Lava Lamp restoration

Don't EVER get any of the stuff in a Lava Lamp on you...It is a double-first cousin to that horrible, awful acid that's in the center of Golf Balls that will eat all the way to the center of the Earth, if it ever gets loose...My best friend's brother's wife's cousin's father-in-law's brother, who's an Eminent Chemist told us that...An' WHO could argue w/HIM ?!? (grin)

dude... are you serious ? :tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears:
 
I gotta wonder.. all the lamps I've ever seen had bottle caps on them.. not screw caps.. and the instructions say to screw off the cap????? Sounds suspicious to me..
 
I've restored several vintage lava lamps, and most of the advice given on the various forums is wrong.

The "laval" is basically candle wax mixed with dry cleaning fluid (also sold as brake cleaner) to make it a little more dense. You shouldn't need to do anything to the wax unless you're trying to make one from scratch.

The liquid is water and glycol. If you need to top it up, start with a 50/50 solution of water, and glycol (the stuff sold as projection TV coolant works well). Let it run for a few hours, and see how it does. If the lava doesn't rise high enough, add more glycol. If it stays at the top, add more water. It can take a while to get it balanced, and be sure to let it warm up again after adding anything. If you have a hydrometer, you can measure the specific gravity of the liquid, and mix the replacement to match it.

For cloudy lamps, I recommend just using them every day for a few weeks. Often, it will clear up gradually on its own. I have one very cloudy early 70's lamp which is now crystal clear.

If the lava is clumpy, empty all the liquid from the cold lamp into a pitcher. Then heat the lamp in a pan of boiling water until all the wax clumps melt back together. Let it cool before pouring the liquid back in.

Remember to be patient. Lava lamps can take 2-3 hours to warm up, particularly if the wax is at the top. A lot of people think it's not working when it doesn't flow after half an hour.
 
I gotta wonder.. all the lamps I've ever seen had bottle caps on them.. not screw caps.. and the instructions say to screw off the cap????? Sounds suspicious to me..

Lamps from the 80's and older have screw tops. The newer ones have bottle caps.
 
All I know is that I am going to be searching for an old lava lamp.:yes:

Gotta have one.
 
interesting... I guess a couple of the "old" lamps I had thought about buying must not have really been as old as was claimed then... :scratch2:
 
One thing I did many years ago with mine was add an inline lamp dimmer so I could control the heat. I've found that reducing it once it gets going to about 70% worked best over many hours of operation. It operated that way continuously 24/7 for 12-15 years.
 
They sell new all over the internet pages and pages of them on eBay. We have 10 of them on our ET center. looking to add a couple more then we are done.

My son made one in grade school so I doubt they are made from any form of dangerious acid PLUS since the new ones don't have any kind of warning like that I doubt it.

High School Pharmacy was selling some here for Christmas the nieghbors bought me one with way cool metallic green wax that acts different the all the others we have.

And your right don't shake one up takes for ever for all the little globs to come unstuck from the glass.

large ones tend to use 40 watt bulbs smaller base ones use 25 watt bulbs least in my collection.

In college one of the guys had one they made in a chemistry lab class in high school that was about 4 ft tall it had a damn 100 watt bulb in the bottom of it. I remember gettin a little burn on my arm when I bumped it reaching for some green stuff on a desk.
 
Uhh...You fellers realise that I WAS just Pullin' Yer Legs, doncha ? I think they use wax & some sort of light oil w/food colorings...Still, I wouldn't wanna get any of it on me, & CERTAINLY wouldn't want to drink it....
 
For cloudy lamps, I recommend just using them every day for a few weeks. Often, it will clear up gradually on its own. I have one very cloudy early 70's lamp which is now crystal clear.

What I said!

I used to date girl who worked on the line there in Chicago. She told me nothing about their trade secrets but I do remember a few tips she gave me, but I digress...

Fire her up until she spews for a week or so before you get the bone saw out.
 
Loofah Lamp !!!

As I mentioned earlier, the LavaLamp I have is a smaller cylindrical one. It uses a small intermediate base 15W bulb as a heat source. Forty years ago it worked just fine until it got shaken up. Since then, the best it's done is sending up little pale jagged strings which don't remelt.

Anyway, I tried andy's suggestion. Poured out the liquid and held the bottle in boiling water so that it didn't touch the bottom of the pan. Wow! Hey, great, the wax is all back together again in an even disc at the bottom. Let it cool for a couple of hours and then poured the liquid back in and plugged the lamp in... this is gonna be great! Six hours later... nothing. No runs, no drips, no globules... nada!

The little 15W bulb is all silver and black, it looks like it's blown but it does work. I've looked all over and can't find a replacement. However (Eureka!), I do have this 40W high intensity bulb with an intermediate base. The wax is warm from the 15W bulb so the 40 shouldn't take long, right? I can turn the lamp on and off to regulate the heat, right? Put in the 40W and turn it on, keeping my hand on the base to check heat, gets too warm, turn off lamp, etc.. Well, a few minutes later a single string spews from from the center of the wax disc and then the rest of the wax expands like a sponge and sticks to the side of the bottle like a big pink loofah!

Doh!

I think this lamp is going to continue it's journey to the curb.

BTW, I, in no way, fault andy's advice. I clearly exceeded the design specs.
 
As I mentioned earlier, the LavaLamp I have is a smaller cylindrical one. It uses a small intermediate base 15W bulb as a heat source. Forty years ago it worked just fine until it got shaken up. Since then, the best it's done is sending up little pale jagged strings which don't remelt.

Anyway, I tried andy's suggestion. Poured out the liquid and held the bottle in boiling water so that it didn't touch the bottom of the pan. Wow! Hey, great, the wax is all back together again in an even disc at the bottom. Let it cool for a couple of hours and then poured the liquid back in and plugged the lamp in... this is gonna be great! Six hours later... nothing. No runs, no drips, no globules... nada!

The little 15W bulb is all silver and black, it looks like it's blown but it does work. I've looked all over and can't find a replacement. However (Eureka!), I do have this 40W high intensity bulb with an intermediate base. The wax is warm from the 15W bulb so the 40 shouldn't take long, right? I can turn the lamp on and off to regulate the heat, right? Put in the 40W and turn it on, keeping my hand on the base to check heat, gets too warm, turn off lamp, etc.. Well, a few minutes later a single string spews from from the center of the wax disc and then the rest of the wax expands like a sponge and sticks to the side of the bottle like a big pink loofah!

Doh!

I think this lamp is going to continue it's journey to the curb.

BTW, I, in no way, fault andy's advice. I clearly exceeded the design specs.

:tears:
 
They sell new all over the internet pages and pages of them on eBay. We have 10 of them on our ET center. looking to add a couple more then we are done.

My son made one in grade school so I doubt they are made from any form of dangerious acid PLUS since the new ones don't have any kind of warning like that I doubt it.

High School Pharmacy was selling some here for Christmas the nieghbors bought me one with way cool metallic green wax that acts different the all the others we have.

And your right don't shake one up takes for ever for all the little globs to come unstuck from the glass.

large ones tend to use 40 watt bulbs smaller base ones use 25 watt bulbs least in my collection.

In college one of the guys had one they made in a chemistry lab class in high school that was about 4 ft tall it had a damn 100 watt bulb in the bottom of it. I remember gettin a little burn on my arm when I bumped it reaching for some green stuff on a desk.
Mark , I tried the restoration last night and now my the left hand is a mere stump...
 
Somewhat like a Lava Lamp

I bought this lamp at a Yard Sale this summer for $1.00.

It's not a Lava Lamp, it has some type of blue liquid and glitter in it. As it warms up, the glitter moves up to the top and back down the sides.

It adds a very mellow blue light to my "Stereo Den" when enjoying it at night! :)


MVC-006F-2.jpg
 
Ok now I want one. Is this gonna be some kinda new addiction!:D

ecandle they're doing some marvelous work with prosthetics.
 
Ok now I want one. Is this gonna be some kinda new addiction!:D

ecandle they're doing some marvelous work with prosthetics.


Leave him alone he got himself into this he can get out. Afterall you only need two hands for Vinyl and with a bit of pratice I bet only one for that as well.

He can just turn the knobbies with his one good hand.

Silly ecandle guy LOL:D
 
There's an original one just like mine on ebay fixin' to end in a few hours. Should be interesting to see what it finally goes for.

Looks like it's liquid level is down about the same as mine was before I topped it off with distilled water.
 
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