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.

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.

Initially I wanted to avoid tapered shims because I figured they tilt the pistons, but it just occurred to me that you can use TWO shims from opposite sides to counter that (which is maybe what you did?). Also I had no idea multiple pistons per side are even a thing, guess you learn something new every day 😌

Oh I forgot to put the overall reason 'why' you'd do this... After a year the soap will shed impurities into the water which will cloud it - also, after the soap breaks down it might get stuck in coil thus rendering some sort of gross mold/slime stuff i don't know it's just really gross though and your wax is gonna need cleaning... which I did watch the channel's vid on doing that, very nice

I used Solvent Violet 13 ( www.kremer-pigmente.com/en/shop /dyes-vegetable-color-paints/synthetic-dyes-solvent-soluble-solvent-dye s/wax-colorant/35350-macrolex-violet-b.html). However, if you are trying to make anything similar I would advise against it, I have made four prototypes with Benzyl Alcohol and they all turned completely cloudy after less than a day of runtime (will all be in the final video when it comes out). Maybe there's a way to mitigate that but I didn't find one.

@@Makstuff thank you! Looking forward to watching your video when it comes out. Love your channel, keep up the good work please!

I don't think I have a way to view your previous comments, so not sure what happened to it, but I don't remember seeing a similar question before. About the filter, I have never used anything like it so I'm afraid I simply don't know. In the pictures where people use it to filter algae in pools, it seems the water flows through it pretty easily without a whole lot of pressure, which makes me a little skeptical. But as said, I have no idea what I'm talking about. If you do end up trying it anyway, I'd love a quick update.

@@Makstuff I'm not as surprised about the water flowing easily part, water in pools is mostly clear, and usually the only thing that gives away algae is the pungent smell. If you'll ever use the 0.5 Micron ceramic water filter straw to drink out of a lake - you''ll be surprised just how little suction is needed to pull the water into your mouth. When you screw it onto a bottle - even though the opening is much smaller than the surface of the sock type filter, - still gravity alone is usually sufficient for the water to trickle out eventually. Now if your pool water has reached the point where it's yellow or green in color, I have serious doubts that the sock type filter (or any filter for that matter) will remain usable for a long time. I strongly suspect that after some 20-30 liters the water will barely drip out. What my uncertainty was about - is the molecular size of whatever is clouding up the solution in a modern lava lamp. Of just how much larger it could be than the water molecule. I'm also a little uneasy about unintentionally filtering out whatever is used as a surfactant. I thought of asking you because no one else on KZfaq or Reddit has experimented with filtering a lava lamp so meticulously LOL. Also, - I have never seen anyone actually managing to make it flow so nicely with table salt alone. So you definitely gave me hope. So far I've been trying "cycling" and it seems to be slowly working on one lamp with purple liquid/orange wax. Not so much on the one with purple liquid/black wax. So if my cycling fails after 10-12 cycles I will definitely let you know whether and how well the 1 Micron filter worked. Thank you for all your help so far.

@@Makstuff OK The "sock " filters work. The only problem is (I did it to a modern, colored lava lamp) is that if you do it more than once, or use 2 or more filters, - you will begin filtering some of the color too. I was quite surprised about this but apparently some of the opaqueness comes from color itself, not just the surfactant that leaked out of the wax. I did the same to my much older lava lamp and it went without a hitch. I wish I took the "before" photos though. The "after" photos (which I did take) I can't even post a link to because apparently comments with web links are held for review. I had the same happen on my other channel (available in "studio" view) until, before publishing the video I made sure to change the settings to allow comments without moderation.

@@NEKRWSPHERE Thanks so much for the update, that's really interesting. I wonder how it's possible that some of the color gets filtered too, I'd have expected the water color to be some type of food colorant that dissolves on a molecular basis and should pass the filter easily. As for the images, I already had comment moderation deactivated on all my videos anyway, and I also double checked the "held for review" section and found nothing, so whatever is blocking it seems to be a youtube standard setting that I can't deactivate. Maybe email me the link to [email protected] and I'll try if I can add it myself.

@@Makstuff Yeah, my thoughts on the color, exactly. I'm not sure if the surfactant simply absorbs some of the color, and this is how my last filtration managed to leave a purplish tinge on filter walls, but what I did notice is that when the cloudiness was gone, so was some of the vividness of the color. So I decided not to push my luck. I'll mail the photos after I get back from work.

Happens with all my lamps too, I believe it is caused by surface tension and there's nothing you can do about it. Might be why lamps typically hide their waterline behind some kind of cap, so you cannot see that spot.

​@@Makstuff I thought the same about the cap, meaning it conveniently hides that upper part so you basically never get to see it, but good to know that it seems to be a common occurrence that happens.

Couldn't agree more, especially for premium manufacturers where one lamp can cost +-100$, dimmer switches being standard would be great, and I assume easily within acceptable price range. I think another reason for the intentional overheating phenomenon could be to reduce heat-up time and avoid bad reviews by impatient customers who don't understand that the lava has to melt first.

Mathmos Astro 😌

I don't know, but if it was new I'd sure hope this is NOT normal. My new Mathmoses never got hazy at all.

I got it off eBay and was new in bow and arrived crystal clear, so idk what happened

I got my flute (Plaschke S25G) directly from the manufacturer because it was the cheapest there www.musik-plaschke.it/panfloeten other than that I can also recommend www.thomann.de/intl/index.html ordered a few things there already and they always have good prices.

I will definitely make one eventually, but its probably gonna be another year until I have enough time to finish my experiments and turn everything into a watchable video. Appreciate your interest ☺️

@@Makstuff the video does not have to be entailed as your previous videos but a basic idea and start up. thank you in advance.

@@ghostofwar1892 Thanks but I have released enough half-assed stuff I can't really take back, this one I wanna do right.

That's great but I'm excited to make my own lamp NOW!

Yes, I'll make a detailed guide containing everything you need to know to make working lamps on your first try.

@@Makstuff thanks that's awesome 👍 I have working lava lamp which I love, but the purple water is now orange (I think from exposure to the sun from the window) so I'll have to open it up , add marker ink , or remake it completely eventually. Subscribed 💜

Oh, please do, I'd love to hear what you do differently.