Crestworth Astro Mini no flow and other problems.

[Elias]

Hi.

This is My first Post in the forum. Was always a bit scared to ask for help but now i have too many questions piling up.

I bought an Astro Mini a few years ago. It looks like an MK1 but has a mk2 lightswitch.

The liquid is a bit low and the wax melts but stays at the bottom. Both wax and liquid are orange in colour. Not sure if this is an original colour combination and if so is it worth saving?

The liquid looks clear but gets a bit cloudy when heated.

My thought was to slowly top it up with distilled water and see what happens but i wanted to ask first before ruining my bottle. 

The seal in the lid (made of cork,cardboard, and aluminium foil i think) was damaged and i dont know how to replace it yet. Keeping the backelite lid would help keeping the copper cap in place.

The rubber grommet at the base allso broke apart, while i was changing to an e14 fitting. Had no sbc bulbs at the time. Does anyone know if these exact ones are still made? Couldn't find them on the internet.

Otherwise ill probbably just rewire the lamp completely.

Is the lamp supposed to run on a candle bulb just leaning on the inside wall loosely? Im concidering making a brass spacer to use round bulbs, without them making direct contact to the lamp base.

One last question. Compared to other copper things this lamp looks allmost golden. might be a clearcoat that went yellow over time. This is my only copper crestworth lamp so i dont know if this is normal.

If im asking too many questions just tell me, so i can make my future posts better.

[Johnny]

looks nice with the faded violet colour :-)

[Elias]

Doesn't really look the way it does on the picture. The wax is pure bright red. Brightness overpowers most of the reflections u usually get on the wax. liquid lost almost all colour.

[Mr MaGoo]

But the lamp is moving now, right.  The rest can be tweaked if need be, important thing is "IT'S ALIVE!"

[Elias]

Jep its moving. 

(Just to eliminate potential missunderstandings: The bottle in the last picture is not the one, i was repairing)

I could completely redo the fluid to get rid of the cloudyness. But for now ill keep it this way. The milky look makes the whole bottle glow, which cant really be picked up on cameras. A photo would just look too bright and with the bulb turned off it would look pale.

The only real problem is, that there is about 1,5-2 cm of wax missing. Didn't notice that untill i started repairing it. If the flow is active it can only sustain small bubbles. most of them stretch quite a bit.

Now that i have the PG and SLES im allso trying to replace the liquid in a cloudy Jet bottle. It's not flowing propperly so far but getting better with each adjustment. it takes a lot more sles than i thought it would. Allready at ca. 8ml.

[Mark]

A really helpful thread. Picked up one of these lamps in great condition, and initally thought it might be incomplete with the bulb sitting the way it was. Have also used the above link to order some replacement rubber edging for the base. Thanks everyone!

[Mr MaGoo]

This is my Crestworth Astro from ebay listing across the pond.  Once it arrived here in the states, this is what it looked like, and yes it is in running state, can barely see it!  Crazy!

This is what it looked like after I was done with it.

They can be some work but worth it in the end.  Good luck!

[Mark]

I've opted for a baby glitter refill:

[Mr MaGoo]

Oh very nice.  Me likey!

[Mark]

Yea, I'm very pleased with it!

Just needs a polish up now.

Was going to replace the cap with the original, but have a good one without the innards, so going to stick with that as makes swapping bottles over much easier!

Is that some large glitter flakes I can see in that white fluidium?

Mr MaGoo said:

Oh very nice.  Me likey!

[andy ross]

They are such elegant lamps, can be a bit tricky with lava, I find (overheating issues) - but their glitter performance....

[Mark]

And these 25w bulbs are perfect (for glitter), and a steal for the price: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOX-OF-100-NEW-25W-SBC-GOLFBALL-BULBS/18...