I have several tilley lamps. What is the trick to get the mantles in place. My problem is the larger opening. Seems like every one I get on I either rip the mantle or the string breaks and I have to use a wire to secure it. Just curious if there are any tricks to it.
There are different sizes of Tilley mantles, so which ones are you using and which lamp or lantern are you fitting them to?
Have a couple of 246’s a storm and a bracket lamp and a pl153. The mantles I have say 191 on them. I know very little about them. Didn’t realize there were multiple size mantles.
The Tilley 191 mantles are for floodlights etc., the burner on the floodlights are smaller in diameter. The mantles which you need are number 164.
I find mantles with weak ties a pain in the @&$€, and I use them only for testing. I’ve got a large batch of double tie Tilley 164 mantles that I use for finished/tested lamps and lanterns. Cheers Tony
The tricks come in various means. The most sensible, of course, would be using correctly sized ones for the burner. Assuming there's a shortage or absence of top quality mantles, then the tricks would be: 1. Get lots of practice with the cheapest, most crappy and those with the weakest, ultra-thin tie-strings . 2. Get someone with delicate fingers or someone who's adept in knitting, sewing work and such to do it for you. 3. Don't stretch out the mantles so much. Some older, thoriated mantles that had been made with the use of thorium nitrate solutions can turn out to be a little 'acidic'. An aqueous solution of Thorium nitrate can have a pH as low as 2.46. Sometimes, there might not be adequate neutralizing measures taken during manufacture. Over a long period of time, the acidic residues would eventually weaken the fabric of the mantles. Even the slightest stretch during assembly could tear them apart.
I much prefer the tie-on mantles although I've very few left now. I find the trick is not to tie them on to withstand the force of a hurricane. Just be gentle with the string ties - sufficient to keep the top of the mantle in the groove on the burner is easily enough...
There's a handy 'how to' guide with diagrams on the site that might help... 2 methods of tying double tie mantles
My pleasure. I created the diagram because I was having trouble fitting them myself, then I saw the Peerless drawing which is OK but I figured I could tidy it up a bit. Cheap Chinese mantles get a bad press but I have had pretty good success adapting them and let's face it, they are so cheap, you can easily afford to waste a few without worrying about it. AliExpress is the place to look.
