My New Method to Create 1/3-2/3 Ratio "Perc" - Wax Ooze in 5 Minutes.

by Gordon Freeman

Jan 17, 2011

After spending about 4 hours trying to make perfect 1/3 - 2/3 volume ratio ooze (being super anal like I am, it is quite difficult to heat and cool the ooze quickly and get any sort of accurate volume measurement), I had a thought; why not just use mass instead of volume? Duh. I don't know if it is going to work yet, the Lava Lamp is heating up right now.

 

Simply use a scale (a cheap letter scale works fine) to measure 1/3 perc and 2/3 wax by mass. I used a plastic container on the scale and re-zeroed the scale. Then slowly add 70 grams of perc, then pour in 140 more grams of wax for a total of 210 gram of ooze (this gets you close to the 1 cup volume). You can literally do this in under 5 minutes. If you decide to purchase a digital scale, try to find one that does not shut off every 30 seconds if there is no change in mass.

 

If this technique works, you don't have to deal with the whole antifreeze thing (I couldn't find any antifreeze that was pure Ethylene Glycol). The only variable I can think of at the moment is the variable density of different brands of paraffin wax. I have done a little bit of research and found that "paraffin" can vary from .86 to .94 specific gravity. I am currently using Gulf Wax brand paraffin wax manufactured in GA, USA by Royal Oak Enterprises, LLC.

 

I also changed the way I pour the ooze into the glass to prevent any sort of splashing. I made a tight slightly tapered paper funnel and poured the ooze into that which allowed a nice slow filling into the glass.

 

Oops, the new ooze did not "dome" as expected but 50% of it popped out from one side and is now floating at the top, partially melted. It is still one continuous body though and it is attached to the lower ooze via a semi-frozen ooze structure.

 

 

Hmmm...

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  • Gordon Freeman

    Oops, been busy with other stuff. FYI, when I was "blowing bubbles" in my speed evaporation test, I closed my eyes, did not breath and immediately walked away to breathe. Not something I would suggest doing 8 hours a day for your lifetime. Yes, it's nasty stuff and I will probably look at other options now that I have beaten that horse to death.

     

    But the "perc" base lamp is still working nicely, after a day of being on, "something" is separating and floating on the top but you just shake/emulsify, let cool and your good to go again.

     

    The only problem I have right now is the rubber bladder absorbs the "perc" and keep deforming, I suspect if it was vulcanized rubber that would not happen.

    Jan 31, 2011

  • Goo Geek

    I just want to update my prior comment of Jan. 18 about adding perc to wax. After further trial and error I have learned that the risk of adding perc to wax while it is in the bottle is that anywhere the raw perc contacts the bottle the lava will latter stick to that point. This is also why if you add too much perc to your wax, over time, the lava will start to stick to the glass. When you add perc to the lava while it is in the bottle, have the bottle nearly full and use a small funnel to insure no perc drips down the inside of the bottle. But you should only do this for the fine tuning of perc.

    What I have started doing is adding perc to the wax just after I add the wax to the bottle using the same funnel with a long tube extension that I add the hot wax so no perc splashes. Then place the bottle in a bowl of iced water too cool the wax quickly and stir the wax gently with something thin and long that reaches the bottom of the bottle to ensure the perc mixes well. The perc evaporates much less when the wax is starting to cool but hasn't yet hardened.

    Feb 6, 2011

  • Gordon Freeman

    You were reading my mind, I just fixed (hopefully) the problem of the wax sticking to the glass. It was a long involved process, but I think I might be onto something. First cool down the lamp, then pour the water out. Then I left the ooze in the lamp and cleaned the sides of the glass with various labor intensive swabbing with rods and such. After cleaning it the best I could I used an old bottle of Nu-Finish 2000 to lightly "wax" the inside of the glass. The ingredients said it had silicone and urethane in it so we will see if it works or not. It's been going 18 hours and looks awesome.

    Feb 6, 2011