New and Learning

[Bryan Carlson]

I'm new to lava lamps as I just got one on Christmas.  It's kind of funny 'cause I got my niece one, and my dad got me one (different color, same model).

Well I moved it while hot, and dropped it of course.  You all know the story from there - tons of tiny blobs, cloudy liquid.  So I found your forums here and decided to try a DIY liquid replacement.  I haven't been able to get it right yet, and I hope I'm on the right track.  I know it's just a cheap lava lite 20oz lamp, and I could just go get a new one but I'm interested in learning.

Lamp was originally purple in blue liquid.  I don't want to change the goo color and for now I want to use clear liquid while I learn.  So here's what I've done so far;

- Refrigerated the lamp, then dumped the liquid into a container (air tight, saved it for now).

- Ran it back on the lamp base to liquify the goo, then let cool to room temperature.

- Mixed dawn into a jar with water, and used a long handled toothbrush dipped into that to clean the interior of the lamp (left the goo/lava inside the lamp).

- Rinsed the lamp multiple times with distilled water.

- Filled the lamp, minus about 1.5" with distilled water.

- Added 1 small drop of dawn dish soap (clear soap)

- Added 1 tsp Epsom salt.

I capped it with tinfoil (not sure that matters much except to help retain heat).  I was careful to remove the bottle cap and kept it to place back on later.  The first run after adding the tsp of salt was unsuccessful as there wasn't even any doming.  So I shut it off and let it cool for about 2 hours, and added another 1/2 tsp salt (I let it cool so I could move the lamp around slightly to desolve the Epsom salt.

As of writing this it's now been another hour with the lamp on and there's definitely doming, but nothing is breaking loose and rising.  I'll let it run another hour or so to be sure.  Then I'll let it cool and add a small pinch of salt.  I'll repeat this until I get good lava flow.

Depending on the size of bubbles, I may add another tiny drop of soap.  Once that's good, I'll add heat resistant epoxy to the rim and reapply the cap using a channel lock (larger adjustable pliers for those not in the know) to try to get an air-tight seal.

So ... does this sound about right, or am I overlooking something?  I know this seems like a lot for someone that just got his first one but I've liked them since I was a kid.  I remember some 30 years ago going to my grandparents place and seeing theirs.  One of the first things I'd do was ask if I could turn it on and watch it.  I'm considering attempting to make some custom lamps. I have easy access to machining tools and materials, minus the tempered/blown glass.  I think it'd be fun.  But I need to learn more about mixing the contents first.

Thanks for any reply

[Bryan Carlson]

Slight addition.  After adding the 2nd dose of Epsom salt, the lava domed but nothing rose.  After posting the OP, the lava lifted off the base quite a bit, but held the shape of the base.  It's not 'goo' and I think there's some coil separation.  So in addition to any answers to my first post, what do I do about this?  Do I dump the liquid (to save and put back in), and remelt the goo so it goes back on the coil?  Do I need to pull the coil out and clean it?

[Bryan Carlson]

Nevermind.  I'm starting from scratch with the retro-basic formula for now.  I ended up pulling the coil to clean it and ended up stretching it.  It fits snug at the base now.  It had quite a bit smaller diameter before.  I don't know if that messed it up or if I 'killed' the goo in one of the previously mentioned processes.  But it wouldn't work.  I tried switching back to the original liquid even though it's cloudy just to see if the goo would work.  It just sits at the bottom and doesn't liquify. If it's the goo that I messed up, I'd guess I changed it's viscosity by melting and cooling it to much.

  

[Erin]

In trying to fix a lamp I had from the 60s, I tried something similar - distilled water and then added salt. Added a fair amount of salt, too, and really couldn't get the lava to rise. Sometimes too much salt would cause the lava to disconnect from the coil, but not rise. Added some dishsoap and that's when (oddly enough) lava started sticking to the glass.

I'm starting over. :(