Using resistors as heaters to melt wax.

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This was just a fun experiment to make a heated candle dish that gave the same effect as the Glade "scented oil" candle system.
The scented oil candles had a metal body with the wax formed round it.  The body sat into a specially shaped and insulated aluminium dish with a magnet under it.  When the candle was lit the flame would heat a couple of fins on either side and the heat would be conducted down into the base so that the whole candle would ultimately melt into a self sustaining pool of liquid wax.  The wax was wicked up the sides of the base by capillary action to the wick itself.
In this little experiment I'm trying to make a low voltage electrically heated dish that can turn ANY tealight into a "scented oil" style pool of wax.  I used a glass saucer intended for an espresso cup and used standard silicone sealant to glue 24 x 1 ohm quarter watt resistors onto the glass.  They can actually be run at higher than quarter of a watt as the silicone acts as a thermal coupler to the glass, thus heatsinking them.
By running the whole 24 ohm string at 12V it passes half an amp (500mA) and dissipates 6W of heat evenly over the glass surface.
The results were a bit variable.  It worked in that you ended up with a pool of fragrant wax with a burning wick in the middle, but the flame height progressively dropped until it was quite small.  Possibly due to impurities clogging the wick or air starvation due to the simmering haze of molten wax in the vicinity.
But it's a start.  In the past I had good success with a small dollar-store ladle with its handle bent round underneath it and screwed to a wooden base.  In that version I used a cluster of 1W resistors siliconed to the ladle.
Things to note.  The behaviour will depend on the ambient temperature, so it will vary between winter and summer or according to indoor temperatures.  If the wax gets too hot it will fume and may even ignite completely.  (YAY!)
The use of resistors for localised and adjustable heating has other uses too.

YouTube url:	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP1ZT0X_eW8
Created:	22. 1. 2016 05:00:36

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Using resistors as heaters to melt wax.