Water

[patrick wood]

The water in the lamps, is it the same for all crestworth lamps or does change depending on the age and type of wax, for example would the water used in my 1963 mk1 lamp that has the liquid wax be the same as my other 1964 mk1 that has the setting wax(solid)?

[Peter Panussi]

@Arne: I have two more questions, you seem to be a real expert with huge experience in Mathmos-modding.

Regarding the needed surfactant you wrote above, that you are using "some kind of soap that doesnt cloud up the water. I use dish washing soap for babies". Can you tell us the exact product name of your favorized soap?

Here in the forum the American members often recommend "Imperial Toy Miracle Bubbles", but these are very expensive to obtain in Germany cause of the ridiculous high shipping costs. Did you ever test "Pustefix" as surfactant?

I used dish washing soap at my first attempts of new liquid for cloudy Astros. That resulted in clear liquid, but the Astros are now not Lava Lamps anymore, but something I would call "Foam Lamps". Interesting, but not really what I wanted.

Now I use SLES (pure), only 4-6 drops for Astros, and 2-3 drops for AstroBabies. It works, but I'm not totally convinced. And so I thought Pustefix could solve the problem, but didn't test it yet.

[patrick wood]

A big thanks to Arne, just refurbished three lamps using his methods, all working as they should, cheers!

[Peter Panussi]

@patrick: Any photos? Would be highly welcomend!

[patrick wood]

Will post photos of the three lamps later today.

[Arne]

I didnt try pustefix but the name suggests that its especially for making soap bubbles, so I guess it might result in foam party aa well. another option would be to buy some surf from lava louie. they sell it seperatelt for a few bucks and they're located in the us. the soap is called "Frosch baby spül-reiniger". Frosch is the brand and it costs about 2-3 € for 500ml. I'm glad your lamps are working now patrick :)

[Peter Panussi]

Yes, of course I know what pustefix is for, but these Imperial Toy Miracle Bubbles are also for making soap bubbles, and many members use them as surf and are very satisfied with them, so I thought maybe Pustefix could work. I will try it soon.

Thanks for the information on "Frosch Baby Spülreiniger", this is very helpful!

----

But what about the liquid in Mathmos Metallic lava lamps?

In 2011 you opened a thread "Imagine I figured the masterfluid for mathmos metallics...would anybody be interested?"  (http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/imagine-i-figured-the)

Now you are telling the opposite??

[Tim Gill]

Going back to the original post - the two lamps in question only have a year difference in production one made in 1964 and one in 1963. Between those lamps only I don't think there would be much difference in the water / master fluid. This is because I don't think there there were many if any changes to the formula in the space of a year and during this time there was no major changes in lamp models etc.

However this would only apply for the two lamps in question as the formula has changed over time (to say the least on this one).

[patrick wood]

Yes the water in the crestworth1963 lamp is the same as the1964, distilled or de-ionised, I used a de-ionised water from Halfords works a treat, then add your washing up liquid of choice to adjust surface tension.

[Arne]

yes and no. I did figure a fluid which makes the wax go up and down but its different. the shapes are similar to the glitterballs, just balls but nothing like a real flow like the metallis used to have. It might be better than totally cloudy and its an option if a bottle got broken while shipping and the wax is still ok but I wasnt satisfied in the end. I think what I made was a fluid that worked by coincidence but nothing close to the real fluid. also I dont really remember the mixture anymore...

Peter Panussi said:

Yes, of course I know what pustefix is for, but these Imperial Toy Miracle Bubbles are also for making soap bubbles, and many members use them as surf and are very satisfied with them, so I thought maybe Pustefix could work. I will try it soon.

Thanks for the information on "Frosch Baby Spülreiniger", this is very helpful!

----

But what about the liquid in Mathmos Metallic lava lamps?

In 2011 you opened a thread "Imagine I figured the masterfluid for mathmos metallics...would anybody be interested?"  (http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/imagine-i-figured-the)

Now you are telling the opposite??

[Peter Panussi]

@Arne: Ah, that's sad! You wrote you made a lot of experiments with the fluid for metallic wax, so this must be really tricky and a very special mixture, if even you can't find out what's in it...

I recently bought one of these cheap "Liquid metal motion lamps", labelled as new, but it arrived also completely cloudy. I measured the density, which is 1.075 g*cm⁻³ (at 25°C).

Propylenglykol has 1.04 g*cm⁻³ (25 °C), I hoped a mixture of PG and glycerin (1,26 g*cm⁻³ at 25°C) could solve the poblem, but didn't test it yet.

I will keep the forum informed, as soon as I find something reliable...

And regarding my new Mathmos metallic: Fingers crossed it doesn't need any liquid manipulations :-)

[Arne]

glycerol isnt the answer, I think the "working but ugly" fluid I made also was glycol and glycerol. hmm...tbh I dont remember If I had this baby soap at that time, I didnt find any suitable soap here for quite some time, maybe you are lucky and it
does work with glycerol, glycol and surfectant. I'm no real expert as well though, I have no clue about chemicals its all just trial and error and refusing to accept failure as long as I can afford it. chances you figure the fluid are the same as here. dont hesitate to try things just because I already tried and failed. good luck and have fun...i know i had :)

[Arne]

Btw if you do succeed figuring the metallic fluid I can only suggest you not to tell A SINGLE PERSON! just be happy about the fact that you are able to buy cheap clouded ones and make them look like mint. since people got to know the glitterball fluid somehow a lot more glitterballs are sold on ebay as new and even if not marked as new they look mysteriously clear...which was nearly impossible to find all the years before...to make it short : if cheaters have to much info they take fun out of lava ;)