Gallery Repairs
There are two main problems that are seen on the gallery:

1. Broken locking tabs. It’s quite easy to bend down the gallery locking tabs by over-tightening the gallery, and if you bend them back they will often break off. If two or more of the tabs are missing, the gallery will not lock properly and you may end up with the gallery and chimney falling off.

2. Broken fingers on the gallery crown. Galleries with the pierced fingers seem to be more prone to this, as the fingers are springy but can be brittle. The solid fingers seem to be more malleable and less prone to breaking.

Making A New Locking Tab
It’s quite easy to replace broken locking tabs. Simply make a new one as shown and solder it in place. If the gallery is nickel or chrome plated, you may have to file off the plating to get a good solder joint.

Replacing Broken Fingers
If you have just one or two fingers broken on the gallery crown, it’s easy to make new ones using a good finger as a template. When you have done this, chamfer the top of the broken finger and make a dog-leg in the new one so there isn’t a step when they are fixed together. Solder the new finger in place, then clean off any excess solder. If a lot of fingers are broken, it may be best to make a new crown from 0.5mm brass sheet. To fit this, cut off the old crown at its base with a hacksaw, and solder in place inside the rim of the gallery.
A less labour-intensive alternative is to use a heel-less gallery adapter for an Aladdin lamp.
If the gallery is nickel or chrome plated, of course the new brass crown or finger won’t match. One simple solution is to plate the new crown/finger before fitting, with electroless tin plate that can be bought for plating printed circuit boards, from distributors such as Rapid Electronics and RS components. After plating, buff this up with a soft cloth and it provides a reasonable match for nickel, not quite so good for chrome.
Chimneys do vary in diameter, and because the new crown is inside the original gallery rim, you will find that “fat” chimneys won’t fit, and you will need to choose a chimney at the lower end of the size range.