Homebrew lava lamp

PsychicGoldfish writes –

Here’s my home made lava lamp. The container is simply a gallon jug wine bottle. Because of this, a friend once referred to it as the “White Trash Lava Lamp.” The wine was Ernest and Julio Gallo, if I remember correctly. I do remember that it stank to high heavens when I poured it down the sink. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

The base is a cheap spun aluminum sauce pan, obtained from the local 99 Cent store. The handle was removed, and a hole was cut in the bottom with a nibbling tool. You’ll see no pictures of that. It’s remarkably difficult to cut a circle with a nibbler. From there, it was simply a matter of rivetting a socket for a 30 watt appliance bulb onto the inside of the pan and wiring it for 110 VAC. The lamp is plugged into a 3 step touch-base type dimmer, mostly just because it was cooler than a simple switch. Just tap the base, and the lamp turns on. Plastic cable clamps were rivetted to the lip of the pan to hold the base away from the tabletop, as well as to allow some ventilation to the lamp.

My Homebrew Lava Lamp, thanks Mark! Link.

Related:

• LavaRnd – Generate random numbers with a lava lamp – Link.
• HOW TO – Make a (fake) Lava lamp with household … – Link.