Is it possible that someone would be able to confirm the size of the ball bearing in the early Tilley control tap please? thanks in advance pb
@podbros Hi i cannot measure the ball on the early control due to it being fixed inside the tap with a steel ring. However i have had a couple where the ring has rusted out and previous owners have lost the ball so they cannot lift the vapouriser needle. So i got a ball race from a bike shop and replaced it with a ball bearing from the ball race. Size of these balls is .25 inches or 1/4 inch size work fine once in place Cheers pete
Hi Pete, Thanks very much for that, that is a great help !! Actually theres a bike shop not too far away, ill go by tomorrow as hes closed Wed Ah, so there’s meant to be a steel ring in there? hmm, that explains the rust inside.. i had pondered on that the tap you have shown is similar to another one i have except that i think mine is later.. i will try to get some photos Thanks again!!! Cheers :-) pod
Off to the bike shop in a mo, calipers in hand and a song in my heart some photos of the tap in question No b/bearing visible but a bit o rust the thing you can see is the bent wire that the ball rests on you might think on first appearance that the bottom part of the tap on the right is missing but that’s how it was made as the model seems to have been a budget lamp As Pete said there is a steel ring to hold the ball in place.. looks like it mite be a split ring?
Hi pod Hope you get the size you need if not could send you one. That tap in your picture is very rare. It was fitted to the cottage lamp about 1927 but tilley used the hexagonal control valve way back maybe 1924 or earlier i have had 2 in 30years but never seen anymore on lamps i found. So what lamp is this on pod? Picture of one i had notice longer stem and no screw holding the knob on the screw on the knob came on later version as yours Cheers pete
Hi Pete, thanks for the offer of the bearing ; tbh i already had a few metric bearings but nothing seemed to work.. either too tight and the button wouldn’t turn or not enough and the needle wasnt showing out of the jet which is why i asked as nothing seemed to work or make sense so i went an got a couple of 1/4” from the cycle repair bloke, ded helpful he was, said to go back if they didn’t work, anyway got back and tried it .. the needle wasnt showing.. tried a different vapouriser and it worked! perhaps there is wear to it and other factors like vapouriser washer thicknesses but my head was starting to spin.. i might have to make a note of things and take a snap or two as i cant do much more on it for the time being Yes, its off a cottage lamp but sadly the gallery is missing.. had some soldering as well.. still i spose better than nothing edit : i noticed the stem on mine is short.. ill have to try and carefully ease off the grubscrew as theres no room to get some Teflon in there forgot to take pics of the end that is different to other control taps.. no shut off valve or sock filter @pete sav Thanks for all your help an photos saved the day :-)
Well glad you sorted it pod be a nice lamp for your collection. I would not try to take the grub screw off the control knob very high chance of it shearing off. Just use a few wraps of teflon tape will seal it up anyway for use Cheers pete
@Sammi Jane if you scroll up to Pete’s first post the tap has a dark piece of material on the lower part.. this functioned as a filter for the fuel.. nearly all of the prewar lamps with this type of control tap used them before the switch to the next type of tap which has a fine piece of mesh instead; fixed into a little cup that unscrews to access the washer and spring .. I’ll try and find a photo the earlier taps were designated XN the later taps are GF thanks to j osinga
Oops, I thought it was a typo... I've seen that type of filter on one of Broadlander's videos, and when I peered into the lantern I've just fettled.
