Thread: Tilley vapouriser

I have a few old Tilley lanterns . A common problem with them is the vapouriser tube becomes clogged with carbon and the tiny .006" jet in the end of the vapouriser is often enlarged and the lantern runs too rich

I was thinking of making a new vapouriser, its a 3/8" thin walled steel tube 5" long . The tube has two plugs inside with about a 20 thou hole through the plugs. There is also a pricker inside the vapouriser, the pricker moves up/down , it is a thin wire with a tiny tip on its end that cleans the vapouriser jet.

I can buy a aftermarket brass vapouriser with a replaceable jet but these are a very expensive item.

Question: is it possible to drill a .006" hole ? Are there any other methods for making a .006" hole ?


65tilley2.jpg

Originally Posted by morrisman

Question: is it possible to drill a .006" hole ?

You can buy 0.006" (#97) drill bits, so it must be!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Five-Solid-...75.c100623.m-1

You absolutely can but obviously the drill is going to need seriously high rpm and a very gentle hand feed, you will probably need to make a little hand feed device.

If you know some one with a jewellers/watch makers lathe it would be a fairly simple job

I was thinking of using hypodermic needles for orifices for an air bearing I was toying with.
Fitting one inside another till the OD reached a size I could cope with.
The smallest needle ID is .005"
Just a thought.

With small drill bits like that there is absolutely no feel when drilling a hole with them so they break very, very easily. I once turned a stainless master cylinder which required a .05 hole, must have broken half a dozen bits...

This is the setup I used to drill the 0.5mm hole in the fuel spray bar for a model diesel engine. 0.15mm is considerably smaller, but those eBay carbide drill bits should be OK in brass if you peck drill very carefully.

The thread on the lower end of the vapouriser is a odd ball size .

It appears to be 11/32 X 36 tpi . I have heard that some companies used odd ball thread sizes in order to prevent anybody from copying their product.

The brass threaded section is made from brass and I could probably remove it from the vaporiser and reuse it.

Could you adapt a standard gas jet to fit? I believe a Number 3 gas jet has 0.15mm bore and a 1BA outer thread.

https://www.forest-classics.co.uk/ce...gas-jet-size-3

Some info on gas jets: LPG/propane/butane Gas jet sizes - Home Model Engine Machinist

Originally Posted by jack620

Could you adapt a standard gas jet to fit? I believe a Number 3 gas jet has 0.15mm bore and a 1BA outer thread.

https://www.forest-classics.co.uk/ce...gas-jet-size-3

Some info on gas jets: LPG/propane/butane Gas jet sizes - Home Model Engine Machinist

Yes I was thinking along the same lines. Thanks for the links !

I found these on Epay https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-pieces...75.c100623.m-1

I managed to remove the brass section off the end of the vapouriser, I was surprised to see it is threaded into the steel vapouriser tube.


The thin wire pricker fits inside the vapouriser tube, as the main on/off valve is turned, the pricker moves up/down into the jet and cleans the jet . There are guides inside the tube to guide the thin tip into the jet

pricker.jpg

vapend.jpg

I must admit that I would be thinking along the lines of adapting an existing jet to replace the original one. Here in the UK conversion jet kits, from town gas to LPG are easily available for gas hobs and ovens, though I think that the ones for an oven may be a little large.

This is the stud for holding the vent on my 1952 Aussie made Coleman kero lantern

Can anybody ID the thread sizes ? The larger diam. is .425" and appears to be 28 tpi. The smaller diam. is .335" and appears to be 26 tpi . Thanks

stud.jpg

[QUOTE=morrisman;1933721]This is the stud for holding the vent on my 1952 Aussie made Coleman kero lantern

One possibility could be BSB thread form. Alan

I think you might be out of luck looking for a standard for those threads. FWIW I have an old Aladdin Storm Lantern which I bought about 1943, and a blowlamp I bought in 1955. Both of these were manufactured in Australia, but both used the Swedish special-for-the-purpose threads used, I suspect, originally by Primus, but later also by Optimus and other Swedish manufacturers of similar appliances. I wonder if Tilley went the same way?

After reading your post I had a look at a couple of lamp restoration forums since I intend to restore the Aladdin "one day", and found a couple of references to non-standard threads on Tilley lamps. I am surprised how much in the way of spare parts is still available for these lanterns.

If they were a special thread peculiar to Tilley they would probably be of Whitworth/BSF/BSB form, i.e 55 degree thread angle, and with rounded tops and valleys.

Frank.