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Build Your Own Lava Lamp
Manip writes "My new project: 'The difficult part about making your own liquid motion lamp is, of course, the motion. We won't go into the lamp base too much. The store-bought ones use a 40w appliance bulb in a metal housing which directs the heat to the underside of the glass container. If you're making your own base, we recommend installing a dimmer switch so that you can control your heat output.'"
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A good thing to do even with the store bought ones. I use an X10 lamp dimmer on mine, but have also used a wall mount lamp dimmer to replace a wall switch for a friend. After these things get hot they generally get very active and it results in too many too small blobs of lava to be enjoyable. With a dimmer you can adjust the flow to suit your preferences even when the lamp warns up.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
hmmmmmmmmm... no case mod involving a CPU as a heater, but this site documents the installation of a lava lamp into a very swanky stained-glass case. This site is the home of my favourite case mods in the world ^_^ Look at the very last case mod, number eight, to see the lava lamp.
Standing at the very edge of my imagination, I peered into the inky void and realised -- I couldn't think up a new sig.
Check out the Lavanrand page too.
Try http://www.coolstuffcheap.com/gelalarebu.html
What kind of a summary/description was that supposed to be?
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
You can get a Lava Lamp for $10 at Radio Shack.
Physicsnerd
The patented formula uses carbon tetrachloride... VERY toxic and carcinogenic stuff. It used to be used as a cleaning agent until the FDA banned it in the 70's, IIRC.
Nothing to see here; Move along.
Here's the groups.google.com link to the previous message:
No duh...this is why, a few years ago, faux LavaLamps started appearing in stores like Walgreens and Wal*Mart. The patent expired, send in the clones.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
A nice yellow-orange lava-lamp is a really nice illumination if you want to have sex and you dont like a lot of candles (these things can fall over and create a real mess if things are getting a little "active"
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
While less geeky, you could just use a blacklight bulb and leave it on.
As long as you don't mind the light spilling into the rest of the room...
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
1/2L Kerosene
1/2L Water
Blue food dye
Pour water into approx. 1L glass or plastic container. Add blue food dye to taste. Float kerosene on top. (pouring it over the back of a spoon may help here) Seal container tightly, and shake gently to simulate rolling ocean waves.
0 1 - just my two bits
You can do this! Take an old light bulb, preferably a clear one. It doesn't matter if the filament is broken. You also need a piezo gas igniter {the type used for lighting ovens when the built-in electric ignition has failed ..... pound stores sell them}, some well-insulated HT cable {spark plug cable is fine ..... obviously}, a hot-melt adhesive gun, a high-power soldering gun and various other home lab items.
Determine which of the two contacts on the base of the bulb connects to the longer bit of filament, and solder the HT cable to it. This needs a high-power soldering gun as the contacts are themselves made out of solder. Alternatively, you could just splay the wire ends out and connect to both the terminals.
Check the connection is sound {if you didn't heat it enough, or there was any dirt about, the wire will come off with a single tug} and then douse the whole thing with plenty of hot melt adhesive. The metal side part of the bulb base {with the locking pins} is not electrically connected to the two filament terminals, but should be insulated anyway otherwise a spark could jump from the terminal to the base, and from the base to your hand. Build up that adhesive. Set the whole thing in some kind of base, with the HT lead coming out the side. Don't bend it too sharply.
Remove the metal guard from the end of the gas igniter, and push the spark electrode into the HT cable. If it is a loose fit, wrap aluminium foil, copper wire, or basically just about anything conductive around it to make it a better fit. Add much hot-melt.
Darken the room. Place your hand on the bulb and click the igniter like mad. That's it!
If it all goes wrong, the most likely thing to check for is that the igniter might be sparking back to the return terminal, either sometimes or always. Better insulation is the answer. Hot melt adhesive will easily withstand the voltage that can jump 10mm., which is about 30kV.
You may obtain slightly better results if you ground the apparatus. Just run a length of green and yellow insulated wire from the terminal which used to press against the metal guard on the igniter to the earth terminal of a nearby power point.
Usual disclaimers apply; if this doesn't work, or if you hurt yourself, then don't complain to me.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!