Dear all, After receiving an early 1970s lantern which otherwise was in reasonable condition I decided to strip the paint and investigate further as the base plate seemed particularly ‘blown’ in one area.. .. even the sidewall of the tank was affected, something I hadn’t noticed before? The base was noticeably oval, so I began with Wickes (Uk diy store) paint stripper and an old bin liner to keep the fumes where they were needed .. It comes off more easily than the earlier lamps and you can see the grey primer as well With the paint removed I commenced operations that involved a hacksaw.. .. almost there.. Yes, there seems to be a slight problem now .. and after a little cleaning… At least 50% of the soldered areas were affected.. Distortion clearly visible.. Thanks to @Henry Plews and other members for the inspiration ; the tank fittings will be removed for a possible project hope it’s of interest to someone, cheers pb
I do enjoy a spot of investigative surgery on lamps/stoves! Not damage I’d have expected from over-pressurisation, which I would have thought would produce a uniform bulge across the whole diameter and not the oval distortion.
Thanks Jeff ! Yes, that makes good recycling sense Thanks John ! It is a strange one.. tbh where the smaller cracks are it does have more of a uniform bulge.. i dont know why one more localised area has deformed to such a degree? It wasn’t leaking either, which is a surprise when you examine it closely cheers! @JEFF JOHNSON @presscall
I rarely get the chance to see the inside of a tank with the solder removed, so this was very educational. Thanks for sharing the photos.
Isn't this an area where the solder has not flowed as well as other parts of the circumference? I reckon it let go at the weakest point. If the solder had flowed equally it would take more pressure before letting go and it would do so all the way round. Good pictures. I have one that is partly gone. Evenly and just enough to have a tiny wobble when sitting on the rim. It's a regular user but it never gets given much pressure. Someone else did that. It goes perfectly well with 10-20 strokes.
Thanks @Camp numao you are welcome Thanks @JonD Quite possibly but it does look fairly well tinned with tiny flecks of brass sticking to the solder on the base side? I managed to take a photo which shows the difference between the non-blown part and some of the other slightly cracked areas So on the left between the faint blue lines you might be able to see a flatter curve similar to an undistorted base plate? Whereas on the right hand side, between the red lines is what we see for a blown base plate.. the curve is more pronounced.. The cracks in the second photo above may look big but they are only about 1mm wide at the widest point Obviously the main crack you can start to get your finger in there ! hard to see from the ‘inside’ images but there is a spoon shaped area by the big crack.. tried to show it like this
Wow that's buggerd isn't it? Very interesting stuff. I definitely wouldn't have used it, that's for sure. Why not investigate when there is nothing to lose.
A great reminder to check carefully the integrity of founts. I have a great worry too with some older lanterns with steel bases in regard to possible rust damage. In both of these situations the now readily available endoscopes may be of use. I purchased one from a well known online company for just $40 and it seems to work reasonably well though a bit fiddly to move it around in smaller founts. The head diameter is about 8 mm. Thanks @podbros for promoting this safety issue.
For me, if it has a blown fount off to the scrap yard, keep all the space parts of course. Or if I don't have that particular lamp, then I will keep it as a shelfqueen. I stick to the golden rule. If in doubt throw it out.
Agree 100%. I have ditched a few and used parts like you have suggested. I have also embarked on a recheck of all my Coleman lantern steel bases for rust and the endoscope is a useful tool to try to see more than a small area through the filler plug hole.
