Goo Kit Wax Question???

[Carol]

If you melt down your whole plastic container of goo how do you measure how much wax to use?  I really can't find much info on measuring wax.  Can it be eyeballed?  I believe you measure it cold, but how do you get it out of the contained if it's one hard mass?  Am I just being stupid???  LOL!!!

[Carol]

Ok, I found my post from Lamphead wherein he measures out his wax cold and then melts it down.  I think I'm going to do it this way instead of melting down all of the goo.  Is it best to melt it down in a pan on the stove or in the microwave?  What are some techniques and what do you find is the easiest way to accomplish the wax melt and pour?

[Tim Gill]

I don;t know Lamphead's method about measuring wax but what I do is just eyeball it, haven't had any issues.

How I melt goo kit wax is I put the container of wax in a pan of boiling water then when the whole lot is melted I pour what I need into the globe, then add the colour in the globe. Then let the un-used goo kit wax and globe wax harden, if required you can clean up the globe from wax stuck to it by putting it in hot water to re melt the wax which may be stuck to the sides of the globe. 

I wouldn't recommend microwaving the wax or even taking some out while cold, much easier to take your time and melt the lot.

[Carol]

Where do you fill it to?  I'm assuming right where the bottle starts to taper up?

[Tim Gill]

That is a way to do it, slightly less is where it is oringaly but a bit more wax would be fine
The thing is with different bottles that rule can't be used, if your redoing a lamp a idea is to mark where the oringal wax was with a marker pen or tape or compare it to the same un-opend / good globe

Carol Morrow said:

Where do you fill it to?  I'm assuming right where the bottle starts to taper up?

[LampHead]

I spoon the wax out cold on a piece of wax paper and weigh the it. I found 225 grams was the sweet spot that flows very actively. I melt the wax in a small microwave/oven safe dish right on the lava lamp base and pour into bottle.

  You can eyeball the amount but will get better more consistent results by weighing.

[Carol]

And you say you get nice active flow from that??  Snakey, columns, etc.?  I know it's hard to say.  I guess it depends on other factors as well.  So how much wax do you think for a 20 oz.?  I screwed up my china 20oz classic trying to improve the flow now it's toast.....I shouldn't even bother with this one, but I think it will be interesting to attempt a regoo on a 20 oz.  I'm hearing they turn out better on the larger globes though.