I am restoring a Bialaddin 300x here in Australia. I have not had any experience with these lamps. I am looking for some assistance please. The control cock seems to require a new o ring. How does the bakelite knob come off the spline to get to the nut?
Hi Tony, If there is no apparant screw to take out, it is a threaded fit onto the shaft. You will need to grip the shaft with some protection in the jaes of the pliers, same with jaws that grip the knob. Don't squeeze too hard. A bit of penetrating oil will help. It is a right-hand thread. Good luck - Steve.
Please find attached a photo of the Bialaddin 300x. I need the full service kit including the pip for the NRV. Is there a kit part number for this complete kit ? Thanks Steve, I have managed to remove the control knob. Is there anything else I need to know to service this lamp. Will it take a Tilley style mantle?
G'day Bob. I contacted Bernie today and he only has the cap washers. I reckon I can get the complete kit from the Fettle Box on this site I just need to confirm which kit has every component I need including the NRV pip and washer. How is your very very impressive lamp collection going?
Fettle Box have a complete seals and pump leather kit for the 300X. Just make sure that you get the 1.25" seal for the filler cap. They did later ones with a 1" filler cap. Everything else is interchangeable. Steve.
D'you know - I thought only the military lanterns had the 1.25" filler and the civilian ones had the 1". Maybe the chrome 1.25" versions were for the officers...
I believe that there were some 1" cap military issue, but certainly, the majority of military Bialaddins had the 1.25" cap. I must do a bit of checking in Mr Ashton's book. Steve.
Thanks Steve, I ordered the W5 kit with the 1.1/4 inch cap seal. This kit had 8 components including new pump cup. Now for the freight waiting game
Good, mind and show some pics when it's going . Wrt mantles, although a Tilley mantle will work, I find that they are slightly small for the Bialaddin. The Bialaddin V42 mantles seem to balloon out better and give more light IMO. Steve.
I need glass for my 300X and I think I have seen it for sale at Basecamp, our sponsor, and at Fogas Hytta de. But Im not sure if it is for the 300X. So does anybody know if the glas they call M300X or M1? is for the Vapalux 300X and does it fit the Bialaddin 300 too? Claus C
Think it is Claus, but would be better to wait for some other, more knowledgeable confirmation. I think that the 300X and the M1 both took the same size glass. Why don't you ask Ian Ashton or Mick Emms? They are both very knowledgeable on Bialaddin/Vapalux lamps. Steve.
There are, basically, only two types of Vapalux / Bialaddin glass. There's the large plain cylinder (60) and the shaped glass (805). These will probably have a letter in front of them, either V for Vapalux or T for Bialaddin but don't take too much notice of that because there's some overlap. The large, plain cylinder glass is 95mm diameter and 112mm tall. A variation of that is the early glass with the lighting hole in the side. That one is 97mm in diameter and 124mm tall. The shaped glass is 100mm tall and 97mm across at the top with a 48mm hole in the bottom. There are two main types here - the round-shouldered version for the 310 and the T10 and T20 table lamps and the angled-shoulder type for the 315 onwards. A variation of this type used on the NATO 320s was the same overall size but had a small plain glass cylinder and a shaped steel disc at the bottom. There's also the donut glass which, from memory had an outward curved lip at the top. I've no idea of the sizes but I don't think we really need to concern ourselves too much with that one! Check out the Base-Camp website for the two main types - 60 and 805 - for what they fit. I see there are now some frosted versions to be had which aren't original but are probably useful. I think I have one around here, somewhere. Hope that helps...
Ran out of time to edit these into my previous post - what a pain... Large, plain cylinder types. Early globe with lighting hole, common-or-garden V605 type and frosted aftermarket version probably from Base-Camp. Shaped 805 types. Round-shouldered for Bialaddin 310 and T10 / T20 table lamps. Angled-shouldered for Bialaddin 315 and 320 lanterns. Both shown inverted, of course. I didn't have the NATO variation to hand but the metal disc makes it unmistakeable.
Thanks for the answers. The pictures always helps me a lot. I can see and read that I have to get the 60 glass and possible the one with the lightning-hole, while its two Vapalux 300X I have, maroone-coloured. So I guess I have to get a bit lucky there. The two 300X is with two different types of tops (enameled tophoods), but both with marooned tanks Why is that? Is it something to do about age? Claus C
You'll be lucky, Claus - they're quite rare, being old and made of thin, brittle glass... Maroon 300Xs are late 40s - early 50s and would have had two-piece hoods with a red enamelled hat. Click [url=http://0flo.com/index.php?threads/1255
Tony Would you like me to send you one of the 'large' Tilley mantles I got from Japan? I referred to them here: http://0flo.com/index.php?posts/30503
Hi David The hood looks origin to me but it might be a frankenvapalux 8) The original pait is to be seen in the bottom where the polish-devil didnt go. Is this early lamps? (for early glass). They carry the same patentnumber but the hoods are not the same - why is that? sorry about all the questions but I dont know much about these and they dont show up so often in Danmark. Claus C
I've just picked up a military 300x it has a lighting hole in the glass, markings on it say 949 and crows foot / broad arrow..I presume this means 1949 Is the glass correct for its date.
@Mark Jones, Welcome. The glass is correct for the top your lamp but not necessarily the bottom, I'd have thought 300 (without the X) would be nearer the mark but I'm happy to be corrected. Although the basic appearance of Vapalux / BiAladdin lanterns changed over the years, the vast majority of parts are compatible / interchangeable, a picture would help. If you have another look at the images posted by @David Shouksmith above, you'll see that the glass with the hole in, is taller than the one without. It took Vapalux a while to realise that a shorter glass could be raised enough to get the spout of the meths tin (and a match) to the spirit cup and wick which obviated drilling a hole thus saving time and money in production costs. Henry.
Sorry don't have anywhere I can link to since photobucket did its ransom wear thing I have the pictures. Hope this upload file button does its job Thanks for the reply Tell me did a military one ever have a bare brass polished finish.. it looks sad ..but this is as found today, it is a matt green
The globe with a lighting hole is specifically for the older lanterns with a multi hole perforated support collar and the older narrow alcohol cup. It is not really suitable for the lanterns with a solid collar and full width pre heater cup. It will fit them but the hole creates a sideways draught and blows the alcohol flame away from the vapouriser and this makes pre heating less effective. Not a problem with the multi hole collars which aspirate evenly even with the hole in the globe. ::Neil::
I have 305 ..maybe swap over, will have another look at these things when I get around to restoring them....and come back to this thread at that point. My stove collections and lamp collections are building up ...need to thin them down a bit, missed out this summer on the window May till August ..when max prices seam to happen on ebay.....next year I suppose. I reckon to bring that one up to scratch there is at least 10 hours work in it. I'm confused at the moment why military ones that have been stripped of paint and polished fetch the highest prices. Think it's a bit like Honda cg125's and c90's that have been bobbered and café racerised, can you believe it, they chuck away loads of parts, mudguards, side panels..make a wooden board for the seat, .the rusty wheels, corroded alloy of the engine and rusty exhaust are completely healed overnight with a generous coat of matt black..and bingo they are then worth twice as much as a mint standard one. but have to admit there is a lot of work required to get a mirror finish on the brass of these lamps. I can do that but can I get away with heat proof matt black paint on the top
