ReGoo Question About Coloring The Water??

Ok, I think I've read though just about everything there is on here about the goo kits and regoo'ing, but I haven't come across anything that says how or what to use to get the water colored. I know I have read that in lamps where the water has faded members use food coloring. Is this what is used and how much is generally used? I guess you just add a few drops at a time until the liquid is the color you want? What is the best brand to use or does it not matter?

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Permalink Reply by Carol on July 23, 2014 at 6:09am

Keith, oh master goo'er.....do you think the mini goo kit is sufficient to do 2 52 oz. globes? in your experience, or will that be cutting it too close?

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Permalink Reply by Keith on July 23, 2014 at 7:14am

First, I'm not a master gooer, lol. Just a goo fiddler. I don't have first hand knowledge of working with goo kits so I can't specifically answer your question. I will say that if you think this is a one-time project the smaller kit might make more sense. On the other hand, if you think you will be doing more projects then the bigger kit might be better. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

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Permalink Reply by Carol on July 23, 2014 at 8:08am

You were helpful keith. I was thinking the same thing. If I'm not sure that I'm going to like this, or even continue to go forward and since it's a beginner's thing, I'm going with the mini kit. At least i'll only be out the 14.99 plus the purple dye and shipping instead of the 50 some odd dollars. I can always reorder if I need to......

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Permalink Reply by LampHead on July 25, 2014 at 2:11am

Gookits all done with McCormick food colors....

Add only a few drops at a time, once you put too much you need to start over. Its best to do while the lamp is running to get the real color it will show.

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Permalink Reply by Carol on July 25, 2014 at 11:43am

Wow, they all look great!!! It seems as though you use much less food coloring then you use the highlighter ink pen ink. Since I am a newb to the whole regoo thing, I may just play it safe for my first and use the food coloring. Then on the second try the ink. See which I like better. Again, they look awesome!!! I can't wait!! Thanx for the pics.....

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Permalink Reply by Carol on July 25, 2014 at 11:49am

Lamphead, are any of those 52 oz by any chance? I'm wondering how much goo do you add to a 52 oz globe. I have found a wealth of info on regoo'ing on here, but not much on how much goo to add except for marking the globe where the old wax line is. Is this the best way to do it. Does it hurt if you add just a tad more goo then what is in the original globe? Also, what do you use to mark the bottle that doesn't wash off during the cleaning process?

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Permalink Reply by LampHead on July 27, 2014 at 1:08am

They are all 52s. I tested different amounts of wax to compare flow and found 225 grams was perfect. I never marked the globes, I weighed the wax. You can eyeball the amount pretty close and can always add or remove wax if needed.

200 grams is the minimum needed and 250 the maximum. If you dont have enough wax it overheats quickly, if you add to much it just domes on the bottom.

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Permalink Reply by Carol on July 27, 2014 at 9:15am

OMG, you just filled in my missing piece of info, lol!!! That was the one and only thing I could not for the life of me find!!! How much wax for a 52 oz!!! I do have a nice digital kitchen scale and it does grams and lbs, so I can weight it out on that!!! Thanks!!!

Stupid question, but that's unmelted correct??

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Permalink Reply by LampHead on July 27, 2014 at 10:11pm

Yep, just spoon out the cold wax on a piece of wax paper and weigh. Dont forget to calculate the weight of the paper.

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Permalink Reply by Carol on July 27, 2014 at 10:25pm

Got it!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Carol on August 5, 2014 at 9:08pm

Are you running your 52 oz on 40 or 60 watt appliance bulbs? Dimmer or no?? Also, in doing research I see that some have had trouble with air bubbles in their wax. Any tips to prevent this? and is it still happening with the MT goo or have they fixed the problem?

OOps, forgot to ask.......screens or the old coil? Which are better in your opinion?

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Permalink Reply by LampHead on August 7, 2014 at 2:49am

I run them on 40 watters with a dimmer power strip. They only need to be dialed down slightly after 3-4 hours.

Im not sure about the air bubble problems, I think it varied from batch to batch. Most of mine have no bubbles but a few do have some. Its not something that ever bothered me enough to mess with.

Use the coils, way better by far. Throw the screens out.