General problems making a lamp

[IanS]

So i've been working away at this using the retro formula and i seem to be encountering a world of trouble.
1. I bought candle dye and it separates from the wax.
2.. when i use the formulas given in the retro formula, it still doesn't seem to work.
3. Adding the salt as they suggest when making the water , it just sinks thru the goo and sits there. I pre-mix the salt in a little water before adding it now, is this a good idea?

What is the best wax to use ?
I've been using paraffin wax and I have two empty lava lamp bottles with coils in them that I have been using.

any help is GREATLY appreciated

Thanks,
Ian

[WeeboTech]

Someone once told me that he cools the fluid in the bottle (via refigerator).

Then heats up the wax until in a melted fluid state.

Then using a funnel, pours the molten wax into the funnel. As it hits the water, it solidifies and does not stick to the globe.

I know from my transfusions, the globe has to be absolutely clean.
I think the final solution is to use contact cleaner. Then rinse with distilled water.
Turn upside down and air dry.

If filling dry, before putting any wax in the container.
Rinse and coat the container with the actual fluid you are going to use for the lamp.
It's OK to leave a little fluid on the bottom. The trick is to coat the glass on the inside before any wax is put in.
As someone said to me, this creates a molecular barrier just in case the wax hits the sides.

[Casey Haldeman]

I did that. I refrigerated the globe with a small amount of RO water, then I squeezed the semi-soft wax into the globe with a little baggie that I'd cut the corner from. The wax still stuck to the sides. Even when I squeezed the cool wax into the cold water, when the little strings of wax touched the sides, it looked like they were displacing the water... So if we use contact cleaner, how can we get it out? it'll just dry after you rinse it with water? Does it need to be rinsed with water BTW? I figure the contact cleaner would just evaporate cleanly after you poured the wax laden solvent away a few times. I have either heptane or hexane based contact cleaner, is that okay? Or you just mean something that displaces water and can dissolve wax? like WD-40 or whatever? How much liquid would you recommend in the bottom of the globe when you pour the wax in? I think part of my problem was that I put in so much petroleum jelly. Since it was so soft, I think that's why it could displace the cold water easier. I'm making a whole new batch of wax today with clean canning wax. What should be in the solution we coat the inside of the globe with? I was just using plain RO water from the start... should I already have some PEG or glycerin in the solution I coat the bottle with? I have some PEG.

[Casey Haldeman]

Another problem I'm having, is that when I coat the spring with wax, I'm having trouble getting it into the bottle without streaking the wax from the spring all over the sides. That's another reason why I was having streaking issues. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to get the spring in there without streaking the glass? When I read an old post saying to pour the wax in with a funnel, I thought he meant a dry globe because he never said to soak the coil in the wax or anything. I thought that would circumvent this issue, but I keep thinking if the globe was dry, that would be even easier for the wax to travel up the sides.

[WeeboTech]

I don't have all the answers with this.

My thought is,

If the wax stuck to the sides, the globe was not totally clean, coated or there is too much petroleum jelly as you mention.

The contact cleaner is the second to last step I usually do,

warm water rinse. (heat up globe).
hot boiled water & soap with bottle brush.
hot boiled water rinse.
Warm water rise.
Cold water rinse.
Contact cleaner rinse.
Cold distilled water rinse.
Upside down air dry.

Sometimes I do another warm, then hot boiled water after the contact cleaner if I have been having difficulty with the globe.

Before adding wax.
Fluid that is going to be used for lamp (with what ever additives you are using).
Rinse or swish the partial fluid around the total inside of globe.
Leave 1" or so on bottom.
Long funnel with straw into water.
Pour hot liquefied wax into cold water at bottom through funnel.
let settle, do not move too much.
You do not want the wax to come up on the sides of the glass.

This is how I've done it. Others may have better methods.

[Casey Haldeman]

Well, I don't have like pre-mixed fluid or anything. I guess I'll just mix up some PEG and distilled water and adjust it with the salt later. I don't want to add the dish soap till I have the lamp hot and everything, though. I didn't have a bottle-brush, but I washed it out with Electrical contact cleaner, then xylene, then hot water(our hot water is about as hot as boiling, too hot to hold the bottle without gloves anyways) with soap, then rinsed several times with hot water, then rinsed with cool water, then rinsed with refrigerated distilled water. I have to get some more brakleen before I can mix up some more wax, so I'll see if it worked then. I was reading a blog here, and someone was mentioning coating the inside of the globe with WD-40, but I couldn't tell if they were washing it off afterword, or if they were just coating it then putting the liquid in.

[Casey Haldeman]

Well, I was trying to do it as recommended with a funnel and a little water in the bottom, and the tube came off of the end of my funnel. Wax completely coated the inside of the bottle I was using. I was mad a first, but my mom kindly donated a beautiful and much larger absolut vodka bottle. So hopefully things go well this time, because it'll be a nice looking lamp if this thing works out. BTW, I tried oil-based blue-green paint in my lava. Some of it dissolved and tinted , but most sunk to the bottom. I thought about stirring it up and pouring it in anyways in the hope that slowly it would all dissolve in as the lamp ran.

[WeeboTech]

>> Wax completely coated the inside of the bottle I was using.
back to the cleaning procedure. OMG that drives me nuts when it happens. A lil splatter and I'm back to boiling water again.

Also, I have a silver lava lamp I made, when it cools the color separates, but when it gets hot and flows the color integrates again. So, until you run it, you do not know.

[Casey Haldeman]

actually I'm thinking that's exactly how it will behave. When I had the lava in the double boiler, the color flowed up and down through the lava like a conveyor(you could see it with little swirls and eddies flowing in a current), but when it cooled, it sunk to the bottom.

[Casey Haldeman]

I'm glad to report the PEG solution in the bottom worked WONDERS. I put the wax in, and it looked like it was touching the sides, and I was like "noooo!" Then I twirled the bottle around, and the hard wax glided along the glass as smooth as, well, glass. It's just as you described, a "molecular barrier". BTW, if anyone wants to know a cheap source of PEG, it's a common OTC laxative. I got mine at walmart. It came in big packets(in powder form) for dissolution into beverages.

[IanS]

hey Casey That is awesome !

[Casey Haldeman]

I officially have mine flowing now. The only problem is that my oil paint completely separated(it was very old, and probably just no good) from the lava, and it's just clear. The good thing is that the separated paint is not clouding the water or anything, it's sitting under the lava. The problem with the clear lava, is that there are hundreds of really annoying water bubbles trapped in the lava, and they're very obvious. I set aside some of my lava, so hopefully I can get some fresher oil paint and dissolve it in my leftover lava and then add it in. Does anyone know if the water bubbles will come out of the lava on their own or anything? They're really annoying, my red swirl has bubbles in the lava, but there aren't near as many, and they aren't as obvious because the lava is opaque white in that lamp.

As far as getting the lamp going: I first put a couple of inches of cold distilled water and really saturated PEG solution(a couple of spoonfuls) in the bottom of the pre-refrigerated bottle. I then put the wax into the water at the bottom using the funnel and straw. I then filled up the globe about 3/4 with distilled water and the rest of my PEG solution. I let the lamp heat up for about two and half hours. I mixed up more PEG and added it till the lava started to dome. I then added 3/4 drop of cheap handsoap(pre diluted in a little water) into the globe. Then I did the final adjustments to the water with saturated canning salt solution(this after I let the globe rewarm for about 1/2 hour). Once I got the lava flowing, I put the lid on the bottle and cleaned it and just let it run for a while.

[StickStoneBone]

Hi! What brand of OTC Laxative did you use? Miralax? Or something else? Great Idea!