glass chimney is also horrible as the bottom is not even flat. I wonder why Veritas Famos lost the competition especially every aspect of the Famos beats Aladdin. I’ve heard that Hattersley ( one of the oldest loom in uk) has purchased Aladdin from America. I guess that because they are the wick producer for the Aladdin, so is more economical to own the lamp and wick together. Hattersley wick by far is the best wick manufacturer that I’ve found. From small simple flat wick to the thick wide large wick used in central draft, they all performed better than the original wick comes with it. The weave you can easily identify whether it is made by Hattersley or not. They also included a dark blue stripe line that you can tell apart from other manufacturers. ( so far I’ve found on the market that no other brand managed to use the Hattersley special blue thread)
Here are some photos of my Aladdin lamp compared to other lamp that uses combustion. There is a candle, a cheap gas lantern that I’ve modified the jet nozzle and air hole to achieve absolute brightness ( not oxidizing or reducing), a E&G 20’’’ matador burner with the correct extreme bulge chimney to achieve the bright light and Aladdin with and without shade.
There are varying quality Aladdin burners out there. Generally the older the better. same goes for wicks and even chimneys, but some new made chimneys are very good. To answer your other question - not not many people use these regularily but many here enjoy using them occasionally.
As for light output I would stick by a lux meter. Comparishment with a picture or eyeball may not be accurate.
After some playing around I’ve found out that my Famos is 100% superior than my Aladdin 23. The Famos 120 wick is easily attainable for £4 a wick if you make them yourself. The design of the burner is also far superior than Aladdin + the homemade mantle glow much brighter than when the homemade mantle is on Aladdin lamp. The image below is when I tested it with just the regular Aladdin mantle
Very interesting I just recuperated my Aladdin Super, #14 and was shocked with the cost of the mantle... Would you mind sharing the process of your home made mantle? Would really appreciate it. Thanks
I have a Aladdin 23 which have not lit for many years. Never could get a reliable flame no matter how careful I was with trimming and wick level. From comments here am now aware there are manufacturing tolerance issues in the burner so this explains the flame was always spiking and sooting up. Even though I have a spare mantle will not bother with the 23. Sad as years ago helped a friend restore a 1950's Australian made model 12 which is an excellent lamp. Has a bakelite stand and burns reliably. When the owner was a very small boy in the early 1950's he can remember his Father lighting the lamp and bringing it into the living room at dinner time. Being in a rural region the was not any electric power at that time.
I have a similar problem with my Chalwyn Consol lamps, not matter what I do I can't be a decent flame from the wick. So both of them are going to be shelf queens.
Can you please share your process for making mantles for the Aladdin lamp? I have tried several times, but have not been very successful.
That the FAMOS is brighter with the original mantle is logic: the burner is bigger. Its rated as 120cp, if I am not mistaken. In the Geman lamp collecting scene where many attempts made for "making your own mantle". All failed. You can make a piece of cloth light up but that is not the same. The issue is a stable shape, no holes and a good fine mesh.
@Gin Tonic @Richard Budd the video is on youtube i did a search using the words ‘homemade gas mantle’ regards pb
