Fixin' up some China lamps

[Dephcon]

So I picked some a pair of yellow/blue 52ouncers at my local Spencer's yesterday for $20CAD each. Now before I get the "china sucks, buy USA lamps on eBay etc" I have in the past but the cost is too great. Shipping lamps to Canada is $30-40 on top of the cost of the lamps.

So my big plan is to buy china lamps and juice them up with a gookit. Before I do that i want to know if I need to replace the stock coils? Both lamps are only making about 60% coil contact and there is not much activity at all. Is this due to bad coils or crap lava? Should I give them a week or so for the lava to break in or anything before I pass judgment on these lamps? I can always exchange them at Spencer's but I doubt they'll be any different. I'm pretty much just buying them for the globe/bases.

Thanks for any advice.

[Dephcon]

Also is it worth removing and cleaning the china coil? Give it an alcohol bath or something?

[Jester00]

Kris did a thread where he replaced the coils with springs from a hardware store.
Looked like it worked out well.

Jester

[Dephcon]

Looks like replacing the coils is the way to go. I'm going to have to do some looking around, I'm 0-2 so far with Home Depot and Rona.

I'm going to hold off buying the gookit until I can source the springs. If it all works out I'll have to buy more lamps at Spencers. The cost of the china lamps + spring + gookit make it totally worth while. I can see myself getting at least 2 more. I hope to turn this thread into a log for the whole transformation process / experience. I'm sure some people will be interested in the results as some places are really expensive/hard to get USA lamps.

[Jennifer]

The coils Kris suggested were from Lowes. I've attached his pic. I found them and they seem to work fine. They are much thicker. It's definitly worth a try. Also, I would pop the top and add some salt water (epsom) and see what that does. Just a little at a time. I'd do that first cause replacing the coil is hard work. I've restored china lamps and it's worked by just the salt. Also, dilute some dish soap and add if you need more flow after you've added the salt. I'm sparing details cause you might know all of this. If you need more instruction just let me know and I'll be more specific. My favorite thing is restoring, even the china lamps. Sometimes they just need a little help. I don't know about giving them a week. I've always been too impatient for that! I did have a china lamp that didn't flow and then I realized the coil was lop sided when I repostioned it some it started flowing great. I also, like to change the color of the water and paint the bases of these lamps. I'm totally supportive of messing with china lamps. You just can't beat the price!

[Dephcon]

Unfortunately we don't have Lowes in Canada yet. They're building 6 stores or something in Ontario right now though, but like you I don't want to wait around for that to happen, i want results now ;).

I'll give the salt/soap method a try, but will that help the lava stick to the coil better? I'm getting terrible contact. I've noticed that the base of the globe isn't completely flat, there's a bit of a slope on one side. Coudl this be why the wax is making poor coil contact? Both my new globes have sloped bases.

I also would like to try painting the bases. I love the old midnight aristocrats, the silver doesn't do it for me.

[Jennifer]

I don't think the slope would be the problem. Are you talking about the middle of the base of the globe that's higher? Soap might help stick to the coil, not sure. it helps make the water a little less heavy so therefore, the goo will not be so light and might reconnect. I really think you just gotta find some kind of spring. You could take out the orginal spring and stretch it a bit. That would make it bigger and it might fix it. This is all so trial and error!
If I were you I'd start adding soap or salt or both. Very slowly though. If you mess it up all you have to do is dump the water and start over with new filtered/distilled water. It might be good to start at the beginning. I almost always just start over. I mix my salt water and take a straw or dropper and just keep adding until the wax is domed. Then that's when you want to slow down. Let everything you add have time to really settle and effect the lamp. I don't add the diluted soap until i get a bubble that sticks to the top. then I add about 4 drops of highly diluted dish soap. Let that mix, usually it will drop the bubble back down and you'll get more action from the lamp. I love experimenting.
It might be worth it to not mess with a new coil at first since they are hard to come by. I guess it depends on how much time you have to play around!
The silver bases do nothing for me either. I drill holes in mine so they look like aristocrats. I like to paint them gold too. I have one that I took sand paper to it and it came out with this neat brushed metal affect.

[Dephcon]

The holes is a great idea. Maybe I'll whip up a printable template that can be cut out and wrapped on the new bases for "perfect holes every time" lol

[Jennifer]

Ha! Nice. Check my photos on my page. It really turns out nice with the holes.

[Dephcon]

Can you replace the fluid with distilled/salt/soap on just china lamps? Does it work on USAs?

I got a '94 midnight red/clear and a '96 blue swirl that are kind of cloudy and don't flow very well. I was just gonna slap em with a gookit but i feel like the lava is still good and would like to preserve it if i can.