While shopping around for my new house a few months ago, I discovered how much I like lamps. It sounds autistic and it probably is, but I can't explain it. I've been looking into building one from scratch with a DIY lamp making kit from amazon, but other than that I don't really know where to start. Can anyone weigh in and give me some tips?
jeff here, I weigh 180 lbs.
buy low and sell high.
eat shit, Jeff. I dont even know you
I repair docks, and am well known around these parts. If you need work done I will have boots on the ground pronto. Just don't pester me about bids or estimates; I'll bill you when I'm done.
Use glass
>I discovered how much I like lamps.
some people love lamps, some people love turtles, some people love young boys. as for me? I love a parade.
>some people love young boys
>people
No, those are not people. They are subhumans.
>not a single fricking person here as built a lamp
>>not a single fricking person here as built a lamp
I upcycled this from an old photo enlarger. It had some large melamine base on it and some other moronic stuff I had to take off of it. Added a base from a music stand or something similar to it. The photo enlarger was in a semi trailer that I bought from an estate sale. They left a few things in there that they didn't sell. Ended up with a nice ladder, a furniture dolly, a couple glass cases, two photo enlargers and some big ass speakers on stands plus some other crap I can't even remember.
My son needed a desk lamp so we fixed this up for him. It will raise and lower and swivel around anywhere on that pole as well as tilt left or right at the head.
I like to 3d print lamps out of glow in the dark fillament.
I've made lots of them, aside from fillowing common sense electrical safety practices the best general advice I can give is to really give some thought to what the lamps purpose is; it could be anything from an accent/art piece to providing indirect/ambient light or might be dedicated task lighting like a desk or reading lamp or a pendant lamp over a dinner or game table...point being g that the more "all purpose" you try to make a lamp the worse it is for any particular application.
Building your own lets you really specialize them not just for the particulsr use but for the location, so don't squander the opportunity.
That applies as well to fanciful art lamps; most commercial ones still need to be practical to some degree to be marketable, but diy ones can be whatever you want.
Picrel is an art lamp made from all kinds of scavenged lamp and machine parts including a motor from an animated store display that spins a radar antenna on top of the gantry, which creates ever changing shadows.
I just stuck a motion bulb I had on hand in the top socket for the picture, there's a bunch of long,/skinny LED and fluorescent bulbs like for exit signs that look very scientific like a rocket payload and get it up to almost 4' in height.
I used a static flame shaped bulb at the bottom for the intensity of the liftoff, but Ive done other similar spacecraft and satellite and flying saucer ones that hung from the ceiling and had the flickering candle bulbs for the rocket exhaust; they always get a big smile.
One other tip even you aren't doing this kind of weird/ funky thing is to start scavenging lamp parts; its best to use new wiring and sockets and switches and such, but the threaded tube and various nuts and washers and connectors/reducers and swivels and strain relievers and other esoteric parts found in old discarded lamps can get very pricey if you buy them at retail, if you can even find them.
Bases are good to hang onto as well since they aren't typically a replacement item and some of them are very cool on their own.
Another potential source for decorative sleeves and escutcheons and similar parts is discarded trophies.
That is awesome, you mad man.
I have made a few, building the lampshade from scratch was the most time consuming part.
I've never built a lamp but I've repaired many. Lamps are pretty simple, they're just bulb(s) and two wires. Remember to ground the chassis of your homemade lamp, and make sure the entire chassis has a continuous ground so that you don't fricking kill someone
that's badass, well done
Tom Sachs browses PrepHole?
I built several lamps. One from two broken skateboards, two from sconces paired with LED tubing, one from a glass building block. Can post them later
built this as a first go into epoxy just to see how much effort / $ was required
poured a clear layer to lock in the strip, then a layer with a shot of white as diffusion
the LED strip has orange and blue strips so you can adjust the warmth with one of the pots, and obviously a PWM dimmer as well
the top bar is drilled out every inch on the top side, which lets the aluminum backing the strip is on vent heat
ironically the hardest part was the woodwork and concealing wires, the electronics and epoxy were easy as shit and I thought it would be the other way around
unfortunately the total cost of parts, time and the fact that I would have to re-design it to make the strip replaceable kinda killed the idea after this one.
it's probably do-able better when I have a bunch of free time and a couple hundred burning a hole in my pocket, i'd rate the whole experience 7/10
>a shot of white
Ya dun goofed. A shot of black would've really made that lamp shine.
How hard would a lamp like this be to make?
You think you have the skills to cut those legs in a taper like that? That'll be the toughest part, other than locating the materials.
that's easy, just table saw a few strips, strike an angle, clamp them in a bench and hand plane to the line
Far easier and better plan would be to cut the profile once on a board wide enough to then rip into the individual legs.
At the very least the overall length of the leg and especially the distance from the bottom to the shoulder notch should all be cut at the same time, preferably across one board that is ripped into identical leg blanks, or across separate pieces that are clamped together for those operations.
Making each leg and its various cuts individually takes more time and leads to wobbly pieces. If you make those critical dimensional cuts together, the rest of the shape can be slightly off or completely different and the piece will stand perfectly flat and stable.
Hardest part would be seaming that material together with it having a noticeable line
Easy to tip over
Just a suggestion. Don't shoot your eye out
I have this autistic bent wood lamp design in my head that has been there for the better part of a decade that honestly im going to kill myself if I don't make at least 1 good copy of it eventually.
It's ugly, not even my style and it's just dumb but holy shit I NEED to make it.
Give us an mspaint mockup anon
steam bending isn't very hard anon, you can do it!
all you need is a sheet of ply to build a box and some plumbing supplies