Hi all, I was reading Ozzy's post on how he made a mantle for his R1 & it inspired me to do mine too. If anyone else is needing a mantle it took me about 15 minutes to bodge one together & it will win no awards but it allowed me to finally fire up my only radiant heater. Now to get Stu to make me one of the stainless balls to replace my mesh. Thanks for the inspiration Ozzy. I used a stainless sieve & cut the sieve in half so I have more to mess up later I shaped it with my kids rubber bounce ball. Stuck my finger with a piece of mesh, I only had the few pictures on the site to go off of so I wasn't quite sure how the top & bottom were supposed to be secured but it works anyway. Now I just need a wire guard & someday a real mantle
Nice one!! It's great to know we can get our heaters working from odds and sods in a pinch if replacements run dry. I expect half the problem in making these globes is forming the sphere and getting the former out of the mesh? Steve.
Hi Steve & Jeff, hardest part was guessing at it all as I have never seen a real one to compare what I was doing. with that being said, if I had more mesh I would have made a better globe that was closed on one side & punched a small hole in it with some type of punch or something. Getting the ball out was easy, once the mesh is shaped you just gently open for the ball to come out, then close it back up. It is definitely getting the job done, just not very pretty. Cost me $8.00 for the sieve. I wish I had a cheap source of good stainless mesh I know if I spent an hour or two they would look alot better. I would say wear some gloves too as I stuck a piece of mesh into my finger about a quarter of an inch. As long as the mesh is pretty much closed on the top & bottom it will contain the flame & produce the heat.
We've discussed this before and I suggested it was easier just to make a cylindrical mantle as per the Bialaddin version. That would require some sort of perforated circular plate (again, like the Bialaddin version) at the bottom to keep the mantle up. I wonder, though, whether a simple circle cut out of the same stainless steel mesh as the rest of the mantle wouldn't work just as well as a perforated plate. Gotta be better than trying to mould wire mesh around a golf ball or whatever. Reproduction spherical mantles are still available from Base-Camp, price £12.95.
I think a cylindrical one both works better and is easier to make. I use that tecnique David suggests, i.e. using the same mesh for the bottom part, and it works like a charm. Here's an early example I made some six years ago. Don't mind the fact that I made the hole too big. I made a mistake on this one, but it's the only one I can find a picture of. It actually works nevertheless. It is pinched in place, so it stays there. You get the meaning despite this fault. They are easy to make, takes just about half an hour or so, and you splinter some of the wires out to get straight wires sticking out which you use to tie the bottom to the cylinder. The cylinder is "sewed" together in the same manner.
Another variation is shown via the link below, just scroll down the page, Jeff. Makeshift Wire Mantle For Tilley Radiators
Hi Christer, I really like the look of yours. Which hole did you make too large the top one? How did you make the bottom hole so snug against the generator? Thanks for digging the picture out I will have to try and make one of these next.
It seems the bottom hole is too large, you can see the grey clay tube not the vapouriser. The hole should fit on the brass tube where the nut is screwed on so that the wire gauze is clamped between clay tube and nut to prevent it from falling off. Impressive job anyway
Thank you Stephan, because I have not seen one in person I wasn't sure as to the placement. That helps alot for future reference.
I experimented with this concept. I cut the perforated end off a scrap Tilley burner and used that as the base plate for the cylindrical mantle, just wiring it to the holes. Mine did not work so well, but it may be worth another try. Steve.
I do like an improvised remedy however, like many have mentioned already, a cylindrical mantle is far easier to make. Ive just finished a couple of mantles with there respective support plates for one of our Aussie contingents, to suit the bigger R1 burner, maybe you could do something with the addition of one of these plates, and have a go at making a cylindrical mantle Drop me a line, if i can help
Hi Longilily Did you make the bottom support plates cos they look really good 8) & the mantles look really professional too 8) , how do you join the mantle sides together 8) Stu
Hi stu Yes, the plates were turned initially, and then a lip was spun. The holes were done on my mill. The sides of the mantle were spot welded together to hold it as a cylinder Thanks for the comments Stu Cheers
Did you use a rotary table for the hole spacing on the bottom plates , i would have Very nice work 8) , do you have a spot welder & how do you stop the mesh from sticking to the copper electrodes mine stick sometimes leaving small holes , mind you mine is a small trigger operated device attached to a stick welder Stu
Hi Stu Your quite right ! Normally the ideal aid for such a job as indexing holes, but in the case I used a CNC mill which done the hard work for me, all I had to do was draw it on a CAD type program. As for the spot welder, it may be possible that your electrodes are not as clean as the mateing surfaces of the two workpieces (your mantle).the ends of the electrodes/workpiece need to be cleaner than the two workpiece surfaces together. The 'spot weld' will be wherever there is most electrical resistance (thus most heat) hopefully between the workpieces and not between the end of your Electrode and the workpiece Try cleaning your electrodes and maybe try a little less current. Let us know how you get on ?
