Hail fellow CPL members. I have benefited a lot being a member. I have learned a great deal in the past few weeks by knowledge shared through the cite. My latest challenge is getting a Bialddin 300X running again. It is my first pressure lantern made in the UK and I like it and would like it a great deal more if it would run properly. The lantern seems to not be holding pressure well. One of the area where I know with certainly that it was leaking was at the packing nut on the main control knob. I am a tad frustrated not knowing the correct nomenclature for the various parts of the lantern. I began by dismantling the lantern, taking the cage off it and then pressurizing. It was immediately obvious that fuel as leaking from behind the 'packing nut'. On board the boat I live on we have an arrangement where the shaft delivering power from the engine to the prop passes threw a 'stuffing box' named for the waxed cord that is wound inside to keep the water out of the engine room. I have included an image of where the initial fuel leak was. I tightened the nut just enough to take what felt like slack out of the shaft and pressurized the fount once more. Bingo.....no more leak from there; however, the tightening up of the nut caused the control knob to be difficult to turn. Is there some sort of 'packing' inside this part? Another area that was leaking pressure was the main gasket of the pump seat. I think this gasket would get its fair share of wear owing to the pump being opened every time the lantern needs fueled. Also, I would suspect a lot of folks tend to tighten them down too hard thus accelerating the wear factor on the gasket. Question: Is there a kit of sorts that could be bought from Base Camp that could be used to address all the seals that should be attended to make a lantern built in about 1949 function correctly? Thank you for reading these rants. I tend to, as you Brits say, 'waffle on a bit'. Captain Mike De Long in Hampton, Virginia.
Hi Mike, There is a rubber washer in the nut at the control knob, which has probably hardened over the years. You can replace it but to do so you have to pull off the plastic knob but it can be a pain to remove (Willis and Bates must have realized this was a design flaw as on later lanterns the knob is held on with a screw). What you can do is fully unscrew the nut and slide it back, then wrap some PTFE tape around the spindle then retighten the nut so the tape acts as packing. Base camp sell service kits - part number W5. There is another service kit V5 but this is for the later lamps that have a smaller filler cap. Don't forget that you can also buy the washers from the forum here. James.
PLS look here: Japanese collector's blog There is a copy of 'exp-loded' view, with SP-1 -- a washer kit, including a little O-ring, which will fit under the nut and be compressed. I'd prefer to remove the whole shaft, if it's possible, if forcing out the control knob will go hard and result in breaking the plastic/making it loose... Look HERE too!
Mike. Get to an Ace Hardware and buy a packet of Teflon string. This stuff is ideal packing for glands on lamps because it is inert to fuels and will stand a fair bit of heat. Just unscrew the gland nut and wind a turn around the spindle and replace the nut. Better if you can unscrew the plastic knob because then you can clean out the old rubber packing but the Teflon will do the job on top of the old rubber if the plastic bit refuese to move. Trick with these is to have the gland tight enough to stop it leaking but slack enough to allow rotation of the knob. Teflon is actually better than rubber as it has less friction so will run up tighter and still alow movement. ::Neil::
Common or garden PTFE tape can be used as an alternative, simply pull off a couple of feet, double it over and twist. Double and twist again. If you need it thicker repeat.
Service pack SP1 is for Tilley control cocks - Mike is after Bialaddin. The Tilley part may fit the Bialaddin but the correct part is so easy to obtain, I wouldn't have thought it worth taking the risk. BTW, the correct seal for either lamp isn't an O-ring, although one would do. I think Ross's kits have O-rings. It isn't.
