As most people here will already know, I'm pretty tight... frugal, penny pinching, economic with my cash, mean, miserly, penny-pinching.... So.... I'm about to make a Coleman style pre-heating cup out of one of these: and some of this: The basic construction is dead simple but my question is: will standard tin/lead solder hold when the meths is burned in the cup? And the reason I'm making one is simple: in the States they cost maybe a couple of bucks from the Coleman store, whereas here in the UK (if you can find one which I couldn't) it will probably cost £96 +postage, +tax + transfer fee + I don't like your face tax +Oh, it's Thursday I'll charge you twice fee...... etc etc etc. It just makes me mad as hell so I'm making my own... and it'll be better... and cheaper (actually maybe not) and I'll have made it so it'll be satisfying..... so long as it doesn't fall to pieces! PS. What is silver solder and do I need a degree to use it and will it work on copper?
@ColinG Ordinary solder will be ok for your spirit cup. I would use electrical solder with 2% silver. “Silver solder” (brass with silver for brazing) requires much higher temperatures (a MAPP torch rather than propane) than ordinary solder. You don’t need a PhD, but practice helps. Cheers Tony
Thank you so much Tony! As soon as the bits arrive I'll set to work and post the results when I'm done.
G,,day Tony beat me to it . normal or electrical solder is fine. i have made a few cups for Tilley lanterns , no problems . kerry
There is no real magic with Silver solder. It's just a higher melt point and therefore wants a hotter flame. Uses a different flux but otherwise works exactly the same as a lead type solder. For small items I found the Mapp gas torch is too hot and tends to melt brass parts so I use the same torch as for soft solder. It can be very handy to be able to silver solder/braze as you can then fettle stuff around lamps generators and burners which would melt the softer solder. ::Neil::
You might also consider the lead free solder now required for electronics assembly. RoHs directive and blah. Melting point is quite a lot higher, some makes are Tin 99%. If you want to really empty the wallet choose one with some silver content.
I was thinking about giving this a try for my Tilley but decided to just bite the bullet and buy one since I wasn't sure if the solder would survive the heat. I'd be interested in seeing the results and if it turns out well I'll maybe try myself. I don't quite know how I would design a Tilley one but I'm sure it would be possible.
Well it would look just like a Vapalux / Bialaddin one (the small cup variety rather than the wide plate type) but with a smaller diameter centre tube. In fact, W&B/Bairstow Bros. made them on an aftermarket basis for Tilley lanterns, the main selling point being that once fitted, they couldn't be lost. I think the centre tube extended downwards beyond the base of the cup for about 3/8" just to raise it slightly on the vapouriser. As an aside, W&B/Bairstows also made vapourisers to fit Tilley lanterns and they pop up on eBay from time-to-time, sometimes in a plain white box...
@bobskie It’s the same methodology. Make sure it is concentric with the vapouriser and that there is no significant obstruction of air flow into the burner through the bottom of the glass. Cheers Tony
You can put a small twist of wire around the vapouriser just above the wick to eliminate the possibility of the preheater sliding up and ruining the mantle e.g. during transport...
I just checked and 35mm and 42mm copper end caps are available that could be used to make a wider pre-heat cup.
I'll maybe try making one when I start to build my collection a bit more, not much point now since I only have 2 lamps and one is beyond economical repair (guardsman with no glass and badly rusted hood).
Oh right I get how they work now, you just leave them on all the time. Excellent work. I was trying to think of how to make a removable one. That shouldn't be too hard to make then, I've never soldered pipes before but plenty wires and the tank on my Alladin blue flame heater so should be manageable. Thanks for the picture very helpful.
