I have decided to refurb a couple of my bowlfires. One of them had a small stress crack near the bottom rim but I did not want to solder it because it was near the already soldered base and also because my soldering is rubbish I decided to remove a shallow trough of brass along the crack and fill with JB Weld and sand flush. I don't know if this fix will last but it has lasted for several days at full pressure. I will POR-15 the tank if it starts leaking again. The other tank was fine if a little tatty, but no leaks so I prepared it for paint. This is after 2 coats of Zinc primer, 3-4 coats of white primer and 2 coats of top colour which was a Rover colour-Arum White... The wire guard had been sprayed chrome before but I re-did it. I'm thinking of trying a home Chrome brush kit on these guards but I haven't got round to it yet... Here are all the other bits along with a washer kit ready to install... Will update this when it's all back together and fully cured. Steve.
Steve, That's looking really great so far. The paint job and color match look perfect I wonder how the painted guard will hold up to the heat. It looks nice. Hopefully they used high-temp paint. I'm also interested in how you make out brush chroming the guard. Are you looking at the Caswell kits? I'm not sure they have "real" chrome in brush plating. I've been thinking about trying the nickel plating kit. I think this will work for the chrome guard, but the bowl may be too big to get the proper current flow. Not sure though. The only other thing I can add to your fettle is timing the control cock when you get to the final assembly. The position of the cock is a bit more specific in the bowl fire vs the lanterns. I found that the 1.0 mm washer in Ross's kit did not enable me to "get there". He was nice enough to make up some that were 1.5 mm thick and this has enabled me to time my bowl fire and lanterns perfectly. He also made me a Tilley control cock timing "kit" with a selection of cock washers of different thicknesses. These were really helpful in timing the control cock on my FL6 as this one also likes to be in a very specific spot. As a matter of fact I have to order some more as I used my last one the other day on my newly acquired Bialaddin 315. Keep up the good work and we're waiting for the finished pictures. These really are great heaters. Dan
I second that Dan. A great job being done . I use a BBF every day in my shed, "it do keep I waaarm" as they say here in Dorset. They are great pieces of kit. I also had the same timing problem with the control cock. Got round mine by fitting two seals. It did the trick. Steve.
Cheers for the advice Dan, yes I had a problem with the pricker control knob landing just where the bowl screws to the frame under the oval decal. I did what Steve does and used two washers and it worked OK. The guard I re-sprayed has held up fine on one fill of Paraffin so far. I used a Halfords high heat aluminium spray to prime and then a chrome spray to finish but I think the high heat spray on it's own would suffice as the chrome has gone a matt finish like the Aluminium was to start with? The chrome kit I was looking at is this one... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Replica-Chrome-Brush-Plating-Kit-for-Bike-Car-Boat-/251200554441?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3a7cb845c9 Steve.
Hi Steve Looking very nice 8) & the colour matched Rover paint looks the part too Looking forward to seeing the Bialaddin up & finished , just leave the fount for a few days before you start playing about with it to let the paint harden off , don't want to spoil it Well done again 8) , Stu
Regarding the double washers... I seem to recall reading some where that this is a less then desirable technique. I think it's because the washers will continue to expand at the middle joint under the compression force and there is nothing to contain them from "squishing out". Under enough pressure and time, this joint could fail. The BBF has a depression in the font side fitting into which the washer fits and is contained from expanding under pressure. The Tilley uses grooves cut into their fittings to accomplish the same effect. I can't argue if it works, just throwing in my 2 cents. Dan
Bowlfire, yes - but the earlier lanterns are 'timed' by selecting a different set of three holes from the twelve drilled in the collar - thus there are four possible positions of the collar relative to the tank and control cock. One of those four, coupled to the control cock hole in the collar being effectively a slot means the thickness of the control cock washer isn't critical. The 310 has a collar that can be rotated into the required position. The 315 has slots on the globe cage for timing and the 320 has a globe cage that can be turned into optimum position and then secured with the clamp nut. As you say, the FL6 does require the correct thickness washer...
David, You are absolutely correct about the Bialaddin lantern timing if you don't care where the control cock ends up. But I like having the control cock knob centered over the decal and opposite the pump and fill port in a visually appealing 120 deg pattern (approx.). Therefore I need to time the cock to the font which may require a non standard thickness washer. When that's done, I then use the collar timing you mention, to center the posts (on the 315 anyway) between the knob, which puts the third post between the pump & filler. Nice visual balance. I know this is overkill, but I like the options that timing washers give you. Dan
Ross should offer them, let's say in steps every 0.05mm, like distance washers for adjusting gearwheels in gearboxes etc. David: This was one of my frequently jokes, somewhere I promised to tell you
I had a bit of a setback with the refurb on one of the fires. The one that had the leak seemed to have sprung another leak? My original fix on the outside seems to have held with the JB Weld but a tiny, tiny crack appeared or was always there in the rim underneath. It's a very slow leak but I sanded the area and de-greased and applied some 2-part tank sealer, a bit like por-15 but for the outside. I thought this fixed it but today on pressuring it up some sign of leakage in that area was present which happens to be directly under the filler cap. I thought it may be over spill from the meths cup or coming from the filler hole after filling with Paraffin? I have emptied the tank, re-pressurized and done a dunk test but cannot see any air bubbles anywhere If I can't figure this out today I will just go ahead and POR-15 the tank and be done with it. Steve.
I found the teeny, tiny leak where I had attempted to surface fill on the underneath rim. So before I go with the internal sealing treatment I added another layer of Tankseal almost covering 1/3rd of the base and hopefully this will sort it? I won't post a pic of this 'repair' as I'm too ashamed but it will never be seen in normal use so oh well! Steve
Almost finished pics apart from the bit's I want to try and chrome. I'm thinking of re-finishing the handle but may leave it? Everything is holding well, no leaks and it sends out some lovely heat! Hope you like, Steve.
Very tasty Steve 8) Keep the handle as is , it needs some grounding from its original state , i always think a little too good means no soul Yours looks great & soulful 8) Stu
Great fettle Steve, now your dilema is going to be "use it" or "Shelf Queen" I know that when I have completed a good fettle, it is very tempting to just look at it with great sighs of satisfaction and wonder "should I flash it up" I eventually give in and light them up, because they don't do anything for me unless I can see them working Next thing, after a few lightings, it is back to nearly where I started before the fettle Still, we can always do another tarting-up job (again!) I suppose Anyway, well done cracking nice fettle Steve
Definitely use it. It has been my main garage heating since I ran out of gas on my larger heater! I really would like to search out and liberate some more of these heaters but I have zero luck at car-boot sales and never see anything I fancy In my wanderings I have never even seen a Paraffin powered appliance for sale, except my local hardware store who has had a red X246b Tilley in the window for years but wants £100 for it!!! Thanks, Steve.
Nice restoration,,,,,its given me just enough of a nudge to order a couple of bits for my barn find bowlfire so I can get it looking as good as my 'tidy' one
