I am coming around to thinking @Tony Press had the best idea here. Korean Tilley Vapourisers These cost 50% more but if they have a long life and if there is the possibility of repair parts remaining available for a long time I am giving it serious thought. I wonder if there would be a price reduction for ordering in quantity.... group buy anyone? A few things put me off. The picture in his Ebay advertisement looks different - much more like a standard one. I would want to be sure of getting exactly what Tony has. This is my main reason for hesitation...
@JonD The seller has had two different types for sale. I think the one for sale at the moment it the copy of the Tilley vapouriser. When I get up in the morning I’ll find my original order and get back to you so don’t purchase yet. Cheers Tony
Thanks @Tony Press ! That is interesting about the possibility of two types and it would explain a lot. I expect they will have quite different prices too. Still with hindsight I reckon it would have been cheaper going your way in the long run.
Atealthepies, If a 0.2mm orifice is difficult, maybe a 0.5mm or larger would do with a full size pricker to match. You wouldn't want a conical fuel jet. But then you would have to make everything else bigger. You would also need to ensure that the vaporizer could effectively vaporize a larger fuel flow.(You don't want to end up making a flame-thrower). You'll be making at least a Quad-mantle lamp with rated output of 1000-2000cp. And you're going to need a level of persistence and determination that's at least on par with that of someone like, i.e., Thomas Edison? Tall order indeed.
MYN, yes 0.2mm holes are too difficult for my skill level and tools. I can do it but I break about 5-10 drill bits for every successful hole. Once a bit breaks off in the hole the piece is ruined if there isn’t a bit you can pull out which there usually isn’t! I see what you are saying about making everything bigger and I shall certainly try that out but I’ve recently found a good workaround to my drilling woes that I’m working on and will show it soon if there is good progress to report!
All the toolings and jigs holding the workpiece have to be perfectly balanced and steady...be it high or low speeds. Any wobbles on either the drill bit or the workpiece (whichever is rotating) when you set to high speed, will not do the job. I can't even find any drill bits smaller than 0.5mm here to start with. Unless anyone has other ways of making a tiny hole besides drilling?? Laser? Water-jet cutting?
Put it this way, I’ve given up trying to drill such small holes and now am trying 3D printer nozzles! They come in 0.2mm jet size and are cheap as chips! You can get packs of five for a few quid delivered from China!
I believe thes jets go as small as 0.1mm. So should be handy for experimenting tho the 0.1,0.2 and 0.3 mm are probably the only ones that will be useful?
Wish.com has the jets and also cleaner wire for sale at good prices. Hope I can mention them. I might even try that route myself.
It is something to think about. What is the thread on the back end? It looks like the thread angle is quite fine. It could be 1mm pitch perhaps but not much meat in the tops of the threads? I reckon 3d printer plastic sludge wont leak past a small gap. Paraffin vapour? Just watch that space! I meant to add a few days ago. I have drilled a brass screw to about 0.5mm from the end and then put a 0.2mm hole though what remains with a stainless steel guitar string, flattened on two sides with a diamond file. Fun it wasn't so I'm not adding more details. It might have worked perhaps.
Jon it’s regular Metric M6 x 1. Yes the sealing of the Brass jet to the steel body can be tricky. I had some success with very thin Copper washers. Also gonna try a dab of Stove rope adhesive on the threads. The temperature rating of this glue is 1350 degrees C so should hold up but not sure yet about if contact with Paraffin will degrade it at all? I’ve searched for another product that can seal threads while resisting the high temperatures at the tip of the Vap tube but so far have drawn a blank? I believe that the way the professionals get a good seal is just with a Brass on Brass conical male/female joint, correct me if this is wrong?
I think the hardest part to replicate with these diy replaceable jets is the cleaning wire positioning so it always is dead central to the hole. The design of the standard vap tubes keeps the wire in the centre with a spring or another means. But right at the top there is a concave depression and maybe a tiny countersink?? That allows some wobble in the wire tip entering the jet hole, sort of like when jet planes refuel in the air, the fuel plane has a cone on a pipe and the empty plane with a pointed nozzle can manuever and be off a fraction but the nozzle slides up the cone and connects? These 3D nozzles internally just have a hole in a flat surface through them. To get such a fine wire to line up and be operational every time with the control cock is very tricky and may need the inside of the hole to be countersunk with a 0.2mm to whatever size bit? I’ve already tried poking a standard cleaning wire through just the jet hole and it fits just fine in length. It takes lots of delicate tries to locate the hole without any locating system in place.
I agree with the above. Poking a fine wire through a 0.2mm orifice on a flat surface is practically unfeasible. Depends too much on 'luck'. A conical countersunk on the inner surface of the nozzle is essential. No other means is as reliable.
@Tony Press - wonder if you found that invoice from Korea please Tony? I would like to get in contact with them. It's time to spend the cash - but only on the right thing! I have not tried the contact option through Ebay so far, thinking that a direct email would be much better. I would be very interested to know if you happen to have an Email address for them.
@JonD Jon I’ve been bushwalking the Three Capes Track; just back. The vapourisers (7” and 5”) I bought from kk4602 in October 2016 were steel with brass removable nipples as seen in this thread: Korean Tilley Vapourisers I don’t have email for the seller; but I have communicated with the seller through eBay. Tony
Several years ago, before I joined the forum, I had a challenge of an eroded nipple on a Petromax lantern. Rather than buy a new one I decided to resize the original. At the time I was consulting on high pressure washers that require 0.6-0.8mm orifices from 2-3mm in length in stainless steel. Not easy to drill. I experimented with drawing 3mm diameter stainless steel tube down to a size to give an inside diameter of 0.7mm. This gave an outside diameter of 1.3mm, a much easier to drill without expensive micro drilling equipment. Most jetting equipment now uses ceramic orifices. That being said I did manage to draw 1.6mm OD brass tube down to 0.75mm OD diameter giving me an inside diameter of 0.8mm. The tube was drawn down in 0.1mm stages annealing the tube between stages. The nipple was drilled out to 0.75mm and the drawn tube was silver soldered in place, leaving 1mm proud of the nipple to prevent solder entering the tube. The outside was filed flat and a 45 degree reamer used to smooth the inside of the nipple. I still have the draw plate and some samples of the drawn tube and I have taken a few photographs. If I have to resize another in the future I will take some photo's of the process.
@Tony Press - thanks for info. Hope you enjoyed the walk. The drawing process is interesting but sorry I don't yet understand the diameters involved. I suppose you were heading for an ID of about 0.23mm or so for the Petromax jet depending which HK version you had?
Yes I was aiming for a 0.2mm diameter. The sequence of the images got jumbled somehow. It was meant to show the outside diameter and inside diameter of a couple of the stages of the drawing process, there are 9 stages and I thought showing more would have been a bit redundant. What I failed to mention were the "smoothing broaches" that are used to indicate the inside diameter of the various draws. Smoothing broaches are an essential tool for anyone dealing with small diameter holes. They are primarily a tool used by watchmakers and toolmakers to produce holes of an "exact" size. Anyone restoring lamps/lanterns should have a set of these. They are available from www.cousinsuk.com and www.hswalsh.com.They range in size from 0.05mm to 3mm. Don't try ebay or you will get overpriced "modelcraft" crap. I will have a go at putting the images in order to make it a little clearer. Unless you are confident with working with metal, I have more than 50 years in the trade, it is not a simple exercise but sometimes it's worth it if a replacement is not available. The last image is the tube drawn to 0.75mm OD and 0.2 ID. Subsequent drawing to a smaller diameter did not lead to a reduction in inside diameter only an increase in length. Somewhere there is a doctoral thesis as to why it is so but as I achieved my goal of 0.2mm I was happy. It would be nice though to get it down to 0.01mm but I think this can only be achieved by rotary swaging that cost big $ to set up
I could see that you've got an alternative there Jones. What about the setup of any machineries used for the tube drawing process? Wouldn't that be rather involved?
Thanks for the clarification. The smoothing broaches sound useful. Acupuncture needles are also available below 0.2mm which is the limit of commonly available guitar strings. Top E 0.008" is useful for testing 0.2mm jets.
I’ve been testing various 3D printer jets and found one type that basically centres the wire tip pretty much perfectly!! I can’t quite make out how it’s made on the inside but it must be a conical hole just before the 0.2mm hole exactly like I wanted! The first lot of jets will be scrapped and these new ones take their place. I’m proper happy as this was one of the most difficult things to replicate in designing a replaceable jet Vap tube !
