All Discussions Tagged 'restore' - Oozing Goo - The Lava Lamp Syndicate2024-03-29T04:37:23Zhttps://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=restore&feed=yes&xn_auth=noRenew! Renew!tag:oozinggoo.ning.com,2019-04-11:1566398:Topic:6913282019-04-11T21:51:06.922ZNick Stefaniskohttps://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/NickStefanisko
<p>OK sci-fi-folks, we all know that Carousel never works, no one ever Renews. Once your palm crystal starts blinking, it's game over. My 30 year old Aristocrat stopped moving. The wax just kind of puffed up and laid at the bottom. So I figured, what the hell, I'll crack it open and try to bring it back to life. <br></br><br></br>The Aristocrat has a really easy to remove screw cap and mine had about 15mm of space between the bottom of the cap and the cold water line. That's quite a lot of gap. First I…</p>
<p>OK sci-fi-folks, we all know that Carousel never works, no one ever Renews. Once your palm crystal starts blinking, it's game over. My 30 year old Aristocrat stopped moving. The wax just kind of puffed up and laid at the bottom. So I figured, what the hell, I'll crack it open and try to bring it back to life. <br/><br/>The Aristocrat has a really easy to remove screw cap and mine had about 15mm of space between the bottom of the cap and the cold water line. That's quite a lot of gap. First I unscrewed the cap, turned it on, and let it heat up for 4hrs. Then I added distilled water to bring the level up, and then waited another hour for it to come up to temperature again. Still no action. I then added a couple of drops of clear dish soap, and immediately there was some action. Not a lot, and it calmed after a few minutes. Then I started adding Epsom salt water. The water is super saturated, so I added it just a few drops at a time. With each drop there was violent movement. But it would calm a few seconds later. After adding about a tablespoon of saltwater, it came back to life. Re-sealed it hot. The movement is a bit different than before, but it's glooping and blobbing quite well now. This is the second lamp I have tried to restore and my first one that was 100% successful. The other one had good results with flow, but had a bottle cap, and I cracked the globe while trying to re-seal it. Screw caps are a major advantage.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1896874155?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1896874155?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center" width="220" height="535"/></a></p> Need help restoring my 1975 Century, various problemstag:oozinggoo.ning.com,2014-01-13:1566398:Topic:5067812014-01-13T19:07:33.101ZRich Chttps://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/RichCummings
<p>Since I am new here, I'll first introduce myself a bit. I've been fascinated by Lava Lamps since I was a little kid. I can remember when my older sister had moved into her first apartment we all went to visit her. As we left, everyone was out front of the building yakking away, it was about dusk. I noticed a Lava Lamp on the window sill of a garden level apartment so I wandered over to watch it, messmerized. After about 10 minutes I guess the resident wanted a little more privacy and…</p>
<p>Since I am new here, I'll first introduce myself a bit. I've been fascinated by Lava Lamps since I was a little kid. I can remember when my older sister had moved into her first apartment we all went to visit her. As we left, everyone was out front of the building yakking away, it was about dusk. I noticed a Lava Lamp on the window sill of a garden level apartment so I wandered over to watch it, messmerized. After about 10 minutes I guess the resident wanted a little more privacy and came to the window and drew the curtains shut! I'm not a peeping Tom, just a kid fascinated by the goo!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I must have been successful expressing to my parents how bad I wanted a Lava Lite because I got one on my 14th birthday and I've had it ever since. I wish I'd kept the box! I do still have the warranty card and instruction sheet around somewhere... Anyway, it was a gold Centry, it is dated May 1975 and originally had yellow fluid and red goo. I used it a LOT when I was a kid. That may be why it has a few issues now. It still functions and does okay, at least as well as it ever has, but it has a few issues I hope I can correct given all the data I've found and read on this site. Anyway, I'll list out the issues I want to address and hopefully I can get some good advice on how to bring it back to like new condition.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>1. The cap is cracked. I posted a note in the Buy/Sell/Trade section, hopefully one will turn up. </p>
<p>2. The fluid now appears clear, not yellow. It never sat in a window, heck for the past roughly 20 years it sat in a closet away from all light. How can I recolor the fluid back to its original yellow? I read that McKormick's food coloring can be used. Is this correct? Perhpas just add a drop or two at a time until the proper color is acheived? Any dangers in doing this? Any idea why it faded? It was certainly yellow when it went into the closet.</p>
<p>3. The fluid, while not exactly cloudy, does have a fair amount of visible particulate in it. Is there any way I can safely filter this out without damaging the fluid and perhaps without going so far as the ceramic filter method I read about?</p>
<p>4. The flow isn't the greatest. Good sized chunks of wax get stuck at the top while on. Much of it eventually falls, but often it has a writhing column of goo from top to bottom instead of nice floating blobs and terminated fingers of goo. </p>
<p>5. The wax appears chunky. The method for addressing this strikes me as rather drastic (boiling) and I'd be concerned about doing harm to the wax or fluid but I do want to take some action. This probably came about by overuse when I was a kid (I often left it running for days at a time) and/or having sat neglected for so long although I remember it being chunky also many years ago.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Even with a cracked cap, the lamp has not lost much fluid, maybe 1/8" or 1/4" from back in the day. I've read I can top this off with distilled water. I see no harm in trying this. Mechanically the lamp is in great shape. I just installed a new bulb and it warms up in less than two hours and seems to work as well as it ever did, I just know it could work better.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I recently bought a new LL at Menards for $7.50! I wanted to remind myself how one SHOULD work. It is a 14.5" tall (32 ounce?) unit with purple fluid and yellow wax. I love how the goo looks yellow/orange/red depending on how the light catches it and how far up the globe it goes. I've heard the current (made in China) lamps often don't work that well, but this one works great. Who would have thought you could find a bargain on Lava Lamps at Menards of all places!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anyway, thanks in advance for any and all help that may be provided.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'll try to post up some photos at a later date.</p> Fixing Frenchie, part deux - it's lava time!tag:oozinggoo.ning.com,2011-08-13:1566398:Topic:3154102011-08-13T01:45:10.775ZErinhttps://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/erin9
<p>I paid $115 for this about a year or so ago. Got it on eBay France. It came half empty and the fluid was all over the package. The glitter was getting eaten away by the fluid. So I took some of the fluid and <a href="http://oozinggoo.ning.com/photo/vintage-french-glitter-lamp?context=album&albumId=1566398%3AAlbum%3A164239" target="_self">topped off my other lamp</a> and sent the rest to Autumn to top off hers. …</p>
<p></p>
<p>I paid $115 for this about a year or so ago. Got it on eBay France. It came half empty and the fluid was all over the package. The glitter was getting eaten away by the fluid. So I took some of the fluid and <a href="http://oozinggoo.ning.com/photo/vintage-french-glitter-lamp?context=album&albumId=1566398%3AAlbum%3A164239" target="_self">topped off my other lamp</a> and sent the rest to Autumn to top off hers. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036762204?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036762204?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="500" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>So, it sat in the basement for awhile. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A long while.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I saw a lamp on here that I believe used to have glitter (no wait, looks like lava) in it and the owner dumped and refilled it with a faded blue/white. </p>
<p><br/> This one: <a href="http://oozinggoo.ning.com/photo/1566398:Photo:32345">http://oozinggoo.ning.com/photo/1566398:Photo:32345</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>So that's what I'm going to attempt to do. I have faded an #03 globe (blue/white) to clear...cream, it appears. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036764013?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036764013?profile=original" width="484" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>Right now I am soaking the globe with Jungle Jake de-greaser. This method worked well for my Capri restore. I'll keep updating this thread as I make progress! </p> Restored the flow in my black squiggle!tag:oozinggoo.ning.com,2008-03-25:1566398:Topic:301042008-03-25T04:28:33.681Zgoodude26https://oozinggoo.ning.com/profile/Will40
Thanks to the advice from Weebo and some others here on OG I got my black squiggle to flow on its original 30watt reflector bulb. Before I could only get decent action from a 40 watt spotlight.<br />
<br />
I am very happy this lamp is flowing again.<br />
<br />
All it took was 3 teaspoons or so of Kosher salt and a drop or 2 of liquid soap and a WHOLE lotta patience. But it was all worth it.<br />
<br />
I have added a couple of pics.<br />
<br />
W_J
Thanks to the advice from Weebo and some others here on OG I got my black squiggle to flow on its original 30watt reflector bulb. Before I could only get decent action from a 40 watt spotlight.<br />
<br />
I am very happy this lamp is flowing again.<br />
<br />
All it took was 3 teaspoons or so of Kosher salt and a drop or 2 of liquid soap and a WHOLE lotta patience. But it was all worth it.<br />
<br />
I have added a couple of pics.<br />
<br />
W_J