Team, have begun the fettle but have a few questions if you all can help please? New seals kit from TW Sands. Thoroughly cleaned and polished fount. Used Cyanoacrylate to seal a couple vertical stress cracks. Replaced gland packing. Removed worn vapouriser seal and replaced. Replaced fuel filler cap seal. Replaced jet. New pricker installed and aligned. NRV was allowing fuel to be drawn into pump tube so replaced with a primus stove equivalent. Not sure if this ok but appears to fit/work. Happy to take suggestions here. Questions: Have noticed that sometimes it appears the vacuum effect is quite strong and it's difficult to withdraw the pump to apply a stroke. Is this caused by incorrect nrv? Now, what is the brass washer in the fuel filler cap for? What purpose does or serve? I have put the new viton seal over it, is this correct? How many pump strokes required after preheat completed? 20, 30? What is correct mantle or equivalent to use? Have searched forum but believe it has not been stated here. Have seen reference to butterfly but not sure. How should the mantle be tied to ceramic spreader? High up or low toward the flame area? Cheers to you all in advance!
Hi there and welcome to the CPL. I have fettled a few of these classic Australian lantern. Mantle i use big mantle like butterfly 300 to 500 cp, they seem to like it. I tie the mantel low on to the end where there is a lip just for tiying the mantle to stop it from falling of when burnt. Do you have start up instuctions? The brass thing is just a spacer that allow the seal to fit evenly over the filler cap. The vacume effect, do you have enough oil on leather cup, it lubrcates the pump, or the leather deeds to be worn in or you may have too thick leather cup. I hope this helps. Look in the gallery for other aladdins, folow the read up threads, very useful and great reading.
@JohnL Keep a close eye on your stress cracks. My advice is to put you lantern on a dish or similar when your storing it because I’m not sure how well the “cyanoacrylate” will hold up. There are instructions for operating the Aladdin 1A in the Reference Library (you need to be a subscriber), but I pump to 70 full pumps. Like Darryl, I use a big mantle (500cp Petromax). Cheers Tony
Hi John, I am assuming this is your first lantern? and fettle, what style of tank is it, painted, bare brass, chrome? if you would like a good tank to eliminate the stress cracks I will send you one after Xmas, that will be better and safer than the one you have, regards Frank
Cynoacrilate is handy for all sorts of things "but can be brittle" . ***I would "NOT" trust it on a presurised metal tank .*** Think what may happen if the crack opened and a spray of kero caught alight If you decide to take the risk do it outside in a clear non flammable area with a shield between it and you and Not on a fire ban day
@outback boy Thanks for that! I got it going so super glue holding but cant get mantle ignited (using a gasmate gm300 cos keen to see it lit) Seems to flame around it as per photo. Mantle gets blacker. Pressure seems good because when I release fuel filler cap there is a nice hiss. Fuel flows nicely out of jet (when off of course) Any thoughts?
Reading this thread I can say my flame spreader is completely loose. Can't be jet as this is new but ill check that its tight.
Will do @Darryl Durdin Ceramic spreader definitely looks good but it rotates freely. It sits in a collar so unsure how I would open that to fit a washer between ceramic and brass screw section? I did tighten jet when I fitted but will recheck. Didn't want to over-tighten. Vapouriser was clear. But didn't check the loop...not sure how you would clean that. I have seen posts of people using wire but it seems impossible to me at this early stage of my fettling career.
John, send me a private message with your Full name and address, I will send you a good brass tank, let me knows if you need anything else, Frank
Did you burn off the mantle before lighting with pressure, have you checked that the air/J tube is clear of wasps/ spiders. Is the Preston loop clear etc check by blowing through with a small round plug on a thin rod so air forced through loop (or use the pricker rod minus pricker) you will have to readjust pricker ) The meths cup takes close to 3 minutes to pre heat did you heat long enough ? Clearng loop-- Bicycle gear change cable should work, curl end and feed in from top with jet removed and twist while feeding in. or heat and gentle tapping if you quench "MAKE SURE IT IS dry" before lighting as steam can burst vaporisers
@JohnL G'day John, Here is the post showing the construction of the flame spreader. I would not recommend trying to open the collar. I machined a crimping tool to fit in a hydraulic press to put it back together again. I believe the original washer was asbestos and recommend muffler or stove pipe putty to seal the gap. Aladdin Flame Spreader problem
Hi there, you need to get to this I made this from a car door handle remover, it works a treat, to access the hex nut, the round collar part screws onto the j pipe. Air intake. I use the pointy part of an old small wood chisel it bights in when tapped to rotate round collar under flange and ceramic burner This is the j pipe or air intake, it needs to be cleared . If you can dismantle it all give a good clean pup back to gether, it will work better, i hope this helps. As the fellas have mentioned above, stress cracks, in tank, take up the generous offer of a tank with no crack, safe act, safe condition.
Here is an Aladdin vaporiser and the carbon removed by gentle tapping after using the stranded wire cable (which appears to have started life as a car hood release cable) it is 1.2mm overall dia and about 19 strands The other piece of rod has a plug to suit i.d of vaporiser between ends of preston loop (the thicker section of pricker rod is too small seal the vaporiser between ends of preston loop
@Graham P Thanks for the tips. Confirm I burnt mantle off properly. Meth cup full and preheat was at least 3 min. J loop clean. Vaporiser clean. Used cable as you indicated and got into Preston loop. Not too much debris came loose, bike brake cable works its way through nice and easy. @ROBBO55 Flame spreader is squeaky clean. @Darryl Durdin Thanks for the pictures. Unfortunately (probably as I’ve assembled and disassembled so many times) I have busted the pricker so need to order a new one. I’m also going to replace the font washer. It needs to sit for a while until these two bits come in. Will pick up and advise how I go.
So, it appears that with new pricker installed, the height of the pricker is not enough to go through jet when you turn the control valve. The thin brass rod that you screw the pricker into is simply not long enough. Could it be that this broke with a previous owner? When I unscrew this rod from the block that the control rod latches into, I can see there is only about 3mm of thread. Is it possible to get a new pricker supporting rod? Or is there a substitute?
Hi John, the rod screws into the ecentric block, there should be about 10mm of thread, there should be a small locking nut, this is where most of the adjustment is, it only needs a few threads and lock in place, also where the pricker screws into, you can adjust it here as well, send me a picture of what you have and whats happening, no need to buy pricker rod ill send you one, i have plenty of Aladdin parts, if you do look for parts Radius 119 needles, rod etc are the same, I will post some pictures of the whole set up I hope this helps
The cleaning needle rod for these are extremely easy to make by yourself. And by doing them yourself, you can always tweak the length slightly if you are having problems with the needle not going far enough up in the jet, or the other way around. Here's an old post of it.
Hi John, here's a picture of an assembled pricker and rod and ecentric block, and a break down, you should have enogh thread, if yours doses not look like mine, something is amiss, ive added the ruler for a guide to lengths, I hope this helps
