Progress on my square lava lamp - Sealing the glass block

[Mattgyver92]

I managed to design a laser-cut seal from layers of acrylic and sheet rubber for a 7.5x7.5" glass craft block to be a globe for my lamp. The rubber layers are offset slightly larger than the acrylic and when alternated, make some nice 'ribs' that make a good seal inside the molded opening in the glass. It's not perfect. I still get a slow drip, but that could be through the hardware holes and a bit of silicone could possibly fully seal that.

Will this whole thing work because it's square? I don't know. It holds quite a bit of fluid. I've assembled a custom coil from multiple springs and used stainless picture wire filaments to compress the loop to be narrow and to sit nicely in the bottom of the block. I plan to have my bulb sit in a reflector underneath the block to widen the heat distribution and help with heating the wax. God help me if I have to get any wax out of this since it's always going to want to get stuck in the corners.

Also unsure of how the acrylic will hold up to heat. My guess is it should get by ok since it's above the fluid level rather than immersed in it.

I'm going to attempt it and let you know if it works. :)I'll make another update if this gets anywhere or fails spectacularly. I'll also likely mix and balance the fluid and wax in separate bottles before making a final transfer into the block. Wish me luck.

[tim]

i don't see why you would run into problems just because it's square, to me the bigger issue would be the acrylic melting. either way you don't know until you try it, and i am looking forward to your next update!

[Arne]

Acrylic is 100% stable up 70°C for extruded and up to 80°C for cast pieces. I measured the temperature of a mathmos astro running for several hours with the sensor placed between the inner base at the bottom of the...I'll upload a picture where it was, my english isn't good enough at 1:20 am :) Anyway it was where the base felt hottest from the outside and as far as I remember it didnt exceed 72°C, so you should be more than fine with your seal. For a sealent I'd recommend something PU based like carloflex made by carlofon...I'm sure there are similar products in India.

[Arne]

There it was...the sensor

[Marco Pulone]

I'll have to look into making a custom lamp base with acrylic tube - I've got a few Voss bottles that need a stand...

[Zapiao]

Arne said:

There it was...the sensor

Once i mesured the temp there and reached +100ºC

[Arne]

Zapiao said:

Arne said:

There it was...the sensor

Once i mesured the temp there and reached +100ºC

Hmm...thats mysterious....

[Zapiao]

Is not strange. I used a probe that I put exactly in the same position as yours and reached over 100ºC. The lamp reached over 300ºC measured through a thermal camera.