Tilley X359 burner pre heater

Hi fellas, im working on a x359, can someone please point me in the right direction on how they work and a expanded diagram.thank you

 

Perhaps you can get some good out of this old thread.
Neil has some good pictures of the preheater there.

 

The bit that causes most trouble works (not) by an odd shaped piece of rubber sheet being swung about a pivot, such that a hole in the rubber hits-and-misses with a opening in the alloy casting, which admits the fuel to the preheater nozzle.

As a means of spending many happy hours in trimming nitrile sheet to very critical shapes, it performs well. But the pip that rotates the seal readily rides-up or the seal rucks-up, which is rather frustrating. Some sort of needle valve would have been a more reliable control

 

Most definitely ! An Optimus type preheater with sideways moving lever springs immediately to mind but a Petromax type with spring loaded overcentre lever would have worked equally as well.

Henry.

 

Hi fellas, I've been cleaning up the lantern, i did pull apart the burner to see what makes it tick.
No sure what the valve cock thing is made of, its a bit tatty and chewed, but it still moves and is in one piece, i still have the pins on the burner shroud and cast head jet part.
I have the piece that went on the bottom of the pickup tube, pickup tube is hard and feels brittle.
Here are some pictures.

 

@Darryl Durdin

G'day Darryl,

Don't reassemble it without the seal and try twisting it! The device is spring loaded and without the seal the two surfaces come together. Twisting will shear off one of the pins. I know!

I made a new seal from the gasket material I use for the burner on kero stoves. They have been in two lanterns for about 18 months and still work. I'm not sure what the original seal was made from.

There should be a filter on the end of the pickup tube. Yes they have gone stiff and brittle with age.

The jet was blocked on one and I cleared it with ultrasonic treatment and compressed air. Couldn't find a cleaning wire small enough.

 

If I may hijack this topic a little:
I bought this lantern a year ago. It looked good until it came here. The previous owner had re-glued the torch in place so it looked ok. It obvious is missing the main pre heater parts.
Anyone who can help with the missing parts ?

 

Gee wizz thats not good, bit ripped off, i did pay a pretty penny for mine i hope to get it going once i sort out the valve material used. I have another one of these lanterns, im going to check that one as well, if im going to make 1 I'll make 2.
Ive never seen parts of the preheater for sale, someone may have one.

 

Darryl,
I know they are rare.
Maybe there is a wrecked lantern out there with a good pre heater.
The construction itself is somewhat "cheap", if they only had used a brass tank part, it would already be a better design.
Its easy to wreck the plastic only by destroying the thread.

As a replacement I can only think of the PX rapid but the closure, on/off, would be a challenge to match the Tilley design.
I guess that other rotating rapid design are also rare.

 

I don't own one but from what I can see if that rapid lighter is messed up, and you can't fix it, then all you have is a plain Tilley lantern, minus the bells and whistles!

 

@Darryl Durdin Sorry, Darryl. I should be more up beat... That's one lucky find and I know they are not easy to find and when you do they require a "second mortgage"! Very bad day, lot of pain but here at CPL I can forget about the pain for a while.

 

Its all good , fettling is most of the fun, i do realise if i can not get it to function as a x359, i will have a expencive tilley with no bells or whistles. Shelf queen, im am determined to see if i can replicate the pre heat burner valve bit. Put my fettling skills to a test.

 

@Darryl Durdin, at least you have more parts then I have.

 

Hi fellas i have made a swing shut off thing for my 359 pre heater here are some pictures, it seems to open and close.


Ill have to wait until tomorrow to see if it works.

 

looks good.

 

Darryl You are amazing! Tip of the hat and best of luck, mate!

 

Nice work Darryl. Have you checked this post from @Matthew92 ?
November 1959 Tilley X359

Henry.

 

Hi fellas, not too sucessful, seemed to go together good, but when i put fuel in and pumped presure it leaked, it did have a fine jey of kero, it did shur off, but i think it didnt cover the little jet tight enough, i did apply my blow torch to get it to burn, no flaming jet but it all caught on fire and melted part of my nylon/plastic preheater bottom.
Am i missing something? What to do, i pulled it apart cleaned it up, i can try again.

 

I have made a gate valve from 3-4mm viton rubber, it works better at sealing off the jet . Ive had some success, a few short vidios and pics
My vids are to big to post

 

@Darryl Durdin
Looks like you’re on the right track, well done.
You mentioned making a gate valve with Viton.
How did you make it, and what does it look like?
Is it the same shape as the original gasket?
Cheers
Pete

 

@AussiePete
I copied the blue one i made, i found that the blue gasket didnt seal over the jet hole, when onder pressure it leaked, the burner is spring loaded, so i copied it in 4mm viton rubber, it took a bit of razor blade cutting, drilled the two small holes on the ends, the hole to cover the jet i drilled abit bigger, i had to fine tue the shape to work the full cam gate , its a bit fiddly, i did get it together, cam worked better, when i put it under pressure it didnt leak, but when i started it up the fine mist spray ignited when lite, it works, ishut it off, assemble the lantern and light it up again.
Lots of pressure flame, very exciting, lots of black smoke, blackened the mantle, i dont know how long to let it pre heat it was filling my room up with smoke and the preheat started to leak and i think the vaporisor leaked as well, lots of flames and a worried face, i shut it all down.
I did film it but dont know how to post it, if you can send a email adress ill send the video.
I will either make another one or pull it apart and take more picture.

 

@Darryl Durdin Keep trying, Darryl! I know you can do it!

 

X359 lighting instructions https://classicpressurelamps.com/threads/tilly-storm-lantern-model-x359.6374/

 

@Darryl Durdin
Thanks mate, I've got some 4mm piton sheet here. I'll give it a go.
Thanks for your help
Pete

 

@ROBBO55
Thanks mate for the lighting instructions. They'll come in handy when I attempt to get my X395 going.
Cheers
Pete

 

Ive made a new valve gate.
I used 3mm viton rubber

I traced around it with a scalpel, marked the holes with a dart.

My tools i used
I did hand drill the two small end holes and drill the bigger centre hole, i used the drill bit like a file to clear the holes.

I shaped it using my file,

Its looking good.

The blue gasket worked in operation, open close but did not seal the jet. I used 3mm viton rubber as it was all i had, it works but after my original extreme start up it leaked again, maybe 4mm next one, but it all hinges on the little pins, one in the top burner part and one in the cast piece jet inside the burner.
I hope this is good reading and view.
Thanks fellas
@AussiePete

 

This is the best combination for the seal/shutter, a 1mm thick viton and 1mm thick brass laminate, epoxy adhesive to bond the two. The brass ensures the pivot slot ‘ears’ don’t break off, the viton provides excellent sealing properties. The component needs to be as thin as possible (2mm max). It’s under mild compression from a spring and any thicker and it would bind on the jet block, making on/off action stiff and tearing the seal surface.






Tillites working reliably, on X359 lantern …



… and CS56 stove











John

 

Brace yourselves... this is the return of The Tillite!

 

@presscall Extremely well done mate, I'm very impressed with your perseverance, skills and results.
Ladies and gentlemen we have in our presence the Tillite king.
Congratulations mate.
So how much are you selling the seals for?

 

I posted on this old thread @MYN @Buggerlugs just to update it for future reference for anyone researching the device, since it had ended unresolved in terms of a working Tillite. I’ve merely shown that they can be made to work reliably.

I don’t propose to make seals to sell because my time’s worth more to me than coin, but I’ll see what I can do to get you an example to try out on one of your Tillites @Buggerlugs