User:Cyremann
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Creator: |
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.
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.
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 out.
