Make a DIY flowing crystals lamp. (Gillian's diamonds.)
bigclivedotcom 15:25
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This project happened unexpectedly when I discovered that the high optical purity plastic diamonds that are scattered on tables at weddings have a surprisingly low density. This means they can be used in a carrier liquid based simply on salt and water, and made to flow in the convection current created by a low power lamp.
It's been suggested that bleach may have a frosting effect on the plastic gems, so a strong fungicidal additive might be better for keeping the liquid clear. Perhaps boric acid?
A useful starter ratio for water and salt are 10 parts water to one part salt by weight. This has worked with the eBay crystals linked below.
After the lamp has fully heated up add a pinch of salt to make them float and a splash of water to make them sink. Have patience as fine tuning the liquid density is important for the best effect.
Here's a general eBay search link for wedding scatter crystals like the ones I got from Poundland. I've since tried the iridescent coated crystals from eBay and they worked fine. I've got some different colours on order but they've not arrived yet, so I can't say if mixing colours will work yet (possible different plastic densities.)
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=wedding+scatter+crystals&_sop=15
The dedication is to my mother who passed away a few days before I came up with this idea. She was a strange lady with lots of weird quirks, but also an incredible knack of doing the right thing. She encouraged my interest in electricity at a very young age by showing me how a torch bulb could be held across battery contacts, went to a career show with me and got the contact details of the company I ended up doing my apprenticeship with, and is the reason this channel exists because I set up a new bench (with camera) when I moved over to help my brother look after her.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
It's been suggested that bleach may have a frosting effect on the plastic gems, so a strong fungicidal additive might be better for keeping the liquid clear. Perhaps boric acid?
A useful starter ratio for water and salt are 10 parts water to one part salt by weight. This has worked with the eBay crystals linked below.
After the lamp has fully heated up add a pinch of salt to make them float and a splash of water to make them sink. Have patience as fine tuning the liquid density is important for the best effect.
Here's a general eBay search link for wedding scatter crystals like the ones I got from Poundland. I've since tried the iridescent coated crystals from eBay and they worked fine. I've got some different colours on order but they've not arrived yet, so I can't say if mixing colours will work yet (possible different plastic densities.)
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=wedding+scatter+crystals&_sop=15
The dedication is to my mother who passed away a few days before I came up with this idea. She was a strange lady with lots of weird quirks, but also an incredible knack of doing the right thing. She encouraged my interest in electricity at a very young age by showing me how a torch bulb could be held across battery contacts, went to a career show with me and got the contact details of the company I ended up doing my apprenticeship with, and is the reason this channel exists because I set up a new bench (with camera) when I moved over to help my brother look after her.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
Category (YouTube): Science & Technology
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