Hi, Where are people currently getting vapourisers? I haven't seen any 169's on Ebay for a while and Tilley seem to have discontinued all vapourisers presumably due to their quality issues. I know basecamp do one which is supposed to be quite good but it's really quite expensive. Otherwise there is a Korean dismantlable affair still available on Ebay but I've heard people have had limited success with them regarding leaks, running rich etc. Alternatively does anyone have any 7 inch tested or NOS that they'd like to sell? I need 3 or 4 ideally to keep one spare. Many thanks!
Hi if basecamp list them as Tilley i would give Mike a ring.. he gets them from Tilley.. last time i spoke he was testing them before he sent them out to help with returns..
I think he's stopped selling the Tilley ones, he has another one now listed as "best quality available" but they are best part of £50 each!
When I converted all my Guardsman lamps to the 7" vapouriser with custom extension legs (around this time last year), I bought seven 169 vapourisers from Tilley and tested the lot on receipt. As it turned out only one was faulty, which I duly returned to them, and they sent me a replacement which was fine. I do have 3 NOS ones from the 70's and certainly they are better quality than the new ones, but I do think the problems with the newer versions are somewhat overblown are they not?? I wonder if Tilley plan on continuing production with a different manufacturer? I guess 50 quid is currently the going rate for precision engineering and good quality control. Presumably then, the ones Base Camp sell aren't necessarily made in China...?
I plan to phone Tilley and see whether they are planning to start selling them again. I have only bought one from them previously, a 606 which was faulty out of the box. They did replace it for me though and the replacement worked fine. I had a play around yesterday and cut up an old 606 that was heavily carboned up. Removed the internal baffles, cleaned it properly and then made up an extension piece to extend it to 7" and used high temp silver solder to rejoin. So far seems to be working well. I'm also having play around with using brass 3d printer nozzles for ones I have that are enlarged and have already been peened a couple of times. It's obviously been done before with little success with stopping the threads leaking, so I've silver soldered the jet on. Not future serviceable but should be a considerable life extension. Just need to fine tune the pricker arrangement to get that reliable. If anyone has any vapourisers of any length that are too carboned up for cleaning but aren't enlarged then I would appreciate having some more test subjects!
Nice job on the extenders @Sploosh33 . I'm absolutely terrible at soldering - I wouldn't even have attempted it!
So, learning here and may be a daft question Im assuming the noble is not a pressed fit and you have had to cut the nozzle off? Are the 3 parts in the second picture internal or is one the nozzle? (significantly enlarged jet)
Thank you, just got the modified long one an on all day test to make sure all is well. I have a few ideas to try out with having the internal baffles removable but from the bottom (obviously only in the brass bottom ones) to aid cleaning. Who know, I may even be able to offer a reconditioning service to those older choked up vaps as once the design is fully streamlined i think I should be able to do small batches at around £10 each to cover costs. For anyone interested, I've just spoken to Tilley, they have admitted quality issues and are currently having some machinery reworked to improve things. This has taken longer than expected but they hope to have new ones in stock after Easter. Hopefully they will work out of the box then!
Beanie - The parts shown are the internal baffles and a little tube which seperates them at the correct distance. I machined the end off in the lathe at the crimp about an inch from the top, so the vap is now in 2 pieces. Removed the internals and cleaned everything now there is proper access. I then machined a joining piece which incorporates a guide for the pricker needle meaning the internals dont need to go back in. Silver soldered back together, and the length can be set to any desired by changing the size of the joiner piece. Will get a picture of the finished product once it's not running!
This is a very interesting thread! thank you @Sploosh33 for showing your work with the vapouriser and the update from Tilley too @Beanie here is the top part of the old vapouriser.. you can see how the top part withbthe jet is crimped together ; the ones i have obtained recently are welded on there are other exploded views showing the whole vap tube if you use different search words cheers pb
Very interesting, thanks @Sploosh33 & @podbros for the updates, just goes to show the level of engineering that went in to making these back in the 50's, as proven we struggle to make a suitable replacements with all the modern kit available The days of craftsmen.....
4 hours in and running perfectly at high and low pressures. You can just make out the lower of the 2 joints.under the burner. This is the one that was extended.
Lovely, well done! I have a small handful of iffy 7" vapourisers. I have heated/quenched with success but the major issue is getting the old carbon out afterwards I have also had very varied success with the Korean dismantle-able vapouriers, but I will persevere with them though (as I have two to play with anyway) Alec.
Hi Alec, If you wanted to donate them for research I would take them off your hands! Perhaps I could send back a fully cleaned and rejoined one as payment? The one I have done has just done several hot/cold cycles and a 10 hour continuous test so I'm happy to call that successful. Now just to work on re-nozzling them when they become enlarged!
