[bobskie]

Hi all, I picked this lamp (probably 60's/70's) up at a car boot sale earlier all in its original packaging. It even came with the handy tripod adapter seen in the photos. My photos are always dark so I thought this would help me illuminate the subject matter. When switched on after a while it started to lightly smoke, nothing to worry about just some dust burning off I thought. I switched it off shortly after and decided to try photographing something. I took a number of photos and perhaps left it on a bit too long as it started emanating rather a lot of smoke and making a loud crackling noise. I waited a few seconds to see if it would burst into flames(probably not the best idea on reflection) but then switched off the power. Any ideas on what could be causing this? Just dust like I originally thought or something more sinister? This lamp does get incredibly hot, it starts burning your hand if you hold it and I can't believe the illumination it gives. As you can see there is a burn mark on it, probably some sort of residue. I'm fairly sure this isn't causing the smoke as it's coming from the vents on top. Should i take it apart and give it a clean do you think? I'm a little wary of using it now. The whole house stinks of burning!

Cameron