FL6: Repair to 'air tube'

In preparation for the upcoming Ballarat FL6 light-up, I've been making sure my floodlights are ready to go; and fettling a fairly ordinary FL6 that needs a lot of work.

It came, (with much help from @Lamp_Doctor - greatly appreciated!) missing the extension to the burner air tube.

I bought a metre of the correct brass tube and cut off a length:



I then tapped a thread. First, I looked at my taps and dies and thought... maybe it’s this one? And it was: I used a 7/16” 26tpi BSB tap that I had bought to fix a Svea 123R burner (see here; thanks @longilily).










It worked a treat:










Testing:





Cheers

Tony

@Anthony, @kerry460, @ROBBO55

 

Pleased to help you Tony

 

That will do the job!

 

Well Tony looks like you have done well on that old beast .
You forgot to mention its a early FL6 with the small bore pump tube .
Bob .

 

G'day Tony,
Looking forward to seeing it fired up in the paddock.

 

@ROBBO55

I’m looking to bring three over the strait.

Cheers

Tony

 

@Lamp_Doctor

You got the 1938 narrow pump FL6 - I got this one:








I’m working through it now. It should be ready!


Cheers

Tony

 

@Tony Press

Three FL6's ! Well if I was thin skinned I'd fee inadequate now. I don't have one to bring .
Guess I'll have to bathe in the light of others .
See you then.

 

@ROBBO55

One of the people I’ve talked to who may be coming to Ballarat, and who is not a Member here, once had 14 or 15 lit up at one time.

Is there anything I’ve got that you might like to me to bring along? I have to empty the tanks (rule for the ferry crossing) and can’t carry kero or Shellite in the ferry (but they allow LPG to be loaded - go figure). So I’m preparing my lamps now...

Cheers

Tony

 

Warning! Promotion alert!

This is an unsolicited comment:

It is great to have one of “The Fettle Box” washer kits when working on the FL6s. I am using this kit:

Tilley Deluxe Washer & Seal Kit (inc FL6) or Refill - The Fettle Box - classic lamp & stove washers & parts

Thanks, @spiritburner.

Cheers

Tony

 

Nothing too serious so far:





... although I’m not sure I’ll get these rusted bolts off without a drill. I’ve heated them with a MAPP torch and used penetrating oil. I will continue this a few times a day for a few days before applying force. If force fails, I’ll leave in situ until I have more time...



Cheers

Tony

 

I managed to get off the adjusting wing nuts that are used to set the tilt of the lamp by using heat, penetrating oil and brute force:



I’m not sure I’ll be so successful with the smaller bolts (one can be seen behind the vise grips) that hold the reflector housing to the tank.

If I can’t get them off without drilling, I’ll leave them
in place until after the light up.

I’m working patiently on the reflector - it won’t be anywhere near perfect (too much corrosion in the reflector plating), but it will look much better.

I’ll take the rusty tank and reflector housing to the car wash tomorrow and spend a dollar using the high pressure hose to clean up the rust and accumulated dirt.

Cheers

Tony

 

Happy fettling!

 

@Tony Press
I can't decide if 14 FL6s is impressive or just greedy but I hope he brings them along.

If there not already on your bring list I'd like a closer look at your Evening Star and/or the Coleman LQ327

Thanks

 

@ROBBO55

I’m not sure he still has 14... that was quite some time ago.

I’ll bring those two lanterns along.

Someone will need to bring Shellite as I can’t carry it on the ferry (I can’t carry kero, either, but it’s easier to get hold of).

Cheers

Tony

 

Tony will bring shellite for you .
Bob .

 

@Lamp_Doctor

You are a gentleman, Bob.

Cheers

Tony

 

@Tony Press
I will also be bring Shellite seeing I asked for those two. Kerosene is a problem . There was a servo local that had clear kerosene on pump. But the suppliers won't deliver to him anymore (not a large enough customer). So I'm down to using Blue Kero unless I can find a pump on the way to Ballarat.

 

@ROBBO55

I might have to go to a Bunnings to get kero; unless we can get Anthony or someone local to do a bulk buy.

Cheers

Tony

 

No problem Tony, I was going to do that

 

@Anthony

Ok! We will all chip in for the kero.

Now! I’ve had more success with that old rust bucket:

I managed to free the bolts holding the reflector housing to the tank, and disassemble the large components.


Some time in the dim dark past someone had tried to unbolt this assembly, but failed (the bolt head on the left is significantly distorted.


And I’ve got the reflector from crap to almost good.

Before.


After.

A bit more work to go.

I’m now getting the tank clean on the inside.


Cheers

Tony

 

It's progressing!

 

i watched an ad for a liquid chrome . do not remember the brand .
it was brushed on and the brush marks vanished .
looked good , may not tolerate heat but could be worth investigating for reflectors .

kerry

 

@kerry460

This reflector will probably need rechroming eventually as there is an area where all the plating is missing. It looks as if the lantern was burning with a hole in the mantles and the reflector was severely burnt in one area.

Tony

 

@Tony Press @Anthony

Sounds like a good plan to me.

Tony, the FL is progressing nicely.

 

I’ve cleaned the reflector as far as I’m willing to go - I don’t want to lose any (more) chrome.

I used George’s (@kerophile over at CCS) mix of citric acid and wallpaper glue to remove the grime and corrosion (using a lot of careful elbow grease). I then gave it a polish with Autosol.

After:


After with flash in daylight.


Before:


Cheers

Tony

 

That certainly made a remarkable difference, Tony! You are inspiring me to start working on mine!

 

Good shine on the reflector. Clearly shows the heat damage but should give a good output when rebuilt and lit.

 

Nice

 

I gave the rusty reflector cage a wash down with a high pressure water hose then brushed of the loose rust. The bottom area was quite rusty and had rusted through in parts.



I decided that the best thing to do was to treat this area with a layer of JB Weld, and ensure the holes were filled:

Inside.


Outside before sanding.


This part of the lamp is fine now. I’ve treated all the rest of it with rust converter, and I will start painting it.

I had to make a new handle for the pump; and managed to find a correctly threaded 26 tpi BSF nut.


In the meantime I’ve made sure my two other FL6s are running properly.



Life’s good!

Tony