Copper Crestworth Astro?

[Kelly Flaskerud]

I won what was advertised to be a copper Crestworth Astro off of eBay.  However, once I received it, I think the globe is new(er) as the cap doesn't fit.  You can see that there is a threaded plastic insert in the cap as if it was supposed to seal the globe.  There's no plastic base piece, so I'm not sure if it's old or really old...  And I'm hoping I'm correct in thinking that it requires a 40w small golf ball bulb with the bayonet base.  Any input from our friends across the pond would be greatly appreciated!  

[Claude J]

What happens when you open the bottle cap and try to thread the polished copper bottle cap with insert directly onto the bottle?

[andy ross]

Hi Kelly,

Astros are tricky! I'm trying to learn them, so till the experts come in and shoot me down, here goes...

Looks to me like the cap has got a Mk 1 inner cap stuck in there, but your globe/inner screwcap is later... I think!

The base I can't see well enough, is it one or two piece?  Could be Mk 2 or Mk 5????????????

As for the bulb, yes, with that base lava gets B15 40w golfball, glitter 25w or 40w

Andy

[Kelly Flaskerud]

Hi Andy, it's a one piece base.  Claude, I'm not brave enough to break the seal on the globe...

[Claude J]

Well, its not like you need a capper for it, it just screws on.

Id try to see if you can simply unscrew the cap that is currently on the bottle.

Then try to fit the polished copper embedded one onto the bottle.

IF no fitment, then try to remove the embedded one from the copper cap and put the old one back on the bottle.

Kelly said:

Hi Andy, it's a one piece base.  Claude, I'm not brave enough to break the seal on the globe...

[Mr MaGoo]

Scary with cap manipulation with copper, good luck!

[andy ross]

OK, it's a Mk 5 I think.

I've just double-checked back here (UK) on my Astros, and the screw thread on the globe will work in the embedded Mk 1 inner cap, so what Claude advises is bang on - if you engage the globe's thread you may have the leverage to pull the stuck inner cap out. It's probably the only way forward, I agree with C.

If you don't want to do that, you could try soaking the copper cap in very hot water then trying to dislodge the inner cap by rapping the copper outer on something hard (?chopping board?), or heating it with a hair-drier for the same purpose, but if it's come like that it's probably well jammed in there... and the copper cap is quite fragile, as you know...  the inner one shouldn't be glued in there though, it was not sold like that. Someone has jammed the lamp's cap on a Mk 1 globe..

Other people here may have better advice, hang in there..

If you get it out hang on to it - I need a spare... Good luck!

[Kelly Flaskerud]

Thanks Andy!  Glad to hear it's probably not glued in the cap.  I'll try what you and Claude recommend.  If I can get it out, I'll let you know and it's yours!

BTW, does anyone have a listing of which Mathmos and Crestworth lamps take which bulbs?  Most of my lamps are still in storage, but I'd like to order a bunch of bulbs.  Cheers!

andy ross said:

OK, it's a Mk 5 I think.

I've just double-checked back here (UK) on my Astros, and the screw thread on the globe will work in the embedded Mk 1 inner cap, so what Claude advises is bang on - if you engage the globe's thread you may have the leverage to pull the stuck inner cap out. It's probably the only way forward, I agree with C.

If you don't want to do that, you could try soaking the copper cap in very hot water then trying to dislodge the inner cap by rapping the copper outer on something hard (?chopping board?), or heating it with a hair-drier for the same purpose, but if it's come like that it's probably well jammed in there... and the copper cap is quite fragile, as you know...  the inner one shouldn't be glued in there though, it was not sold like that. Someone has jammed the lamp's cap on a Mk 1 globe..

Other people here may have better advice, hang in there..

If you get it out hang on to it - I need a spare... Good luck!

[andy ross]

Good luck and thanks Kelly, send me a PM and I'll fund P&P if it works...

Re bulbs, they are all different for different models and so it's difficult to be generic

If you post/send a list of lamps/models I can tell you to the best of my knowledge?

A

[Johnny]

to me it looks like the mk 2 base, and the cap photo of the underneath of the base will converm this  mk2 had a base plate fitted and held by a nut type bolt, as for the copper cap ive found sticking in a pan of boiling water will loosing the glue, idealy place a plastic small tray in the water to sit the cap on, fill the water over to level of the cap, boil for a while then.... with heat proof gloves take the cap out and either screw on a naff astro bottle and wiggle the copper part up n down,  another way is get no metal item thin and slide between the copper cap and silver bottle screw top and run it around the inner part,  BUT be carefull as the copper can mark n bend easy

just relooked at the photo it isnt the mk5 as they have a few tap indentations around the base rim. im 99% sure its the mark 2

[Gijzzz]

For the bulbs it seems this lamp has a bayonet fitting like most early Crestworth lamps. When you have a problem to find a bayonetbulb for it you can use a convertor. This is a small piece that coverts from bayonet to screw fitting. They are very cheap at Ali-express. I use these for my Crestworth lamps and it works like a charm.

[andy ross]

J, happy with your call, no worries! I have a Mk1, but no Mk2

Earlier in the thread K said it was a one-part base, I understood Mk2's were two-part?

But the solution you propose to sorting the problem is good in my book!

[Johnny]

soz just read again his imfo again i was rushing it earlier,  mk1 ( the common mk 1 ) as seen on the crestworth fan website is open base as in you can see the inner cone where the bulb holder is fitted,  after re-reading im now saying its mk1 , mk2 had a aluminum base plate and green earth wire attached to it, mk3 was the first to have a felt covered base plate and 4 indented feet lumps, mk 4 then had the longer bottle cap ( copper bit ) and 5 feet lumps.

The person will notice that if he removed the bottle top of the bottle pictured there will be a lip still after screwing the original copper/top on,  personly i prefer to get the glue undo ,

the inner screw cap on the copper bit is the first type, they then changed to a softer plastic screw top, these are often seen on the lanterns they have a lip on em, then came the more common bakalite screw tops used from mk4 onwards till the 90s.