Inspired by THIS thread, I had a crack at making a wick for the Fire Engine 111. I happen to have a crimping tool for automotive electrical work, and was able to find a cheap source of suitable copper tube to use as ferrules - plumbing couplers! I used: - 6mm wood burner rope (the woven fibreglass stuff) ~£5/m - 8mm copper 'Straight Coupler' (inner diameter 6mm), cut in half ~£1.50 for 2 - Crimping tool I didn't try the wire method first, but i imagine getting a tight loop on the wick rope would be quite fiddly. These ferrules slipped straight on and compressed very neatly.
Hi Ben! I plan to try that next. For my first stab I wanted to replicate the wire ferrule prior art as closely as possible, given it has worked well for folks thus far. I have a Svea 123R in pieces on my desk waiting to be cleaned and reassembled - I think a closed loop would better suit the 123R as the loop wick won't fit over the burner assembly (once fitted to the tank) and is therefore less likely to go AWOL. My only concern is that the butted ends in the straight coupler will force the wick into an ellipse rather than a circle. However I read in the other thread about feeding wire through the centre of the fibreglass rope to help it hold its shape. Will give that a go and report back! Ken
Using some thread to whip the ends of the rope might make it easier to insert into the coupler. Once it is crimped you could place the crimped coupler over something round and hammer a curve into it to eliminate the eliptical shape. I'm thinking a piece of pipe or a socket of the right diameter would do the trick. Ben
That was less than successful There wasn't quite enough wick left at the butted ends for the crimp to purchase. Seems like having a bit of wick either side keeps the compressed end from being squeezed out of the ferrule. Especially since the ends are loose (even after melting) - they have a tendency to move around.
