27" Grande Project?

[PinkFloyd Effect]

I'm new to this site, not a collector just a retro do-it-yourselfer. I acquired this Grande lamp for free from a neighbor I think it is really cool being so big but it came with a burnt bulb and a boxed burnt bulb so...2 burnt bulbs. I got discouraged when I realized it used a 100W bulb which is too much to run consistently just for effects which is when I started doing research on how to "green" the lamp up. 

Not sure if anyone can decode these numbers to tell how old the unit is I believe it is all original.

In my research I realized you can re-goo them and the kits have lighter wax which requires less wattage then the factory goo does so I plan on doing this I saw kits on eBay for about $30 not sure if that is enough for one of these sized lamps. I want white lava since my walls and furniture are white which goes good against the stainless it will make for a very contemporary lamp, then I'm not sure if the re-goo kits keep the water clear for much longer periods of time but I'm unsure I may want the water to be Caribbean-teal color like the liner on a pool. 

Then I was thinking about trying to insulate the base to make more efficient use of the heat loss through aluminum which is a conductor of heat. I will install a twist knob "pot" style dimmer on the base of the lamp itself, as far as the bulb goes not sure if they more a better light bulb then the basic 100w they sell for use in these? I thought about retrofit combining LEDs and a heating coil but probably would not make any difference in electricity consumption. They don't make a better designed coil ring I should install with the goo kit do they??

Long term goal with the lamp is to turn it into a usable bedside end table like the colossal/colossus lamp probably the same width glass ring with a smaller hole in the center for more usable table area. The thing I can't figure out is how the glass rings stay on the floor sized lamps does anyone have any close up pictures of how it is mounted? 

I can't even find one on eBay for sale, I assume they don't make them anymore? Here are two I found on Google which I Photoshopped feel free to use them elsewhere on this website in a gallery or something...I corrected the color of the images and then added depth of field to them:

 

[PinkFloyd Effect]

It only has one large coil not duals :/

Not sure about the globe in the mail on it's way to me right now. 

[Jeff]

My globe only has 1 coil too....I'm bummed out if that wax is going to stay translucent....I'm actually having 2nd thoughts now about doing this.  I mean the lamp is basically junk the way it is now...but I was hoping for a solid/opaque lava...like all my other lamps...I hate that translucent lava on the first few runs on new lamps...just looks weird. 

[PinkFloyd Effect]

Jeff we are talking about mine I am not adding dye, when you add dye it turns opaque much quicker. 

[Rodrigo]

Not true pinkfloyd, the dye doesn't nesessarily make the wax more opaque.

The wax will be really translucent at first, Jeff but will become a little more opaque with a few cycles. The newer wax doesn't go full opaque but will still become really opaque.

[PinkFloyd Effect]

Maybe not turning 100% opaque is an improvement for light distribution? 

Jeff's globe arrived today, I like the blue and yellow better then purple and yellow. I will need to polish mine while I have it opened...mine is # H6825-040831 and Jeff's is H6824-040818

[Rodrigo]

The polishing needed should only be on the outside, not inside. Just work on emptying them both out good and cleaning them completely free of wax

[Jeff]

Wow did that cloud up...I wonder if the heat from the instapack foam had anything to do with it.  I'm glad it arrived in one piece :) 

[Rodrigo]

Yeah it probably did. I noticed the only clear grande I have arrived cool, while the first two were warm to hot and one completely cloudy, the other one not so bad

[PinkFloyd Effect]

Thanks all!

The kits came in so I now have everything I need, besides time lol this will be coming up very soon and Jeff's blue globe will be first. If I run mine without dye can I add color much farther down the line if I choose to or do you only have so many cycles before you can not add dye??

[Rodrigo]

Looks good! I would keep the old liquid and wax in jars or something I'm case you wanna fill up some smaller lamps or something, as long as the wax and liquid are good which they should be lol

[PinkFloyd Effect]

Well my wax is still good, but Jeff's is burnt up and no good it just releases tiny constipated looking turds haha 

With the proper 100W type R bulb in mine now it takes the better part of over 6 hours to get it flowing and I let it run all night since I am kitting it anyway...in the morning the flowing goo clumps were very large so to me there were no signs of overheating, plus I shut it off and it pretty much instantly stopped rising so it couldn't have been overheating over night. The clumps are really large and it likes to stretch 3/4 up without breaking apart so I bet it could be ran for quite a long time unless the bulb is just getting weak. 

I have been running a 20oz that Jeff sent me and watching for overheating symptoms what does it mean when a small wax bubble is formed when the large ones rise and break apart? When it stretches and gets thin in the middle it will make a tiny glob when it finally separates and rises that is normal right??

[Jus]

I don't know that it means anything in particular, but all my lamps do that.