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Smart LavaLamp

 Building a better lava lamp, one molecule at a time
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Thusly said, I shall speak of my idea.

Lava lamps are wonderful, beautiful, and mezmerizing; unfortunately, time has it's wear and tear on the lamp. The dye in the liquid fades, the coil can overheat the parrafin (which causes it all to float to the top, where it solidifies, and makes a ring of practically unmeltable wax), the coil can rust (mine did, I dont know how) causing bits to falke off and get stuck in the wax. Various things. They detract from the overall beauty.

A Smart lavaLamp, if self-propelling, could do minor self repairs, after wheeling itself to a repair base, such as:

1) Injecting back-up dye from a reservoir in the base.
2) Straining the wax and liquid to get rid of strange particles/rust from the coil
3) Re-seal the vacuum at the top if air leaks in, and also melt any wax that collects at the top and hardens there.
4) Replace the coil and/or wax, if either is non-salvageable.
5) Replace it's own heat-lamp bulbs
6) Refinish the glass surface on the outside of the lamp if it gets scratched, and polish the metal.

Also, it would be smart enough to wheel itself back to it's original position. Computer techs would probably hack into it's programming and make it follow them like a dog, if they could get it a mobile power supply.

—DesertFox, Jan 10 2006

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       Very confused. Clearly you have a very different kind of lava lamp from the ones we have. The lava and liquid for our lamps is completely sealed inside a glass bottle, capped with what looks like a beer bottle top.   

       We have never experienced any of the problems you describe. We (well, our son) did once break one of the lamps, spilling what turned out to be very like washing up liquid all over the carpet.
—DrCurry, Jan 10 2006
   

       My lava lamp is about 4 years old though, and I have it on quite a bit.   

       Lava lamps will deteriorate over time. The dye will fragment due to the heat and/or light, losing it's color. Somehow, the coil rusted, and wax is accumalated at the top. It's a regular lava lamp, but it's getting a bit used.   

       A maintenence base for lava lamps, basically, is what is needed.
—DesertFox, Jan 10 2006
   
      
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