Lava lamp: features of manufacturing by own hands

The lighting device with fascinating visual effects was invented and patented in England in the 60s of the last century. The original lava lamp is a transparent container containing a translucent paraffin floating in an oily liquid. This design is highlighted by an electric bulb - this creates a movement of bizarre shapes of drops and shapes that you can look at for infinite.

Device of a lava lamp

The principle of the lava lamp is the interaction of non-miscible fluids of differentdensity when heated. If an intense dye is added, the visual effect is enhanced.

The lava lamp consists of the following parts:

• incandescent lamp;
• transparent glass bulb;
• filling mixture to create visual effects.

The incandescent lamp, located under a glass container, heats the liquid in it and highlights the droplets that move randomly and create a whimsical game of figures. With the lamp on, the temperature difference between the top and bottom of the glass bulb is a few degrees, so that the wax or oil balls float in the liquid. Rising, the viscous substance cools and gradually descends closer to the bottom, where it again heats up - there is a kind of "lava" movement. These lamps are produced for many years, now you can buy a lava lamp from different manufacturers. A wide range of similar products is on sale in online stores. In modern industrial lava luminaires use a special glass, which reacts to a change of temperature.

How to make a lava lamp with your own hands

Lava lamps have conquered the hearts of many people thanks to a harmonious combination of smooth contours of shapes and the effect of a smooth measured movement. Even many years after the invention, such a fixture organically fits into the interior of any room, while the principle of its operation has not changed.

In addition, a lava lamp made by own hands, will be a wonderful gift for people of any age. With its help, you can create an atmosphere in the room that is relaxing. Contemplation of constantly changing forms inside the glass vessel calms, helps to gather thoughts, harmonizes the situation. Make a lava lamp at home is not too difficult, most of the necessary materials will be found in almost any home.

Lava lamp with oil balls

To manufacture a lamp at home we will need:

• glass container of cylindrical or conical shape;
• lamp base - any material that is resistant to heat - metal, wood, as well as plastic or ceramics;
• a 25-watt light bulb and a cartridge for it;
• wire, plug, switch;
• distilled water;
• technical or medical alcohol;
• metal spring;
• piece of rubber;
• vegetable oil - best castor( its density for a lava lamp fits optimally);
• dyes for oil and water. Water can be tinted with ink, and as a dye for oil, insoluble in water and alcohol substances - for example, oil paint.

How to make a lava lamp yourself:

1. First you need to prepare the base on which we will install the lava lamp. Its shape can be varied - in the form of a cylinder, a cone, a cube, a parallelepiped, etc. Such a design can be mounted from improvised materials - or use a stand of suitable shape and size. Perhaps, as a base for the lamp, a small ceramic pot is suitable.
2. At the bottom of the stand in the side wall, drill a hole for the wiring. Then, at the bottom of the stand, it is necessary to install a cartridge for the incandescent bulb and connect a wire stretched through the hole to it - with a switch installed on it and a power plug.
3. Make sure that the stand does not heat excessively when the light is on. If necessary, in the side walls of the base, make several technological holes to remove heat.
4. Cut out the ring corresponding to the diameter of the top of the stand from the rubber and glue it - to securely fix the lamp vessel and give the structure more stability.
5. Next, install the glass container in the prepared stand and test the stability of the structure. At the bottom of the vessel, you can put a spring, folded into a ring, for efficient heat distribution.
6. We begin to prepare the lava mixture. Most of the tube vessel should be filled with distilled water and alcohol - the proportions of the composition are selected by experiment. The obtained liquid can, if desired, be given a shade by means of an ink or other soluble dye. In a separate small container, color the castor oil with a dye of the appropriate color( bright saturated colors will look good).
7. Add the prepared oil to the colored alcohol solution. It is necessary to achieve that it sank to the bottom of the vessel. If the oil emerges, to reduce the density of the liquid, you need to add a little more alcohol to the container. In this case, it is required that a little empty space remains in the glass vessel, since the lava liquid will expand when heated.
8. The resulting mixture should be tested in action - turn on the light bulb and follow the process of its warming up. Correct the interaction of lava mixture can be, adding water or alcohol. When the desired effect is achieved, it is necessary to close the lid of the lamp with a lid( it can be fixed with glue).
9. We fasten the vessel securely on the stand. Miracle lava lamp is ready!

Lava lamp with paraffin

This method differs from the previous one in that melted paraffin balls moving in oil are used to create the effect of lava drops. Under the influence of heating, paraffin will rise up - and, cooling down, take different forms.

Rising to the top, it cools down and gradually descends. Such cyclic movement will be observed during the heating of the bottom of the lamp vessel. After turning off the lamp, the paraffin will cool down and sink to the bottom of the glass bulb.

First you need to prepare the lamp design - install a transparent glass vessel on a stand with a built-in 25 W incandescent lamp( assembly is performed according to the instructions given above).

To make a lava mix, we need the following ingredients:

• distilled water;
• vegetable oil or glycerin;
• paraffin;
• bright colored beads or beads.

Sequence of lava mix preparation:

1. Fill the glass container with about 3/5 of a mixture of cold water and glycerin( or vegetable oil).The resulting liquid can be dyed with a soluble dye.
2. Add one teaspoon of salt and mix thoroughly until smooth. In addition, you can pour a few bright shiny beads.
3. After this, we melted liquid paraffin in a water bath and add it to the capacity of the lava lamp. Pre-paraffin can be colored with a special or food color.
4. The container is tightly closed with a lid and turned over to make sure there is no leakage. After all the manipulations done, the "magic lamp" can be turned on.

Features of the application

To start the circulation of the lava mixture, it takes some time to heat up the lamp. It should be taken into account that the working lamp is noticeably heated, so it is advisable to place it in a place inaccessible to small children. It should be noted that it is not recommended to leave the lava lamp continuously switched on for more than 8 hours.

How to make a lava lamp - video