Here are a few of pics of the middle lamp of these three, a Chromed Bialaddin 300X circa 1950-ish, now cleaned and working. First is the "before" picture followed by some "after" pictures. It only needed a good clean, decoke vap tube and new seals. Steve.
WOW 8) 8) Steve what a difference , you'd never believed it was the same lamp What did you use on the chrome to bring it back to that shine it looks fab 8) Best regards Stu .
Thanks Stu, Just used hot soapy water, several times, and then a gentle polish with Autosol. The chrome plating has lasted well. I think the crud from the farm barn has been protecting it! Steve.
Really top shelf, Steve Amazing how well it looks. I must try some Autosol, seems to really work wonders. Also, what's your de-coking technique? Dan
Hi Dan, Remove cleaning wire and spring and scrape wire gently to remove any carbon. Soak Vap tube for a good 1 hour in citric acid solution. Heat and quench vap tube repeatably, tapping gently in between quenches until no more crud comes out. Seems to work for me. Also be very gentle with the Autosol, it is still an abrasive polish even though not as harsh as some. Steve.
Really fantastic restoration job indeed. The Bialaddins look to be very well-made lamps with an elegance all their own. Perhaps I don't have the skills, but my experiences with polishing chromed metal have never resulted in satisfactory results. Maybe I just don't have the required patience! Can't wait to see what you will do with the Tilleys! Regards, Doug E.
Hi steve brilliant work on the chrome 300X,i am realy surprised the chrome plaiting has come up so good,looking at the first pic of the three lamps,i would have thought the electro plaiting was shot. Autosol is a realy good polish,i have just bought some a couple of weeks ago,it is the first time i have used it,i have heard good reports on it by other members over on CCS who use it,i usualy use brasso the type that comes in a tin with wadding years ago i was called duraglit. I finnish off with this after useing the buffing wheel,but now i have been converted to Autosol,it realy gives a good finnish, and there is no where near as much smell with it,i dont think it contains as much harmfull amonia. Once again steve a brilliant restoration and transformation
To continue, here are a couple of pics of the early Tilley X264 Guardsman after cleaning and fettling. Had to fit a later hood as the enamel on the original was too far gone to look anything like reasonable. It is a lovely lamp. Steve.
And to continue further; here is the TL136 restored. I have stripped the fount and resprayed it "Rover Arum White" which is a very good colour match (thanks for the advice on that folks) and as the gallery outer top ring was missing, have got it going by fitting three PL type air buttons ( thanks for that tip Jeff). A cracking good looking lamp and will try to get it back to original when I get another gallery or gallery top ring. I also want to put a genuine Tilley glass shade on this one when I find one. So that now is all three fettled and working. A very happy Steve .
Hello Steve, all three have cleaned up well and it's fine to see them all working! A vitreosil glass would suit your table lamp and you could continue to use the gallery as it is. Tilley did offer several styles of vitreosil glasses. The link below shows them, Jeff. http://0flo.com/index.php?threads/2399
Hi Steve They all look great 8) & although the TL was not fitted with a pleated shade from the factory who's to say that this was not done by the owners later to suit their needs , you do what you feel is right for you & think of all the conversions we have seen mostly good Stu
