I'm new on here, found this great forum when searching for new seals for an old and very rusted Tilley X246B which I have had since the late 1970's. It was used and much abused over hundreds of nights fishing on beaches, especially during the winter. Its been over-pumped and I re-soldered the base over thirty years ago and was (is) on its second, I think, vaporiser, but its hung on a nail under a leaky lean-to roof for over twenty years - until I rediscovered it and remembered how much I like the soft glow and hiss of a pressure lamp. Here it is, re-sealed, rust scraped off, but leaving enough so the hood does not fall apart but it works... Here it is - working not too badly, although it could do with a lot more work!
Welcome OldGreyDog Great to see your lamp up and running. Just remember, your first lamp is just that. Your first lamp! Happy collecting and fetteling. Regards, Jeremy
Wellcome OldGreyDog and welldone fettling and optimising Pictures. Nothing is as charming as to see a lamp had a life I just got this Tilley 1 week ago Claus C
Thanks Jeremy, I enjoyed every minute of getting it working again, even scrubbing the frame in diluted vinegar in an attempt to de-rust it. I wish, with hindsight, that I had looked after it better, but in those days, the lamps were just part of our night-fishing kit, were out in the rain and sea spray, and often got knocked about on on the beach and rocks. The lugs that hold the handle on are almost rusted through, so i'll need to do something about that before hanging it up too much, but it will be better looked after from now on - might try to find another frame, or make some new 'lugs' and silver solder or braze them on. For now it will be on 'evening duty' in the hearth - thankfully SWMBO likes the soft light and gentle sound it makes I'm already working on a newer and less abused one, same model, which was 'inherited' while clearing the house of my wife's late uncle - this one also hung on a nail next to the other one, but only for about fifteen years (must check the dates on these lamps)... Strange that after all these years, i'm like a kid with new toys since rediscovering these old lamps, especially my original beaten-up and rusty one...
And thanks to all for the encouraging wishes - great to see more replies while I was typing a reply to Jeremy's post...
G,,day , and welcome to you mate . it is nice indeed to own and use things with a known history , and in this case your own history . sitting in the soft glow listening to the hiss which could remind one of the sea must bring back a lot of memories . hopefully the majority of which are good . but even bad or sad ones are often worth remembering ! cheers, kerry
Hi OldGreyDog Dates are on the base of the fount, month then year. Should have a spare x246b frame. PT me if required. Regards, Jeremy
Thank you Jeremy for the date finding info and the offer of a replacement frame (will pm you shortly)... I just checked and the old and battered lamp has 774 on the base (July 1974). On reflection I probably bought it around 1976-7 and used it in all weathers, especially in winter, a couple of times a week until the early 80's. The newer 'inherited' lamp has a date stamp 881 (January 1981). It looks little used and until last week, only lit it once when I got it to see if it worked.
One lamp is just a lamp, but two's a collection! We all started with one pressure lamp. In my case, it was all downhill from then on... Well done, and I'm glad to see you've resurrected a Tilley X246B. These do come in for some stick, for various reasons largely to do with the build quality of the more recent lamps, but you can't argue with the fact that they're still in production and are generally very easy to restore. I like them and think they work very well.
Thanks for that, David, very interesting... and rather worrying, as we see that Tilley have outsourced the manufacturing of key components to suppliers who have gone out of business. It doesn't bode well...
Well, Tilley have been outsourcing for years - according to the old W&B website, they made tanks for Tilley until the late 30s. I'm not sure what happened then - perhaps the two companies fell out; possibly W&B had realised by then they could set up in competition with Tilley. Who knows what else was outsourced? - certainly the globes and possibly the hoods. Maybe also the vapourisers because W&B were producing and selling them in plain white boxes until a few years before they closed. Currently, and for the past few years - probably since they returned from Dunmurrry, Tilley have been assemblers rather than manufacturers. Judging by the quality, the current vapourisers seem to have Asia written on them, at least not literally...
Update... Massive thank you Jeremy (X246A) for the excellent replacement frame for this one, which Is now looking a thousand percent better and can now be safely hung up - without risking the handle parting company with the frame There was a bit of a pressure loss soon after recommissioning which showed up as pulsing (thanks again to Jeremy for sound advice). I think this was the result of me over tightening the gland nut onto the pump cylinder, thereby pushing the seal out of place. Entirely my own fault - I should have looked more closely at the way these parts work together... The lamp seems to be settling in now and is used a couple of evenings per week in the fireplace - a nice relaxing light and feature that's enjoyed by all here, including the dog - who treats it like an open fire and lays down in front of the hearth as soon as its lit... Nearly forgot... I have also now fettled the other Tilley I had in the shed and alternate its use with the first one... Edit (addition)... Looking forward to a few Autumn nights camping now - a perfect opportunity to use the lamps 'in the field'
Talking of quality, I recently received a brand new Korean made Vapalux/Bialaddin vapouriser and have to say that I was very pleased with the quality... It's chalk and cheese compared with a new Tilley vapouriser that looked like it had been made on Blue Peter!
After adjusting the tightness of the clamp nut onto the seal, I still wonder if there is a slight pressure loss here (air only) so a quick test with some diluted washing up liquid is now in order... However for my peace of mind, could anyone advise how tight the clamp nut should be screwed onto the pump cylinder. I think initially it was too tight and pushing the seal out of position, so have presently adjusted it so it just barely 'presses' the seal against the step in thickness of the pump cylinder. I have never in earlier years changed these particular washers and don't know how they should be fitted - any advice is very welcome...
As you are probably aware you should never use tools to tighten these down but I do tighten them down hard by hand. If you leave it loose then you will probably get leaks and find that the nut gets looser every time you release the pressure...
Thanks Gneiss, appreciate that... This is something I could not find information on... I had them too loose to start with, but have now hand tightened them 'moderately tight'. As you say, the shaft guide which functions as a lock-nut was working loose previously... I'm sorry to admit that I have used pliers on one of them in my youth, but not since rediscovering them and this forum... I now only use 'grips' if something is stuck, even after soaking in paraffin, and if so, am careful and protect the lamp part with a piece of old leather belt, as recommended on here. Pleased to say both lamps are working quite well now and must be settling in as they seem to be getting better each time they are lit
The clue is in the knurling - anything knurled is meant to be tightened by hand or fingers only. That assumes the seal is in good condition of course. The problem arises when the seal becomes hard and inflexible and needs replacing. Some folk try to save tuppence by overtightening the component instead of replacing the seal. In general, if there's a slot, hexagon or whatever, then it's OK to use a tool...
After using this old gal' most evenings for a few weeks, last night I lit up (about 12 pump strokes with just under a pint in the tank) and over three or four attempts, got yellow flames outside the mantle or cherry red mantle and a bit of a minor flare through the hood on opening the control cock fully... I guess I have used it for about 70 or 80 hours since initially renovating it, and I can't begin to guess at the previous hours burn time... Tried cleaning the needle (has a good point but was protruding more through the jet than I remember) then heating/quenching using blowtorch and tapping out on a block of wood... Still the same result, so I concluded the Vapouriser is shot!!! I remembered seeing somewhere on here that a member has successfully extended the life of a vapouriser by peening the jet to make it slightly smaller, so with nothing to lose - I flatted a small burr on the top of the jet with diamond lap/file and carefully peened the end... I got slight inprovements on each of the first two tries and after the third attempt the lamp fires up ok, albeit very slightly less bright than previously, I guess the hole has a bit of 'growing' to do to get back to the optimum size... Meanwhile it is ok for evening duty in the fireplace! I'll source another vapouriser or two when I see a good price, but for the moment am feeling rather chuffed at this further fettle, which I would not have managed without the advice I have got from this forum... Thanks again to all, and lastly, does anyone know, approximately, how many 'burn hours' a vapouriser normally lasts?
Allegedly 500 hours according to Tilley. Around 500 hours +/- 499 hours from experience and what I read here. The newest vapourisers seem to be a bit suspect. Also the quality/cleanliness of the fuel used may well have a bearing - always use a funnel with a gauze. I suspect that running the lantern at low pressure and thus low temperature could have an adverse effect, too...
Thanks David, as always, all advice is gratefully devoured! I'm glad the vapourisers can have a 500 hours or so service life, but won't hold you to that It also seems a bit of fettling with a hammer can squeeze out a few extra hours too! Although we have another working lamp, same but slightly newer, SWMBO's immediate question was 'it can be fixed, can't it' - so I had better get a couple of spare vapourisers before my makeshift fix expires...
Hello OldGrayDog + David again et al. I am of the opinion that you can get some more life from an old tilley vapouriser by peening and closing up the jet orifice. I have some pictures - somewhere- lost for now. How long might it last? I don't know yet - but I want to find out. My attempts so far have been OK as far as they went but I had nothing between 0.014 and 0.020 needle with which to size the jet. The smaller size is too weak and feeble, the larger (in my opinion) just too rich and yellow/sooty for my mantle - unless willing to tweak the pricker/fuel cock to set the mixture for optimum. Member Lampelus has posted about 0.16mm acupuncture needles - these might be just right for sizing the jet- I hope to try that soon. My new vapouriser works about the same as the old that I have peened. Both need the control cock to be adjusted to optimum mixture - max light output with a white not yellow flame. good luck
I'm afraid my resizing of the jet lacks precision in that I did not measure anything - next time i'll cut some bits of thin wire to use as gauges I can check with a micrometer. I am pleased to say that I was a bit hasty in saying the lamp was not quite as bright post-fettle. I had tested it on the bench in my shed this morning in very bright sunlight! It has been burning for over three hours now this evening (control cock fully open) and is nice and bright with the mantle having a nice solid 'slightly yelowish white' sort of colour which looks quite satisfactory to my beginners eye... I'm rather pleased with the result of this little fettle and will try to keep tabs on how many extra hours/evenings use I get out of what was otherwise a 'dead' vapouriser Edit: a) thanks David - I always have pricker/valve fully open... b) SWMBO is happy again
The function of the control cock is not to adjust the mixture so the fact that you need to do it indicates something is wrong - probably with both vapourisers. If you advance the pricker needle too far into the jet then it'll burn off sooner or later. Hope that helps...
