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[ToxicFrog]

I have a refilling magma vent I want to drain temporarily - not necessarily all the way, but five or so z-levels would be nice. I tried digging a three-wide channel into the bottom routed to the chasm, and that drained the top level to 4/7 but that's all (and then it started refilling faster than it was draining!)

So, do I just need wider drainage paths? If so, how wide - would 9 do it? 15?
Alternately, I have a river, and I've been considering the use of water on it. Would it be possible to pour water onto it to turn the first level into obsidian, then dig through that, pour water onto the second level before it starts to overflow, etc?

[zagibu]

What about pumps? They transport a lot of water, so maybe, it's the same with magma?

[Thexor]

Magma flows pretty slowly - you'll need a pretty wide drainage ditch to drain it, even temporarily. Make sure you've got some way to stop draining it, too.

Theoretically, pumps will work... but you'll need to make them with Bauxite mechanisms and steel blocks, so they don't melt. You'll also have to make sure that their power source (dwarven or mechanical) doesn't melt - since dwarves tend not to be fireproof, you'll have to supply power to your system. Axels might be tricky, since they're wood and wood isn't exactly fire-proof either. Perhaps having the power source directly above the pumps...

Draining the vent for 5 z-levels is even harder, beceause you'll need this setup on every z-level you want to drain. I'd recommend sticking with a drainage ditch, and just make it bigger. Much bigger  

[BishopX]

You could solidify the magma, dig it out and then collage something through the "cap" to open it up again.