Cleaning a Lava Lamp: How to remove Debris from Mathmos Astro
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ค. 2024
- I have two Mathmos Astro Original Lava Lamps, and both of them contained strange black debris when they arrived. Mathmos said this was "normal", but I wasn't happy with the look, so I decided to try and get it out. Since I could barely find anything online, I made a video of the process that hopefully will help fellow lava lamp owners encountering the same problem.
UPDATE: After posting this video on the oozinggoo forum, user ImMelting linked me his process which for some reason I haven't been able to find there before. His method is very similar, major differences are that he uses a pantyhose as a filter, and that he uses a hose to prevent the liquid from splashing when pouring it back in the bottle.
His comment with the process: oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topic...
My thread on this video: oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topic...
Background music: • Lofi Chilled Guitar - ... - Thanks to @TheRelaxedMovement
0:00 - Intro
0:47 - Pouring out liquid
1:47 - Melting wax
3:12 - Cleaning wax (first try)
4:01 - Cleaning wax (second try)
4:50 - Reassembly
6:17 - Examining debris
6:40 - Final test - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Cheesevcloth, 2 layers, placed over the plastic filter would be the way to catch all the debris, the warmer the wax, the better. Great presentation and wonderful tone and content! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Definitely a good tip for future lava cleaners. Seems like the wax not being liquid enough and clogging the pores is not something to worry about.
Nicely done. Informative without being too long. Thanks!
Nice fix mate! I had the same problem with a Mathmos lava lamp years ago but they replaced it. Very well done on fixing the problem.
This is awesome, we need video's like these! Thank you! 👏🏼
I believe the debris came from the Top-Lid metal flake. IMO?
Beautifully done. After watching some of your videos I have learnt a lot and feel I might actually dare try to filter out debris out of two of my lamps. Excellent!
Thank you so much for this incredibly helpful video.
great production on your vidoes
!!!
My guess is that the debris was iron oxide or something else off the spring. I found your video very informative and I am going to try replacing the steel spring with a tungsten coil to see if it will have an impact in heating time as it is one of the best heat conductors in the world. If I could reduce the heating time by an hour I'll call it a win. There are plenty of better heating elements they could have gone with and idk if it even makes a difference but I have a feeling crappy wire spring isn't the best. The best cheating method I have thought of so far is throwing it in the sous vide (a hot water bath for cooking stuff) and setting it to 140f (the temp lava lamps operate at) and letting it come to temperature before throwing it on the stand and letting it go.
I’d be interested in hearing how that works for you.
The spring has nothing to do with heating. The purpose of the spring is to break the surface tension of the falling wax blobs to make them combine into one. Too much heating will just cause the wax to float to the top and stay there. This is why these lamps also have a maximum of 6 hours you can run them for in one continuous run, before having to let them cool.
@@iPelaaja1 ive run my lamp for 15 hours a day for the last 2 years, no issues at all. (1998, 16.in model, 40 watt) gone through 3 bulbs... :P
the ambient temp has a lot to do with performance too, as on hot summer days, it will tend to float more with smaller blobs... but point the fan it's way and its back to normal..
Unless you're using an _incredibly_ heat stable dye it will absolutely clump up like that. I've been looking into making my own lamp, and it looks like the best bet is possibly the dyes they use for antifreeze (unfortunately only available in industrial amounts, but the colors are rad though). The Tungsten coil sounds neat (probably wont heat faster, but it might be a more even heat spreader). I'd also like to hear how that works out.
@@GreatBowlsAfireyou won’t get any issues running it like that but you will shorten the life of your lamp, probably by a lot with that sort of use.
What a professional stuff you are using, all steel.. I like it! ✌
Yep, I sure do love me some good ol' stainless. It's like the only material that really lasts a lifetime.
@@Makstuff that..... and Lava Lamps 🤪💕🌋
So cool thank you for making this!!
thanks for this vid, very useful and informative
Thank you for the education, I have an extra large lava lamp that's missing a bit of water and now I know to use distilled water and whats under the silver cap.
Mathmos : "Oh, The Dark Spots Are Normal"
Max : "That Doesn't Fix My Problem, Though"
An absolute gem of a video. Cheers man.
What a great video and vibe, super cool!
Thanks. Not sure why you did Not filter strain the Blue liquid. It may have been where the last particles of debris remained.
Dont think so, pretty sure I'd have seen that.
this is great! thank you for making this video. it's annoying to see those black dots. thank you!
How do you do this with a swirl cloud lamp? The minuscular black pieces get on my nerves a bit.
Excellent job! The flecks _should_ be tiny dye clumps. Looks like they tried to use the right dyes too, weird.
This video was satisfying 👌 😌
I'm wondering how hard the wax become when cold down... Very curious about that material
Thx for the video
Currently working on making lava lamps from scratch, video will be out in a month or two, stay tuned 😇
great vid makstuff but i cant open mine so i thought i would just share some of my thoughts.there are many manufacturers of these lamps so unfortunately quality and lava motion varies.regardless of bottle size they all seem to recommend a 25w bulb and i know bulb wattage is important for the amount of heat they provide but this doesnt seem logical to me as some bottles hold a lot more water.so in the bigger lamp i use a 30w and now the lava moves better.i think the debris is coming off the metal coil but the other debris is suspect.i wonder if the water is pure/mineral? tap water will generate debris.the coil is what separates the wax.i noticed in one of my lamps that the coil seemed clogged with both wax and debris so clearly wasnt splitting the wax so i put a stronger bulb in temporarily to try and melt the wax stuck in the coil which it has and the wax moves a little better but not totally correct and i dont know why as its one of the small ones.i have 5 of these lamps now.i love them as they are so relaxing.unfortunately of the 5 only 2 behave properly.the other 3 are not quite right but im determined to work the problem out
Mathmos are really bad now. I bought a defective lava lamp from them in australia
I agree the wattage wasn’t enough but my glass came dirty and scratched as well. Returned it and won’t buy again
Just bought a cheap brand lava lamp off eBay and it’s fine for me
they do use different wattage bulbs for different size bottles...
anything bigger than 16 inches uses a 40 watt bulb, smaller use a 25w. (theres a giant "Grande" model thats a HUGE 27in tall which uses a 100w bulb!!! Ha! )
you can get a standard 40w appliance bulb (like for the fridge) at the grocery store, works great~ cheers!
@Makstuff
What I desperately need to know (and I haven't found ANYTHING ANYWHERE on the net on this matter) is how and with which kind of glue to fix the screw cap on a Mathmos Jet bottle after the refill like it's been done before. I won't dare to have a try at a refill myself before I can't be sure about this. Any idea?
I used to think it must have been some kind of hot glue since heat seemed to help loosening it, but after seeing the scene from the Mathmos factory ( th-cam.com/video/Gs-cOlrvNwI/w-d-xo.html ) where they glue the caps on their Astro lamps, I'm pretty sure it's not hot glue. Mathmos seems to apply the glue to all bottles, and THEN screw on all the caps, which I assume would result in too much of a delay for hot glue.
I threw away my original caps so I can't check anymore, but my best guess would be that it's some kind of epoxy glue. This stuff is cheap, widely available and works great on both glass and metal. And even if Mathmos actually uses something else, I'm sure it would work great as a substitute.
BUT the glue is NOT needed for any functional reasons, which I am reasonably sure of because I never re-glued the caps of my Astros after making this video, and they still work perfectly fine to this day. On the other side, there's a good argument AGAINST gluing on the cap if you are messing with the bottle content, simply because if you find out later that you need to adjust something, you don't have to go through the glue removal again.
The only real reason I can see FOR glue is safety, aka you have a small child at home and are afraid it would try to drink the bottle. Lacking that, I'd just screw on the caps (which you can replace with standard metal caps, like from wine bottles) and leave it at that.
@@Makstuff Many thanks, Max! Is it necessary to clean off the screw end of the bottle and the cap to make sure any remains of the original glue is removed and the bottle is actually tightly sealed?
@@lazypokerblues Not sure if it is absolutely needed since the actual sealing happens at the flat part of the cap and not at the threads, but on my lamps I just cleaned it all off.
@@Makstuff
But if you watch the video from the Mathmos factory they apply the glue not onto the flat top but into the screw thread - don't you think this has got something to do with the sealing just the same?
@@lazypokerblues I don't think so. Typically, metal bottle caps have some kind of rubber coating, rubber pad or some other soft material on the inside of the flat part which works as a sealing. I believe the glue is just added to prevent unscrewing the threads and thus disengaging the (separate) sealing on the flat part.
Thanks for posting this vid- just needed an idea on how easy the screw comes off- i need to redye my water- fyi I would think a cheese cloth might be what would work great to filter out debris for anyone that might want to try
If you are still reading this did you use distilled water to fill a bit?
Dunno what a cheese cloth is exactly, but in my filtering video from like 6 months ago I used a pantyhose which worked great too.
To color your water, you just need to use food coloring...a few drops are enough. Bye
I've honestly never had this with a mathmos lava lamp bottle before normally they just replace I had wax dye bits they just clear up which come more with green blue and pink wax. A tip paint filters work great and you can save the wax that way interesting video though
Interesting! Underrated video!
I literally started this channel yesterday, so I guess it's a bit early to call it "underrated". Glad you like it though!
@@Makstuff Well, i still would. The quality of the video is spectacular. Its perfetly made. The lighting, the voicing, the camera. Everything is well made.
Did you re-glue the lid or just twist it into place? I’m tempted to follow this process in order to add black dye to my black (actually more purple) wax to make it solid black
Cool idea! Hope it works out, I'd be a bit worried that the dye decides to seep into the liquid and cloud everything. As for the cap, I just twisted it back in place, it doesn't leak when held upside-down, so I guess it's fine. The glue is probably just to prevent children from drinking it.
@@Makstuff I’m going to give it a go, I received a defective bottle today which I’m hoping will be replaced. If so it’ll be on the spare bottle I try it 👍🏻
@@jamiekearney368 how did this end up going? do you have any pictures of the finished project?
@@artsinew6572 it worked as I’d hoped 😊 I removed the cap, added black dye to the plumb/clear bottle and it mixed in with the wax as the bottle ran and now I have a nice, black colour rather than the purple colour it was before! Not sure how to upload a picture on here though? 🧐
@@jamiekearney368 use discord at all? if so drop your tag. what type of pigment did you use and did it blend well with the wax? how did you manage to only mix it with the wax and not the water too? Thinking about picking up one that has a removable top so I can mess with it.
how is it staying liquid that whole time you're doing all that? i thought it would cool and harden quickly
You mean the lava? It's not like candle wax, theres some other stuff in there so it's more like a paste at room temperature.
Is the glass used on lava lamps tempered? If not I would be concerned about putting the glass vessel into very hot water, it could crack/shatter immediately.
No idea if it is tempered, IIRC they have the bottles made by a company that normally makes bottles for drinks, not sure how fancy the manufacturing processes are there.
I also might have held it under hot tap water before dipping it in, I honestly can't remember.
As long as your heated the water with the bottle in it, so the temperature of the glass and the water rose at the same rate it wouldn't be an issue.
I am trying to clean the fog out of a lava lite; i was replacing the fluid all was going when when a white film appeared on the wax and re clouded my whole mixture; i am about to do your procedure to try and clean my wax. any thoughts?
White film on the wax sounds really weird, no idea what that could be. What did you use to replace the liquid? Maybe theres some kind of incompatibility.
@@Makstuff i used epsom salt and distilled water with clear palmolive, im guessing this is the source of the cloudiness in the first place and not shaking during shipping (it was literally milk)
@@WTP_DAVE You sound quite well informed, so you're probably already aware of the lavalamps subreddit and the oozinggoo forum? I don't have any experience with what you're trying to do, but I'm sure some of the regulars there can tell you something useful.
@@Makstuff filtering the wax seems to have improved the clarity im working on my specific gravity balancing now but its raising to the top before i add any salt..
Does it affect the performance of the lava lamp after when you took the cap off and poured out the liquid and stuff?
Nope, or at least I didn't notice any difference at all. As a reference, all the other vids on my channel were made after this one, with the already-cleaned lamps.
@@Makstuff oh ok because one of my Lava lamps has those specs of dirt and i was thinking about doing the same thing but I just want to make sure just to be safe
@Jimmy06 Cool! If you end up actually doing it, I'd appreciate a short update on what you used as a filter. Such data points are really helpful for others trying the same thing.
Can you use a plastic funnel and glass containers? I mean, do they need to be aluminum containers?
Glass containers are fine for sure, only with plastic I'd be a bit wary since components in the lava might attack it. But for a funnel I imagine plastic should be fine since the contact is so short.
By the way, the containers I use are stainless steel, not aluminum.
What do u recommend cleaning the lava lamp glass with
Not sure, I never had to clean them. But I guess a bottle brush with some dishwashing liquid should be fine. I'd be careful to give it a really good rinse after, so the soap doesnt mess with the surface tension.
My lava lamp is about 15 years old. I haven't used it in a long time so it's absolutely shot - bubbly, dirty, murky mess. Gonna clean it up :)
Could the cicular flakes be from when the springs were cut at the factory?
Nope, whatever they may be, they 100% aren't anything metallic. They are a bit transparent and look slightly fibrous under the microscope. Unfortunately I can't take pictures with my equipment but as said, tiny black fish flakes are the closest thing that comes to mind.
@@Makstuff Thanks for the reply! Super weird.
Cheers!
absolute jammer of a vid cheers man
Ik this video is old but how long did you keep the green thing in the hot water?
Can't really remember, probably somewhere around 5-10 minutes I'd guess. With almost booling water it melts pretty quickly.
Thank you so much ❤
I got a Mathmos bottle with debris too. They replaced it for free with another broken bottle... the second bottle has a broken coil and the wax is simply not flowing. The coil is deformed and stuck in the upper part of the bigger coil. I decided to fix it by myself but I'm not sure how to reseal the bottle. What sealant do you use? Should I reseal it when the lamp is cold or when it's working/hot?
I just replaced the cap with a standard metal cap from a wine bottle and didn't reseal it at all. Not sure if an air-tight seal is supposed to be necessary, but in any case the lamps work fine so I guess it doesn't matter.
@@Makstuff ok thanks. Did you reseal it while it was hot or cold?
@@aliciaimioek9230 As said, I didn't seal it. I screwed the new cap on when it was cold (I think), but I don't believe it's completely airtight so it probably doesn't matter. Just start with whatever is the least effort, if it turns out to not work you can always make changes later.
@@Makstuff One more question - have you ever tried swapping the liquids between Astro bottles? I wanted to create a custom color combinations and I was wondering if it's as easy as pouring out one liquid and refill the bottle with another from the second Astro bottle.
@@aliciaimioek9230 I haven't tried, but I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't work, I'd just give it a go.
What can i do if i have this issue but have a "beer bottle cap" at the top of the bottle?
Good question, maybe something like this could work images.app.goo.gl/kBezjPaqeFQW381KA No idea how tight these things clamp. Could also be worth a try to just rebend the cap around the edge with a pair of pliers. Could experiment on a beer bottle before tackling the real lamp.
Thy very much🌹
i have a new mathmos, new, only this one has the problem that the wax remains hard, even after hours of activity, and it doesn't work, they sent me a spare one which fortunately works well, but with that that doesn 't work if I add a few drops of dish soap do you think it should work? At least that's what I think I understand from the discussions
What do you mean, "remains hard"? As in, is a solid and doesn't melt at all?
@@Makstuff sorry, I'm Italian and idioms change :) in the sense that it melts but it doesn't work, it stays on the bottom melted and after hours, like after 6 hours it makes a bubble every now and then but rarely
@@matteocafaro5802 For that soap doesn't help, sounds like you need to increase the density of the liquid. Premium options are propylene glycol or glycerin, budget option is salt.
Soap makes the lava flow more runny and the bubbles smaller, but it won't create flow that isn't already there.
@@Makstuff does propylene glycol or glycerin change anything between the two? I have glycol at home for e-cigarettes, do they work with it, do I add little by little or do I have to dilute?
and do I have to do it when it's hot?
that debris could be from that metal piece inside i assume, since there’s not much else inside that could cause a black debris to form
Pretty sure it's an external source. As already said in my reply to Andy Turner's comment, there's absolutely zero corrosion on the springs. The flakes are also a pretty regular shape (small circular discs), and corrosion products would likely look more irregular.
Was it pepper? Its gotta be pepper!
@@jeffemlaw3140 Without a microscope it looks 100% exactly like pepper, but based on the microstructure (as mentioned, circular discs) it can't be.
@@Makstuff I have a lava lamp with pink lava and saw a black spec when it was off. But once the lava lamp flows I can’t see no black specs
@@Ohkeh640 Well that would be fine with me, if you don't see it it doesn't hurt you, after all 😌
What is the blue liquid ?
Mainly water with some additives, I think the exact recipe is a company secret.
what functions do spirals do?
th-cam.com/video/I4-7ufkVKwU/w-d-xo.html Not a whole lot, it seems.
Can u add glitter to lava lamps ??
No idea. All I know is, there are many commercial models with glitter, but none of them contain wax at the same time. I'd guess thats for a good reason, maybe it's hard/impossible to get the buoyancy for both the particles and the wax right at the same time.
Can I replace the wax and if so, is it paraffin wax ? Thanks.
Normal wax floats, so from what I've read you'd need to mix it with some dense hydrocarbons, like certain types of brake cleaner. Couldn't find that stuff anywhere for an acceptable price though.
Mes lampes Mathmos ne sont pas parfaites aussi
I'm so sad... I used your method to fix the wax and this method worked great but after all the work... I went to refill the lamp and the wax wouldn't form a ball. I've tried several times to pour out and refill using fresh liquid and watching a lot of videos. I think my wax is basically shot. Throwing out the entire thing. 😢
Just curious, what did you refill it with? From what I've seen getting the liquid mixture correct can be a pretty finnicky process.
nice bro😎👍
radiactivo
If anyone is wondering or thinking about pouring the wax through a paper coffee filter: It does'nt work. I tried pouring a molten candle through there, the wax just drips and does'nt flow, after a couple of minutes the drops at the bottom on the filter solidify, clogging the whole filter.
So you melted a whole candle in a pot and tried to pour it through in one go? Or did you just tilt a lighted candle and let it drop onto the filter?
Interesting experiment in any case, although I'm not sure if the lava is similar to candle wax. It feels much more pulpy and not nearly as hard when solidified.
@@Makstuff The candle itself is already in a glas, so i put it in a water bath at ~ 70°C (~160°F). I poured roughly a table spoon's worth of wax in there. Also tried cutting of some of the bottom part of the filter that was restricting flow, did'nt make much of a difference.
@@Reverend-dd2lq I see, thanks for the response. What I can say is according to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_filter, coffee filters have a pore size of 0.01-0.02mm, which is about 3x smaller than my 0.05mm filter, so even if the candle wax is actually similar to the lava wax, it's still possible that the significantly smaller pores are the reason for the clogging.
(Someone mentioned in a comment that they used a cheesecloth successfully, so in case you're looking for something you can use, that might be the easiest option.)
So does any wax go through the coffee filter? I’m wondering if you could use a blow dryer to keep the wax liquid.
@@lcogan65 No, get a less fine filter
Just did this to my lamp same result tons of debris mathmos should be ashamed for selling a premium lamp with this much debris mine had slightly more than yours. I used the same size filter you did
Thanks for the comment! Yeah, I have no idea how this can be such a recurring problem, I mean, this stuff gotta come from _somewhere_.
@@Makstuff heres the conspiracy side of me coming out🤔🤭😂what if mathmos was adding something to shorten the lifespan of the material inside the bottle??
The vintage ones of these have been known to last 25-30 years & still work just fine with little to no clouding. What if they shortened the life of the product to up sales of replacement bottles or new lamps! Its a stretch but I can't help that conspiracy mind of mine😇🤣🤣👍🏼
Mathmos are garbage now
So what do I do?.
There are several products to reseal stuff like half-drunken beer bottles to put them back in the fridge, maybe you find one that's small enough to fit under the top cover. It doesn't have to be airtight, in know for a fact because I ruined one of my screw caps at some point so I replaced it and the new one isn't completely airtight but the lamp works fine.
It may be the heating springs never had a problem with mathmos lamps
Not sure if the springs are for heating, I guess their main purpose is to weigh down the liquid wax at the bottom to keep everything from just floating to the top. Anyway there's absolutely zero corrosion on them, so pretty sure the flakes come from somewhere else.
@@Makstuff The springs are for accelerating the heating process
I made a video about this in the meantime. At least with my lamps theres practically no difference. th-cam.com/video/I4-7ufkVKwU/w-d-xo.html
Wow
There are springs inside a lava lamp?!
Yep, I think they are to weigh the lava down so it sticks to the bottom and bubbles can separate from the main bulk.
@@Makstuff It's actually to help with absorbing heat so the wax will melt quicker :)
@@stein9073 Got a source for that? Cause I don't really believe it's necessary for heat conduction, the weight down effect seems much more important.
The springs are to spread the heat evenly. USA lamps only come with 1 spring.
@Milk f I didn't find anything from Mathmos (in their FAQ they just say the spring is "essential", but not for what exactly), but I found the confirmation from LAVA (the company). Actually I made a separate video about it in the meantime, in case you wanna check it out: th-cam.com/video/I4-7ufkVKwU/w-d-xo.html
You should have cleaned the bottle too. There were still residues here, probably some of the black particles as well. It would be a shame if all the effort had been in vain. I can also hear a German dialect. Can this be? =)
Yeah, guess I could have swiped it through with hot water and maybe some soap. Anyway, you don't notice any debris now, unless you're actively looking for it, which is more than good enough for me.
German accent is on point 🙂
After have watch the video:
Me: I would just buy a new one.
Chris kohnke
All of mine are bottle caps
From minute 5:36 to 5:37 It’s literally like 20-30min later. This literally messed me up. I know it’s common sense to wait for it to dry, but I didn’t think too much of it and rushed the process, so now I messed up my lava lamp
I also say it at 5:13. But give it a bit of time, after a couple cycles it might sort itself out.
WHAT THE FUCK??? I had the same problem to my new brought lava lamp online just weeks ago, I still figuring out how to solve this problem cuz there are not much info on the internet. Then, I brought new one, same problem...Mathmos from online maybe? Too expensive and not truth-worthy...How to sure the new one won’t have the same problem again? Now you uploaded this video!!! About fucking time!!! Gotta try this!!! Love you!!! (UPDATED: It really works!!! I'm so happy about it, I strained a lot of dirts from the wax and the lamp now looks perfect!!! You made my day!!! THANK YOU SOO MUCH!!!)
Thanks for the update, glad it worked! What did you use as a filter?
@@Makstuff I used a cheese cloth to strained the wax!!! And filtered it twice!!!
THOSE TWO SPRINGS MUST BE STAINLESS STEEL, PERIOD. THOSE FLAKES CANNOT COME FROM ANY OTHER SOURCE.
what functions do spirals do?
@@Rei-dc3ei THE SPIRALS IN THE STAINLESS STEEL SPRING? THIS CREATES A HEAT SOURCE THAT MOVES THE WAX AROUND.
@@VETERANSHERMANANDMAXINHAWAII the spiral is inside the lamp - how can it be a source of heat? The heat source is a light bulb
@@Rei-dc3ei YES.THE SPRING IS HEATED THROUGH THE GLASS AND LIQUID AND WAX.
@@VETERANSHERMANANDMAXINHAWAIIno. The function of the spiral is to break the surface tension of the falling wax blobs to make them combine with the rest. Nothing to do with the heating.
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Bist du Deutscher? Klingt fast nach nem Sachse xD
Liebe Grüße aus Leipzig
Österreich 😌
For a freakin' 100€ lamp the wax should be immaculate. Completely normal my a**!!! Quite disappointing from the company who invented the lamp and boast of putting the "secret and unique wax recipe". A chinese 15€ lamp has a clearer wax.
Das beste ist die Lampe nieee aus ihrer Verpackung holen und sie anmachen
Mathmos are a terrible maker of lava lamps, nothing but issues and replacements.