Rain Lamp

Hate to do the rain lamp thing to death, but I now have two, a cute little tabletop number and a gigantic monstrosity that hogs up a whole corner of our room, but we don't care because we like the tikified rain lamp better than most people we know.

My problem is, does anyone know what guage to use for the fishing line? I strung the whole thing with 20 lb test line monofilament and loaded the lamp with glycerine. Figured if it fell off the ceiling, it'd be much easier to clean up glycerine (breaks down with water). Ok, it worked just fine and didn't smell "machine" like it did before I cleaned it. But the glycerine seemed to run a bit too fast down the lines. I figured it was a bit too thin. Cleaned it all out, replaced line with 30 lb test and used plain mineral oil. Works much better. Still runs pretty fast though.

Now I'm thinking....does the 30 lb test line simply drain the oil faster down the line becuase it's increased surface area attracts more oil, however the 30lb test line fills up more space in the hole that allows the oil to drip. OR....if I used something like 15lb test, thinner, might attract less oil, but would leave more space in the hole. Arghhh! I'm so NOT interested in restringing it all AGAIN just to see the affect.

Tabletop rain lamp (actually adore this one more than the biggie one because we can sit closer) has the same problem, oil runs down so fast, drips are approximately 3/8" apart and drains oil from the holding area so fast that it doesn't get around to every string, only drips about two thirds of the strings. Holes are clean, line is new, oil is fresh. Just strung it with 30lb test, no real change. Maybe I stretched the line too much making it thinner when pulling line taut. I didn't see clear 50lb test at Bass Pro or I'd have given that a shot. This tabletop model does not have grommets in the holes.

This is frustrating. It MUST be the mineral oil and it's simply too viscous....but then again, maybe it's the line. Anybody got any ideas so this won't run out so fast??

I'm considering buying an industrial sized drum of the drakeol 35 or kaydol 35 as maybe it'd run right.....maybe I could portion it out to other rain lamp people.

I need a Rumkin! (small rum drink before lunch-LOL)
LavaLounger

I don't have any ideas on this.
Guess I just got lucky that mine worked well from the start.
Only made the one light though, just got the first mineral oil I saw.
Have like two more to make one day.
Let us know what you find out.
Good luck!

I just got my rain lamp back from being repaired. The technician said to put 4 pints of mineral oil in the lamp. I put it in as it was running. The pump is running, but no rain. All of the info I can find sez 1-3 pints is enough. Should I continue to put more oil in or pull it apart to see if the pump became disconnected, or yell at the dog?

You may need to prime the pump.
That is to make sure that oil is in the pump and in all tubing that goes up
to the top of lamp.
You get much better suction with oil than air so any air can make it hard
for the pump to push oil up to top of light.
But then check pump as well open up base and see if it's pumping.
Next check oil flow path tubes and hole at top of light,
Holes at top often get clogged with dust as this oil is like a dust magnet on
these lights.

Good luck!!

Also type in rain lamp, rain light repair on You tube.
You will find some info there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_QBb9CI94M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_QBb9CI94M

Also read the comments below video as you can get good info there too.
Like this.....

Kevin Pike7 years agoin reply to grinznmore

Mineral oil is the best to use; you will find it in the pharmacy section of your favorite department store. I had to clean out 30+ years of old oil, It was so caked, I to use carburetor cleaner to get the build up off some parts. I also found fishing line at Kmart that matched the existing stings exactly, so I could replace some broken ones. Have patience, it takes some time to clean, but it is worth it in the end for such a unique light. Kevin

Has anyone seen a rain drop lamp like this one? I'm looking for info on when and who might have made it, and what it's potential value might be. Thank you for any information you might have.