I've just replaced a blown '83 tank with a cleaned up '73 tank and it works so much better! It came from a dear old lady who gave me two Tilleys for free, one 246A and the other a 246B. The A is still waiting to be fettled and the cage is pretty rusty but I'll do what I can. Anyway, that leaves me with a 246B tank that isn't worth doing anything with... or is it? I have enough bits and pieces to make an electrified table lamp 'conversation piece' but do I really want to? I see them on eBay and they make me cringe. What else can you do with them apart from keep keeping them on a shelf taking up space? Make some sort of camping stove with one? A plant pot maybe?
@ColinG & @phaedrus42 See here, Colin: the same idea, different “cage”: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/tillus-stove.36790/ Cheers Tony
I'll admit to having electrified a Bialaddin that had a cracked tank, I could still salvage all the parts that are good and the tank would still be as scrap as it was before. It makes for a nice bedside lamp and is far more pleasing to look at than something modern. The alternative is to stick it in a box and when you need some brass to repair another lamp, you can cut it up. If you go to the trouble of converting a tank to take a stove burner, you might as well start with a sound tank. Make up an adapter, so it all screws together.
True... and all the work to create a stove I don't really need. I think electrification will be the final outcome.
The base plates from blown X246B tanks make decent reflectors and they can be unsoldered easily. Then drill a hole in the middle and either polish the brass or paint them with silver paint, the polished brass gives a gold tint to the light.
Save yourself the clart-on of any of those suggestions and take it to the nearest scrapyard - the brass was worth £1 and that was years ago. It's gotta be worth much more these days...
You could simply store the damaged tank, one day you might come across a 246B with a good tank but with other major components missing or defective. I found a little used X246B that had suffered severe rust to the hood, the vapouriser, and the frame, replacing these components would have cost as much as a new lamp. One good lamp made out of two, at little expense.
