Evaporated master fluid in my' midnight series globes

[Charles]

Hey guys, I'm new here and I have a little dilemma.. (warning, this is a rant - if you want to skip to the actual issue scroll down)  A couple weeks ago I was prompted with finally FINALLY going into my' attic and downsizing on things I no longer want, need or use.  Old clothes, books I never read or lost interest in, stuff from highschool and ..... what's this? BEHOLD!  My' two old midnight series lava lamps "well the only two that survived out of the four I had"...  wowies!  Brought back aloooot of memories... all four of these lamps were acquired around the same time in 1997.  One of them was a giant I actually WON from lava world international during a promotion thing when they were asking people what they loved about lava lol... I was totally obsessed.... good times...  My' entire room when I was 14 "sorry for rambling but it's fun and I never get to talk to anyone about this stuff sooooo"  - was blacklights, posters, a tornado lamp, a fiber optic lamp and just anything that was magical to the eye... Over time I lost essentially every thing....except these two lamps from approximately 19 years ago....  One was a "yellow wax, blue fluid", the other is "white wax, blue fluid"... when I got them out of the attic and into the light of my' bedroom it became quickly apparent a lot of the fluid in both had evaporated...."about an inch and a quarter each"...  But just, going through everything I had thrown away, all the rummaging through and having to decide which thing goes with me into the future and which things just go into the garbage heap "and a lot of this is stuff I had spent good money on back in their' day".  I found these two lamps and just, couldn't believe at some point after having moved, I had tucked these away for so many years after having been so obsessed about them back then... The fact that at some point these things were "taking up room and had to be put away"... lol... so, I was delighted to find that hey! I have the base, two globes AND the little black cap too!  I noticed the base still had the lightbulb in it and figured I'd go over to my' desk, plug it in and see if it still worked or not.... it did! HALLELUJAH!  So cool!   Once it started to warm up and the litty bitty blobs began to emerge, my' drab and boring environment and life was instantly transported back to 1999 LOL... The intrigue returned, an intrigue I had totally forgotten.  - Did I mention that neither globes were exposed to direct sunlight but the liquid in both went from blue to clear? ... weird huh? But I don't mind.  I rather like the yellow goo and clear.... and the white with very pale blue is not bad either.  Both have a kind of primordial look about them now whereas in the past they seemed more futuristic and alien-like to me. "

The issue:  Although they look okay with about an inch and a quarter of water below the cap line... I'd really prefer if these globes had a higher master fluid line.... I'd like to top off these two globes but I'm hesitant to open either... I don't want to ruin anything... I mean, is the liquid just distilled water?...  if I open the cap and had a way to put it back on, wouldn't the pressure of the heating fluid and wax cause it to pop off?  There are just too many questions and variables.  What would you do?  Apparently the caps aren't on fully tight otherwise there could have been no evaporation but there is no discernable indication to me at all that there's a leak anywhere... When the globes are cooled off I've turned them upside down to see if any fluid leaked out and there is none to be spoken of... so I'm not sure how to explain this... I will say though that both caps are rusty... but that could possibly be because I've washed both in the sink back in the day to help get rid of my' finger prints or any other smudgeds... So the rust could be coming from that... 

Any help, comments or just plain fun chit chat is appreciated lol... it's neat to return to an old hobby/obsession like this. 

[Mr MaGoo]

Welcome to the forum, and I am sure your answers will start flowing in.  I too started out with a white/blue midnight from the 80's and brought it back to life as the master fluid color had faded as well.  Don't want to go too high with topping the globe off. Have to have an air gap in there to allow for expansion.  The master fluid is not distilled water.  There are goo kits out there that do go with a lighter wax and distilled water with using a lower wattage bulb, due to the lighter wax. But lets not get going down that road prematurely.  I had success with topping the fluid off with distilled water and the coloring with a couple drops of food coloring.  Some have  experimented with "sharpie markers" must be "sharpie" as the colors don't fade as quickly.  If you use a little distilled water, this is where tweaking the lamp might come into play.

Hopefully a little distilled water will not upset he specific gravity of the master fluid. If the wax after adding distilled water does not rise the use of epsom salt comes into play.  This makes the water heavier so the wax lifts.  If it does, you might need to add some epsom salt to it.  I just use a small glass of distilled water and dissolve a teaspoon of epsom salt into it, then take this and slowly and with small amounts add to the master fluid until the wax rises.  I also used a drop or two of surfactant or you can use Sodium Laurel Sulfate- SLS or some use a certain dish washing liquid. This has an effect on the wax the more you use the smaller the blobs get.  Use less and you get the long stretchy blobs, which are my favorite in my humble opinion.  Coloring the fluid is not really a big deal.  The key is to keep the balance between the wax and master fluid.  Sure the guys will chime in here shortly.

Again, welcome to the forum, great bunch of gooers here.  Keep us up to date with your revival :P

[Keith]

Welcome Charles!

Recapping is pretty easy with these globes.  Review the following for one method (recapping is more than half way down in the post):

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lamp-repair

Since you say the caps are rusted I would suggest replacing them.  You can find caps a a brewers supply or you can use old bottle caps that aren't bent up very much.  Don't use bottle caps from a craft supply because those normally don't have a proper lining to form a seal.

So, two globes from the same time-frame.  You can use some of the fluid from one to bring the other up to the proper level.  That takes care of one globe.  The other you can top off with distilled water and adjust for flow as needed.  BUT, the second globe may stand a more significant chance of needing adjustment.  Just some thoughts to consider.

Here is a couple of links for adding master fluid color by using highlighter dye:

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/adding-color-to-globe-fluid

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/purple-highlighter