Flea market find - probably china garbage BUT........

[kero48]

So, see attached photos, I assume this is probably a china knockoff of some kind.

The main reason I bought it (only a few bucks) is because it had a dimmer which is original the lamp. I thought this was kinda unique eventhough it really doesn't make sense to me.The switch looks on the older side to me, no?

What is the point of a dimmer switch as if the lamp is dialed down there wouldn't be enough heat to keep the lava moving. Am I wrong about this?

Now, when I turned it one and left it for a few hours the lava just forms a small column a few inches tall and does nothing else and I put a new bulb in. No big deal to be honest since it was just an experiment purchase.

I was thinking, hmmmm, if glittered it could be a nice piece with a tall cylinder bottle. The bottle is 8.5"tall x 2.25" wide.

I just don't know how to get the top plastic cap off. It spins in place but doesn't come off?

Any suggestions? If I can get the cap off I could send to kirk or use the 5 below glitter lights to fill.

Or do nothing and chuck it lol.

[Tribble]

Looks nice, I'd run it for a few hours every day to see if it starts flowing better. Hopefully someone can tell us what it is.

[kero48]

Thanks, I do think it has a nice overall appearance. I am running it right now and will do so for the next few days but still think it could be nice as a glitter version.

I am still very curious as to why an item like this would have a dimmer from the factory. I understand some of the home made lamps people make use them to adjust the heat for desired operation.

Let's see what others have to say :)

[kero48]

Okay, finally got the plastic cap off and it says on the metal cap "Semilla Industrial Co, LTD, Taiwan"

I did some research on this company and there is not much to be found other than it was founded in 1996 and dissolved in 2004, so this lamp is decently old.

So now the fun part, can someone give me a quick tutorial on emptying and cleaning the bottle? I don't even know if the innards are toxic or not, ugh.

Would make a nice glitter lamp.

Thoughts?

[kero48]

See attached photo.

By the way, the cap on the top of the bottle spins freely with almost no pressure applied. Just grab it and you can spin with no effort. I wonder if that is why the lamp does not work correctly, no seal??

[Modulo '70]

I would keep it as original as possible. This lamp has a unique charm with its odd little dimmer. There would be plenty of other glitter projects out there for you. I say, keep this one original!

[kero48]

Modulo, thanks for the reply but a few hours late hahaha. Remember the lamp as a lava lamp was not working, the lava was shot.

A friend of mine who has done alot for me liked some of my new lava lamps and said he would like a glitter lamp.

So, cleaned the bottle last night, got two five below glitter lamps, poured those contents in the bottle and voila, a really really nice, great working glitter lamp with charm and a cool dimmer which works amazing with the glitter contents.

I even went as far as to use a hose clamp to tighten the cap back on and the trick worked great (found here on this community of course)

Crap I want to upload a vidoe but it's 33 megs, the limit is 5 :(