Rain Lamp

I just won a pretty cool rain lamp on Ebay and it arrived a couple of days ago. So I go to the grocery store looking for mineral oil and all I could find was vegetable oil. Now, I know why you don't want a whole bunch of vegetable oil out open in your house. It turns out that the smell from that stuff gets pretty bad in a warm house for a couple of days.

So here are my questions to you; Where the hell do you get mineral oil? Why is that the magical sauce to put in the lamp? Do you need to change the stuff periodically? Will mineral oil smell up my house like the vegatable oil?

Thanks for the responses. The lamp looks so cool lit up and running that I want to get it back in working/ smelling good order again.

Baby Oil is essentially scented mineral oil. You can usually find mineral oil in the drug store near either baby oils or rubbing alcohol.

Happy hunting!

[ Edited by: TNTiki on 2004-11-06 15:13 ]

wal mart sells unscented mineral oil - look for it in medicinal supplies.

p.s.
you don't want to use ANYTHING but plain mineral oil - trust me i messed up a really cool vintage oil lamp through experimentation :(

I think that pretty much covers it. Thanks everybody.

How'd you mess up that lamp Futura? I took apart my lamp last night and totally cleaned the whole thing with dishwashing liquid and water. I'm hoping that none of that leads to any kind of rusting.

I have a rain lamp of a nekkid chick (WHOO HOO) i love it, but my problem is the motor is burned out. Is ther ea way i can fix it so it will rain again?

My rain lamp is filled with a half gallon of fresh mineral oil after a thorough cleaning, and it still stinks. I was going to add some scented oil to the mix but haven't yet. Anyone try that?

i tried various thin viscosity vegetable oils but they still clogged up the pores above the rain wires - even though i was able to clean them out the old oil had mucked up the pump so badly - it eventually stopped working.:(

i'm pretty sure you can get mineral oil at the drug store ~ but if not, veterinary supply houses stock the stuff by the gallon! (although they dont use it for rain lamps, instead, you should read the product use details here..)
Valley Vet

DogBytes:

You got your link wrong. Vetrenary uses of mineral oil for dummies.

And I think "naked chick" is unfairly slighting to the Venus de Milo. Harumph!

How much mineral oil do I use in a rain lamp? I have one that is about 30 inches high. Though the pump runs, no rain falls. I put in about 1 pint of mineral oil. Suggestions?

On 2005-04-02 08:15, ttfn wrote:
How much mineral oil do I use in a rain lamp? I have one that is about 30 inches high. Though the pump runs, no rain falls. I put in about 1 pint of mineral oil. Suggestions?

I have a large rain lamp and it didn't start working until I put in 1 1/2 pints of mineral oil.

I just started a web page of miscellaneous info about rain lamps, since I just got one myself from eBay, and such information is hard to find. Here's the link:

http://www.simnia.com/rain_lamps/

There are several things I haven't found out yet myself, like: (1) Why is glycerine often said to work in rain lamps when I can find no documentation to support that, and how is glycerine different than mineral oil? (2) Are there schematic diagrams anywhere of rain lamps, of how they're constructed, and how they work? (3) Are replacement parts available, and if so, where are they obtained? (4) How does one unclog the channels when individual fibers stop dripping? (5) What is the history of rain lamps, who invented them, are they patented, etc.?

Anyway, thanks for the info, everybody. I just came across this forum today and learned a lot already.

Here's who invented it:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11431&forum=6

Awesome. I'll have to add that info to my site! He's already my hero. :)

On 2004-08-27 17:55, martiki wrote:
I was going to add some scented oil to the mix but haven't yet?

Be very careful of using scented oils. It sounds like a simple idea, but most of the fragrance oils will eventually gum up the motor or rain pours. The oil that is the carrier of the fragrance is usually vegetable based and is designed to evaporate to carry the fragrance which ultimately leads to a thick gummy mass that is the death of the motors.

Someone else mentioned glycerin... Again, be careful for the very same evaporation reason.

Ultimately you have to treat a rain lamp like you would an aquarium. Frequent monitoring of fluid levels and regular cleaning of parts.

I took old venus de rilo out! And put a tiki in it's place, so it would fit in with my decor. I also added two rattan hats on the top and bottom. for that tropical look. I trashed the venus, Now watch, plastic venus de milo dolls will become realy rare!

Trashed it? You could've sold it on eBay!

Seriously, though, trashing the centerpiece of a 35-year-old lamp doesn't sound very wise. What if you want to resell it? And maybe somebody just bought a vintage rain lamp with a tiki inside, and they want to restore their lamp to the original look, and they're willing to pay a bundle to do so, but they just can't find anyone who will part with their Venus de Milo...

The lamp was 10 bucks, the hats were 10 each. The tiki was 14 Bucks. Ok now we have 44 dollars. On ebay on the right day, I know I can Make that. But I love my lamp! And will not be selling it until I have to go to the nursing home. I hear they only let you take one or two mugs tops!

Yeah, considering how many rain lamps are probably discarded in their entirety due to burned out motors, vintage parts for them are probably pretty cheap. On the other hand, some rain lamps sell for over $100, both old and new.

So how did you get access to the inside of the fiber cage to replace the centerpiece? On my lamp it looks like the posts would have to be removed first, and I'm afraid I might mess up the seals or hoses or whatever to do that.

All you have to do is pull up on the venus doll. Mine came right out. you can now pull the wires apart some, And pull out the doll. then there is a small post under the doll on lamp base. (I used cork floats as a base to raise tiki) The floats and tiki can be put in the same way. I took two cork floats and drilled a hole in them to match hole in lamp base.the corks and tiki must be put in one at a time, and glued inside lamp. now put tiki on corks, and then corks on lamp. I used wire and glue to do this.

Aha. I guess I've been too afraid to touch, stretch, or otherwise molest those fibers. That method makes sense, though, thanks.

Were it not for the sentimental value of the Venus statue, I'd actually prefer to see a tiki inside. A tiki sounds like a great combination with the rain and shrubbery. Maybe I should get another lamp... If you have any good photos of your final lamp, especially in operation, I'd be interested in seeing those.

Here are the pictures you asked for. Hope you like...

Replaced pictures due to Shutterfly pics being lost.

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2012-08-29 07:07 ]

Wow, nice! I'll bet it looks particularly good in the dark. And putting bamboo where the posts are was a great idea, too. Is it OK to repost your pics, like on my site or elsewhere?

I'm glad you like! Yes you can post the pic's in your site. I also covered the gold with paper. So it's a little more envolved than ripping out o'l venus, But not that hard.

A couple more questions: (1) How did you get the bamboo over the existing posts? (2) Did you change the original light bulb, or did it always have that yellow color?

To fit the bamboo over the posts I split the bamboo. you will need to find bamboo large enough to fit over the post, but not too large or bamboo will hit the wire that the oil comes down on. You will also need to use your dremel tool to grind out the center of the bamboo to make it fit.Especially at the nodes. be sure to have nodes at different levels. low, mid, high. It looks better. Plus the nodes are what make bamboo cool. Now all you do is glue the two halves toghether, be sure you use the same two halves so they jive. use wire to hold till glue dries. Now on the light mine came that way, But I checked and you can just pull it out through the wire. to build this light get all of the oil out or it will be a mess. plus on the top I took out the gold plastic top, made a spacer out of foam then covered it with the paper. Then topped off with a hat. Good luck.

Thanks for the info and repost permission. I already created a separate web page about your lamp yesterday, and I'll add your new info today.

http://www.simnia.com/rain_lamps/featured/tikiskip.htm

[ Edited by: mbonga 2006-01-31 22:36 ]

Luckydesigns, mineral oil can be found in the pharmacy section of most stores near the laxatives. Also, you really don't have to change the mineral oil at all... we rarely ever change the mineral oil in ours. If you open up the base and there is alot of sediment in the oil, then I would change it. This link might help on why its the magical sauce: http://www.answers.com/topic/mineral-oil. Ya gotta scroll down past all the definitions that pretty much say the same thing. lol

Unkle John, are you sure the motor is burnt out? It might just be gummed up. Try taking off the base and spinning the motor shaft by hand. If it starts to spin on its own, or seems to want to, lube the top shaft bearing (at the top of the motor) and the middle shaft bearing with WD-40 or Gunk Super Oil and see if that helps.

Mbonga, I found that the tip of a dart cleans them quite well. A needle works too... but a dart tip seems to clean it better. Also, on the colored lights... just buy party lights... thats what my mother did... blue or green look really cool... but she doesn't like red, so I don't know how that looks. I'm assuming it'd look awesome because I used to put 3 red party lights in my ceiling fan, and with a blacklight added, it gets really trippy... =D

Futuragirl, the bearings are probably gummed up pretty bad... but the cylinder on the motor shaft that sits inside the motor is probably caked even worse. It's pretty easy to disassemble and clean.

TTFN, most 30" rain lamps take 1 quart of mineral oil.

If anyone needs any help fixing a rain lamp or has any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Take Care,
AkVirgo

[ Edited by: AkVirgo_75m 2006-04-22 04:22 ]

[ Edited by: AkVirgo_75m 2006-04-22 04:25 ]

Thanks AK Virgo!

I'll take her apart in the next few days and check her out.

Wow, that pretty much takes care of that. I ended up just buying a new old rain lamp on eBay recently. Maybe I'll open up the old one again and give the motor another shot. Thanks.

Thought I'd revive the ol rain lamp thread.

I bought one a few weeks ago and it's been tikified. I'm still messing with the plants...won't they make a huge oily mess if the original plants are touching the wires? Or do we really care...that's the nature of these things??

I have a tiki in the center, and a red party light at the top. It looks volcano-ish....I'm thinking of getting some aquarium rocks or something to make it look more volcano-like. I'd love to see pictures of what people have done with theirs. Mine looks like the one at FI...rope on the bottom and 4 layers of grass skirt on the top.

So let's see those rain lamps! Sorry but they are BlackBerry photos, but that's life for right now.

:drink:
Tacky

The Lava Lounge...deep in the heart of the Enchanted Canna Forest!
On board the Tikiyaki Airways flight, waiting for a Mai Tai!

[ Edited by: Tacky Tiki 2010-04-04 18:39 ]

Looking pretty good Barb. I used to hate those lamps, but have a different appreciation for them now. :)

http://www.oillampman.com/bottlewick.html

Check out this site, it has the specific oil on it for the rain lamps.

Good luck!

When I clicked on 'buy me'on that page I got a message that said it was no longer in their catalog!! I'll do a Google search. May have to use regular mineral oil after all!

Thanks for making me aware of the product. Maybe I can find some on eBay??

:drink:
Tacky

Everyone pretty much covered exactly what needs to be done. But here is the Clifnotes version of what has already been said:

Mineral oil is what was used, and can still be bought at cvs, rite aid and most other pharmacies. It has the correct consistancy for most pumps, and mine(a 32" from the 1970s) called to use this in the instructions manual that someone had uploaded to the internet a few years ago.

http://www.simnia.com/rain_lamps/fluids/fluids.htm

The above is a site that points out different types of oil, but at the end it also states that the major manufacturers who supplied the majority of rainlamps to the public in the 70s, also called for using regular old mineral oil(not to be confused with mineral spirits!).

Also, the best way to keep a motor running is to keep the fluid clean, and at the right levels. Never run your rainlamp without fluid(dry run)for more than just "testing times".
Imagine it like a Ferrari of lamps; If you use the lamp frequently, keep the oil clean. If you don't run it often, use moist(not dripping) watered paper towels to clean off the strands prior to using, because they will catch household dust like flypaper catches flys. Wipe the (outer-top)basin out as well, before restarting the lamp if it has sat unused with liquid for any period of time. A clean motor, is a running motor.

Lastly, I would also agree with others not to use any scented oils, as they have potential to gum up the motor, and eventually burn it out.

[ Edited by: Tom Slick 2010-04-11 23:04 ]

I purchased some rain lamp oil on ebay...hopefully it is the real deal. It's supposed to be drakeol 35. I do have mineral oil, but read a little online about it smelling bad after awhile. Like it went rancid. Mineral oil also has 'vitamin e' as a stabilizer...maybe that is what smells bad and perhaps the drakeol 35 has a different stabilizer? I could not determine if mineral oil (sold as an 'intestinal lubricant') is the same viscosity as drakeol 35 or kaydol 35. There were many numbers after 'drakeol' and 'kaydol' which I assume means the viscosity. I read a bit about mineral oil gumming up after awhile, but perhaps these peeps didn't keep their lamp clean or run it regularly.

I'm still messing with the fake plants...got some small aquarium plants as possible additions. Won't the plants get all oily? Or is that supposed to happen, just as long as they don't drip oil out onto the carpet?

I haven't seen a rain lamp in action since I was about 10, so I just don't remember how the plant thing works!

I love my rain lamp...it's just so TACKY!!!

:drink:
Tacky Tiki

Hi!

I found Tiki Central because I was looking for info about rain lamps -- wow... I love this site.

Actually -- somehow I came across TikiSkip's tiki rain lamp and just went NUTS over the idea of modding one for myself. I didn't used to like tiki stuff, but I think it's because I had never heard of a tiki bar (I live in Oklahoma) and since hearing of the idea a year or two ago, I've experienced it properly. I bow down to the mysterious and awesome tiki now. And some day, I think I might just open a tiki bar of my own.

Anyhow. I didn't want to just rip off TikiSkip's idea, because 1) it's not my own idea and 2) wouldn't fit too well with my home decor. I'm a huge fan of Halloween and so after a little thought it was obvious that MY rain lamp needed to be a gothy type. Maybe with red-tinted mineral oil. Muhahahahahaha

So, I've been restoring an ancient rain lamp. It's the 3ft high swag lamp type. I painted it first with black enamel (uh-oh... mineral oil + enamel = not good...) and then used acrylics to mottle and daub it to look more like stone. I will seal it well with polyurethane, oh yeah. Couple coats at least.

The Venus chick in the middle looks like she's disrobing, has a scarf or toga or something draped over her shoulder. The scarf comes from beneath her bare butt (?!), drapes over her shoulder, across her boobs, covers up her privates, and then cascades to the ground along her left leg. She's no longer gold toned, and the horrible casting job now looks like pits in the statuary. I painted her like stone and then draped black and white tulle over her where the scarf thing was molded in. I'm not done yet. I'll seal that with a satin polyurethane and go over that with a black wash to add dimension. Maybe a leetle eety bit of sparkle. Then I will add some small silver silk flowers to her hand so it doesn't look like she's playing with herself anymore, perhaps some to her hair as well.

I picked out some plastic ferny type foliage -- all mine came apart when I washed it. I tried to find black and silver aquarium plants in bulk but never did, so I wound up with a grey-green from the silk flower aisle. I might spray paint it black but I'm pretty sure the mineral oil will eat off the spray paint. I also got some red and black roses. The bands around the outside were a crusty metal, so I'll put a black ribbon there instead and a thinner silver ribbon over that. I have some very small rhinestones, but ya gotta be careful with the glitz. I just want a highlight here and there, not Elton John.

I knew already that the motor was frozen. I got it from someone on Craig's List, paid $20. The motor was covered in a thick stinky orange goo (the seller said they used crisco oil in it). It's the type where the motor is not supposed to be submerged in anything and there was orange goo caked inside the electric box, so I cleaned it out as best I could, plugged it in and... nothing! (The light works, though.) The cord looked quite mysterious anyway, like chewed, so I just chucked the electrical.

I had to use a whole box of baking soda to absorb the goo so it could be scrubbed away. Then an industrial degreaser on the rest with a lot of elbow grease. Finally I got it to the point where I could soak it in the bathtub with detergent. It's clean now, but it took a LOT of work.

Finally got round to painting it this week and looking forward to installing a brand new submersible pump in the bottom. I actually had a little color changing LED I took out of a different fountain and wired it into the electrical, but when I plugged it in to test, I got an arc between a couple of the connections that were too close to each other and zap! Fried the light. I hadn't soldered or wrapped the connections yet because I wanted to test it first. Um. Oops.

I'm now using a 6 volt pump from a "fountain magic III pump kit". It says it can pump water 18", and the rain lamp innards are about that high. It has two "layers" of fishing line, one at an angle and the other vertical. I think baby oil (light mineral oil) will flow through it pretty well.

This is not the one I'm using -- but I can't find the one I'm using. If this project works out pretty well, I'm going to make more to sell. I googled "indoor submersible pump lights".

Here's what I will probably use if I do another (or fry this one, ha ha).
http://www.amazon.com/Submersible-Aquarium-Light-Fountain-PP-300L/dp/B0017CVC3O

This site has a whole line of the submersible pumps with replacement bulbs, too
http://www.fountainsnslate.com/pumps_with_light_combination

And finally a large supplier (probably has a minimum purchase requirement)
http://www.micostore.com/aquapump.html

My plan is to use silicone to glue the pump to a metal plate (or possibly a frisbee CD) so that it won't fall over in the bottom. If I adhere it to the bottom of the reservoir I won't be able to get the pan back off to clean it, ha ha. If I need to add weight, I'll silicone some of those flat marble things to it. Mineral oil does not eat silicone so I think it should work.

I've seen posts from people who say they've had good results from baby oil, so I'll start with that. If it's too loose I'll add some heavier mineral oil.

Sound good? Bad? Stupid? Let me know what you think...

Ande

I bought this lamp today at a flea market for $5. On the way home I stopped at GoodWill and bought a dark skinned naked Barbie for $1.... ( anyone ever see a grown man standing in line to pay for a naked Barbie? ).....When I got home, I disassembled it, cleaned every part with hot water, dish soap and a tooth brush. I then reassembled and installed the Barbie in place of the Greek statue. My wife whipped up the skirt and lei out of her craft supplies. I used some scrap rattan to cover the top and bottom., but think I will change it again to something else to be determined later.
I tested the electrical circuit and know the light and pump works, but I only ran it for a few seconds, I dont want to damage the pump by running it dry. Tomarrow I'm gonna stop at Walgreens and buy some mineral oil.

Today, I filled it up with a quart of mineral oil and turned it on, but nothing happened, I could hear the pump running so I removed the top cover and turned it on again,...after about a minute I could see the oil rising in the clear plastic tube...it took a good 1 1/2 minutes before the oil reached the end of the tube and started filliing the trough on top, and another minute before it worked itself around the entire top and then started dripping down the strings....But I had a problem...The first 2 or 3 strings were running almost at a steady stream and the other strings stood dry... To slow the stream I knotted about an inch of fishing line and dropped it into the first holes...instantly the flow backed up and the oil started traveling to the other strings...For the light I used a flicker bulb. I like the way the flickering light dances through the moving oil drops.

It looks cool in my dark bar, but capturing a photo of the oil drops is really difficult

Well Done and Congratulations! :)

I like it, but of course I like anything hula.

Word to the wise...Don't use your rain lamp outside! We have an awesome one in the Lowbrow Lanai but it's full of dead oily moths! They just love that soft red glow and not unlike a bug zapper they fly a little too close and drown in raindrops! Yuck!

"I'm still messing with the plants...won't they make a huge oily mess if the original plants are touching the wires?"

Yeah that's what I thought too.
Did you put more stuff on yours?
And did it work?

One of these just sold on ebay for $700.00.
Would have sold the one I made ages ago if I knew that.

There is another rain lamp on ebay now 8/29/12.

Has anyone ever seen one of these rain pictures? I guess they never really caught on.

I love most old beer signs.
When I was young these were hard to get, we had no ebay.
So if you did see one at someones house it was a big deal.
Also like the metal rain lights like the one at the bottom of the page here.
"Blatz Bottle Man Rain"
http://www.motionsignman.com/signs/motionsigns.html

I realized today when I saw another post on this topic that I never posted a picture of my Tiki Rain Lamp here.

I finished it a few years back, thanks to some guidance from tiki skip.

Here it is:

GREAT job Caroline!!!
Man I still got the bamboo I was going to give you for that light.
Love the curtin in the back.
Your place must be AWESOME!
Or piled high with $h!* like mine.