Difference between revisions of "Lamp / Nightlight Project"

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(Created page with "== Lamp / Night Light Project == I had a piece of black cherry log in my shop that was well seasoned, so I decide to try and make something from it. My 3 year old really enjoy...")
 
(Lamp / Night Light Project)
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== Lamp / Night Light Project ==
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{{Project|Creator=Cyremann
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|Status=<onlyinclude> Nearing Completion </onlyinclude>                                <!--LEAVE ONLYINCLUDES FOR STATUS HACK-->
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|Born On=14:27, 19 October 2019 (CDT)                                                                  <!--DO NOT EDIT -->
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|Last Updated={{#time: H:i, d F Y| {{REVISIONTIMESTAMP}} }} (CDT)              <!--DO NOT EDIT -->
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}}
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==Overview==
 
I had a piece of black cherry log in my shop that was well seasoned, so I decide to try and make something from it.
 
I had a piece of black cherry log in my shop that was well seasoned, so I decide to try and make something from it.
 
My 3 year old really enjoys looking at colored lights, so I decided to make him a nightlight / lamp.
 
My 3 year old really enjoys looking at colored lights, so I decided to make him a nightlight / lamp.

Revision as of 14:27, 19 October 2019

Creator:
Cyremann
Status:
Nearing Completion
Born On:
14:27, 19 October 2019 (CDT)
Last Updated:
14:27, 19 October 2019 (CDT)

Overview

I had a piece of black cherry log in my shop that was well seasoned, so I decide to try and make something from it. My 3 year old really enjoys looking at colored lights, so I decided to make him a nightlight / lamp.

Imgur Gallery of Progress

I started by roughing out a cylinder on the wood lathe. I then used a drill press to make holes around the outside of that cylinder. After that I used a 2-part epoxy with a small amount of acrylic paint to fill the holes with different colors. Once that was all hardened, I returned to the wood lathe, turned the outside down, and hollowed out the interior. After much sanding it was finally smooth enough, and I coated the entire piece in a clear epoxy.

I then needed a base and cap for the lamp. I though about casting something out of epoxy or turning something out of wood, but I wanted something heavier than that so the sake of stability. I also wanted something that could act as a heat sink for the LEDs as well as a capacitive touch sensor. I decided to go with aluminum.

I was given some scrap aluminum, which I smelted down and poured into an empty tin can. After cooling, I used the metal lathe to turn it down into the desired shape. A few drill press holes later and the base is basically finished, with the exception of final finishing an polishing.

The light is an aluminum rod surrounded by LED strips. I used some large heat-shrink tubing to hold them on, as I didn't trust the adhesive backing to hold once things got a bit warm. Both ends of the rod are drilled and tapped wityh a 5/16-18 thread, which matches holes on the base and cap. These will be used to screw everything together.

I will be placing the electronics into the base of the lamp, and hopefully using the metal parts as a capacitive touch sensor for operation. I may (or may not) have two or three levels of brightness that it can be cycled through.

I still need to turn the cap.