Oil Lamp from a 35mm Film Canister

A long lasting oil lamp that can be made for free from parts found around the house

Step 1 Items

Okay you should be able to find all these parts around your house so it will be free

1. A 35mm film canister- I used a clear one so i could see the oil level
2. Fuel of some sort- Alcohol or oil, i used canola oil because it burns better and clean
3. A real cotton ball, cant be synthetic
4. Aluminum Foil
5. Sharp scissors
6. A source of fire

Comments

[blodefood]

The canola oil is good and very safe. If knocked over, it would likely self-extinguish. For this reason, I would not recommend alcohol for this project as it can be quite dangerous. This is a neat project and practical in case of power outage or for some inexpensive lighting options. Just a note about film canisters: NEVER, EVER use them for food applications! The silver nitrate from the film stored in them will leach into the food and could poison you.

[salan]

Not my post but it says it al so copying to this thread.

Hi,

I though some of you may be interested in seeing what Kodak have to say about the use of those canisters for other purpose than storing film. In a nutshell, there is no risk whatsoever with toxic leakage from the plastic, it seems to be pretty safe, altough they explain the plastic use is not FDA approved for food (this is in the States), there has never been any problems reported to the compagny.

You can find the complete information here:

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=4205&pq-locale=en_US

[Kryptonite]

cudnt u clean it out like really thorough?

[acer73]

Yes isn't the silver nitrate the crystals that change from the light touching them

[snook123]

will rubbing alcohol work

[snook123]

you could shoot the lid with an airsoftgun

[knektek]

thanks for this instructable ( cuz i just wasted about 1litre of cooking oil) ...

[ert]

actually vegetable oil works perfectly

[sharlston]

why isnt vegetable oil any good?

[joey2542667]

should I post my zippo looking oil lamp made out of clay?

[woody558]

yes you should i would enjoy it

[Kryptonite]

I just made this, for cooking i believe Canola oil is the worst possible substance next to sionide, so I don't have any in the house. I felt pretty outta luck so I tried peanut oil, just a tip, don't. Either my cotton's not really cotton or peanut oil just isn't suitable, and I'm thinking it's the latter. Any ideas on methylated spirits?

[Nablec]

May I suggest adding some aluminum foil on the inside and on the bottom for a heat sink of sorts.

[X_D_3_M_1]

is this like burning plastic? hard to understand.

[acer73]

No its burning the oil, I wouldn't let it stay lit for more then a few hours though because it will get hot.

[X_D_3_M_1]

k, im asthmatic, i start to wheeze at plastic fumes.

[acer73]

well then this wouldn't before you When i light it and leave it for an hour the only thing that happens is the plastic gets a little soft.

[pyro 45.5]

I cant exactly tell, do you fill the canister to the top, or half way, ect.?

[acer73]

about 5mm from the top

[pyro13]

i made one with alchohol and alot of salt and it works great, tho u do have to wipe the salt off the wick top every 30 min or so

[pyro 45.5]

thanks

[Technical Renaissance]

Great instructible. I like the resourcefulness of this project. It's fun to get back to basics in this ever increasingly complicated world we live in today. I suppose you could do this with a number of containers etc.