"Parasitic" floor lamp

RossL said:

Light box and louver shaping

For the main box and louvers, I again used some wood that I had on-hand - some Alaskan yellow cedar - selected because it was wide enough so I wouldn't need to do a glue-up and it was relatively lightweight. It's not very striking grain-wise, but I figured this lamp is all about form, so I'm okay with the plain look. AYC is on the soft side, but I figure the lamp isn't going to get much abuse, so I went with it.

I started by resawing and thickness sanding some pieces for the box down to 7/16". I cut the pieces down to the design dimensions of 20"L x 8"D x 7.75"H. The plan is to use simple butt joints like the original, and to fasten them with 4mm dominoes.

And just set in place to get a first view of the box. I won't be able to assemble the box until I check the proportions against the rest of the lamp and have the holes drilled for the louver fasteners.

I did do a quick test with some scrap to see how the tiny dominoes would work. They'll do just fine.

With the box taped together, I set it on top of the turret. It was then that we found that the turret needed some additional height (simulated with some cork coasters) and that the box looked just a bit too large. I overlaid the picture below over the original, and sure enough mine was a bit too long and high.

I kept the box proportions the same, reducing the height by 1/2" and the length by 1-1/4". With the new turret cap in place and the resized box, I was happy with overall proportions.

For the louvers, I started with a plank matching the thickness of the center of the louver and a little oversized in width to give me some wiggle room. I cut the length to be enough for 4 louvers plus some waste. I marked out the target cross section on either end, and then trimmed off the bulk on the bandsaw.

It was a really nice day, so I did all my planing outside on the patio. I used my trusty piece of thick purple rug pad to cushion the piece to avoid denting the piece on the workmate.

After planing down to the line, I took it back to the workshop to do some final sanding. The nice part about this shaping was that, like the legs, the cross-section didn't need to be perfectly uniform along the length. It just needed to "look" right.

Then it was off to the tablesaw to cut the louvers to length. A strip of masking tape eliminated any tear-out during cutting.

The louver length is 1/8" less shy of the opening height to allow for a 1/16" thick washer on either end at the pivot point. And another quick look at the components in-place to see how it's looking:

Next up will be the threaded inserts on the top and bottom of the louvers.

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Light box and louver shaping

For the main box and louvers, I again used some wood that I had on-hand - some Alaskan yellow cedar - selected because it was wide enough so I wouldn't need to do a glue-up and it was relatively lightweight. It's not very striking grain-wise, but I figured this lamp is all about form, so I'm okay with the plain look. AYC is on the soft side, but I figure the lamp isn't going to get much abuse, so I went with it.

I started by resawing and thickness sanding some pieces for the box down to 7/16". I cut the pieces down to the design dimensions of 20"L x 8"D x 7.75"H. The plan is to use simple butt joints like the original, and to fasten them with 4mm dominoes.

And just set in place to get a first view of the box. I won't be able to assemble the box until I check the proportions against the rest of the lamp and have the holes drilled for the louver fasteners.

I did do a quick test with some scrap to see how the tiny dominoes would work. They'll do just fine.

With the box taped together, I set it on top of the turret. It was then that we found that the turret needed some additional height (simulated with some cork coasters) and that the box looked just a bit too large. I overlaid the picture below over the original, and sure enough mine was a bit too long and high.

I kept the box proportions the same, reducing the height by 1/2" and the length by 1-1/4". With the new turret cap in place and the resized box, I was happy with overall proportions.

For the louvers, I started with a plank matching the thickness of the center of the louver and a little oversized in width to give me some wiggle room. I cut the length to be enough for 4 louvers plus some waste. I marked out the target cross section on either end, and then trimmed off the bulk on the bandsaw.

It was a really nice day, so I did all my planing outside on the patio. I used my trusty piece of thick purple rug pad to cushion the piece to avoid denting the piece on the workmate.

After planing down to the line, I took it back to the workshop to do some final sanding. The nice part about this shaping was that, like the legs, the cross-section didn't need to be perfectly uniform along the length. It just needed to "look" right.

Then it was off to the tablesaw to cut the louvers to length. A strip of masking tape eliminated any tear-out during cutting.

The louver length is 1/8" less shy of the opening height to allow for a 1/16" thick washer on either end at the pivot point. And another quick look at the components in-place to see how it's looking:

Next up will be the threaded inserts on the top and bottom of the louvers.

Click to expand...

It's looking really good, Ross. Nice job shaping the louvers.

Also, it's always nice seeing an old Workmate in use. I've had mine for over 35 years, and I still find ways to use it all the time.

- Ron Stewart

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Louvers - threaded inserts

The bolts through the box that provide the pivot point for the louvers don't need to be very beefy, so I chose some small M4 shoulder bolts. My original plan was to use these threaded nut inserts in the louvers:

But, since they were so small and they were going into end grain of a soft wood, they really didn't grip very well at all when inserted. Here's what I was left with in a scrap of AYC after trying to seat an insert:

So my workaround is to inset a disk of hardwood that's been tapped for M4 threads. I had some cocobolo turning blanks, so I cut off a 1/2" thick slice and cut out some disks on the CNC. After seeing the grain pattern of the wood, I was wishing I was using it for some other purpose. Oh well.

I chucked the tap in the drill press and turned the chuck by hand to tap the disks.

I used a forstner bit to make the pocket for the disk insert.

The disks will all get glued into place.

On a sample tapped hole, I was able to over-tighten the bolt and strip the wood threads. I don't expect to be tightening them fully, though. I'll use a little bit of temporary thread lock and tighten just enough so the louver isn't loose. I'll do a test assembly once I've got the holes drilled in the top and bottom of the box.

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Louvers - threaded inserts

The bolts through the box that provide the pivot point for the louvers don't need to be very beefy, so I chose some small M4 shoulder bolts. My original plan was to use these threaded nut inserts in the louvers:

But, since they were so small and they were going into end grain of a soft wood, they really didn't grip very well at all when inserted. Here's what I was left with in a scrap of AYC after trying to seat an insert:

So my workaround is to inset a disk of hardwood that's been tapped for M4 threads. I had some cocobolo turning blanks, so I cut off a 1/2" thick slice and cut out some disks on the CNC. After seeing the grain pattern of the wood, I was wishing I was using it for some other purpose. Oh well.

I chucked the tap in the drill press and turned the chuck by hand to tap the disks.

I used a forstner bit to make the pocket for the disk insert.

The disks will all get glued into place.

On a sample tapped hole, I was able to over-tighten the bolt and strip the wood threads. I don't expect to be tightening them fully, though. I'll use a little bit of temporary thread lock and tighten just enough so the louver isn't loose. I'll do a test assembly once I've got the holes drilled in the top and bottom of the box.

Click to expand...

I didn t post on the previous posts, but the lamp is looking great. The taller turret is an improvement and I think the louvers are turning out well. I m excited to see the next few posts.

- MikeDS

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Louvers - threaded inserts

The bolts through the box that provide the pivot point for the louvers don't need to be very beefy, so I chose some small M4 shoulder bolts. My original plan was to use these threaded nut inserts in the louvers:

But, since they were so small and they were going into end grain of a soft wood, they really didn't grip very well at all when inserted. Here's what I was left with in a scrap of AYC after trying to seat an insert:

So my workaround is to inset a disk of hardwood that's been tapped for M4 threads. I had some cocobolo turning blanks, so I cut off a 1/2" thick slice and cut out some disks on the CNC. After seeing the grain pattern of the wood, I was wishing I was using it for some other purpose. Oh well.

I chucked the tap in the drill press and turned the chuck by hand to tap the disks.

I used a forstner bit to make the pocket for the disk insert.

The disks will all get glued into place.

On a sample tapped hole, I was able to over-tighten the bolt and strip the wood threads. I don't expect to be tightening them fully, though. I'll use a little bit of temporary thread lock and tighten just enough so the louver isn't loose. I'll do a test assembly once I've got the holes drilled in the top and bottom of the box.

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Louver pivots

Rather than drive a whole mile to the hardware store for some washers, I made use of the cocobolo instead. This let me get exactly 1/16" thick, match the 5/8" diameter of the threaded insert plugs, and make the center holes just slightly larger than the shoulder on the bolts.

Confirming the louver height plus 2 washers matches the height of the side pieces.

I had intended to drill the pilot and counterbore for the bolts on the drill press, but I didn't have the right sized bits. So I went ahead and drilled them with the CNC. I had been reluctant to do this because layout had to exactly match the width of the top and bottom pieces. Otherwise, when one piece was flipped over, the pairs of holes wouldn't exactly align vertically. I measured them to the nearest 1/32", and it worked out fine.

And, of course, I needed a test fitting. I counterbored slightly less than the head thickness because I didn't want to risk the shoulder reaching the surface of the threaded plug when the bolt is tightened. The shoulder protrudes just enough to keep the 1/16" washer centered.

I left the edges of the louvers a little long so I could do some final fitting as I round them over.

Now I can do a little sanding on the box pieces prior to getting them assembled and glued-up.

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Louver pivots

Rather than drive a whole mile to the hardware store for some washers, I made use of the cocobolo instead. This let me get exactly 1/16" thick, match the 5/8" diameter of the threaded insert plugs, and make the center holes just slightly larger than the shoulder on the bolts.

Confirming the louver height plus 2 washers matches the height of the side pieces.

I had intended to drill the pilot and counterbore for the bolts on the drill press, but I didn't have the right sized bits. So I went ahead and drilled them with the CNC. I had been reluctant to do this because layout had to exactly match the width of the top and bottom pieces. Otherwise, when one piece was flipped over, the pairs of holes wouldn't exactly align vertically. I measured them to the nearest 1/32", and it worked out fine.

And, of course, I needed a test fitting. I counterbored slightly less than the head thickness because I didn't want to risk the shoulder reaching the surface of the threaded plug when the bolt is tightened. The shoulder protrudes just enough to keep the 1/16" washer centered.

I left the edges of the louvers a little long so I could do some final fitting as I round them over.

Now I can do a little sanding on the box pieces prior to getting them assembled and glued-up.

Click to expand...

Nice design and build, Ross. I'm not familiar with the movie, but I'm enjoying seeing you work through the details of the build. The louvers look really sharp.

- Don Broussard

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Lighting

My plan from the beginning was to use LED strip lights that I had left over from my office lighting project. The 4000K LED's are "natural white", but may end up too cool for this particular application. But, since I had them, I decided to give them a try.

I bought a transformer that was dimmable with an inexpensive 0-10v rotary dimmer, which will be mounted on the back panel along with an on/off switch. Here are the pieces hooked-up temporarily so I could see how the dimming worked. I'm most likely going to set-and-forget the dimming level, and I was pleased that it went pretty dim before winking out.

For mounting the LED strips, I made a frame to hold 6" sections of the aluminum track. I curved the front of the frame, hoping that the light would be brightest in the center and fall-off a bit towards the sides.

Here I'm just working out how high off the bottom the frame should be mounted. I set the height to roughly put the transformer centered vertically. The frame will eventually be mounted to the 1/4" ply back, which I've yet to make.

I cut the LED tape into ten 6" sections and soldered some jumpers between them.

I cut ten 6" sections of aluminum track and diffuser, drilled them for flat head screws, and mounted them to the frame.

With the LED strips and diffusers temporarily installed, I could do a test fitting in the box.

The fit was a little snug, so I'm going to file some relief notches on each end of the aluminum tracks so the wires don't get pinched. The acrylic panel I ordered has 32% translucency, which I think is really going to work great. You won't be able to distinguish individual LED strips when it's only an inch or so away.

I'm not sure I'll get the light fall-off at the edges with how the LEDs are currently placed, but I still need to check it out with the dimmer reinstalled. (All the lit LED pictures on this page except the first are full brightness.) If I decide that's super-important, I'll just try a different configuration. The light also seems a bit harsh, so I may be ordering some lower temperature "warm white" LEDs at some point.

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Lighting

My plan from the beginning was to use LED strip lights that I had left over from my office lighting project. The 4000K LED's are "natural white", but may end up too cool for this particular application. But, since I had them, I decided to give them a try.

I bought a transformer that was dimmable with an inexpensive 0-10v rotary dimmer, which will be mounted on the back panel along with an on/off switch. Here are the pieces hooked-up temporarily so I could see how the dimming worked. I'm most likely going to set-and-forget the dimming level, and I was pleased that it went pretty dim before winking out.

For mounting the LED strips, I made a frame to hold 6" sections of the aluminum track. I curved the front of the frame, hoping that the light would be brightest in the center and fall-off a bit towards the sides.

Here I'm just working out how high off the bottom the frame should be mounted. I set the height to roughly put the transformer centered vertically. The frame will eventually be mounted to the 1/4" ply back, which I've yet to make.

I cut the LED tape into ten 6" sections and soldered some jumpers between them.

I cut ten 6" sections of aluminum track and diffuser, drilled them for flat head screws, and mounted them to the frame.

With the LED strips and diffusers temporarily installed, I could do a test fitting in the box.

The fit was a little snug, so I'm going to file some relief notches on each end of the aluminum tracks so the wires don't get pinched. The acrylic panel I ordered has 32% translucency, which I think is really going to work great. You won't be able to distinguish individual LED strips when it's only an inch or so away.

I'm not sure I'll get the light fall-off at the edges with how the LEDs are currently placed, but I still need to check it out with the dimmer reinstalled. (All the lit LED pictures on this page except the first are full brightness.) If I decide that's super-important, I'll just try a different configuration. The light also seems a bit harsh, so I may be ordering some lower temperature "warm white" LEDs at some point.

Click to expand...

You could also get more fall-off by having shorter strips of LEDs at the ends.

Looks like it's coming together nicely.

- Dave Polaschek

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Almost there

I'm down to the final bits of construction now. I'll be down to just sanding and finishing in no time. To finish up the light box, I added some baltic birch ply mounting tabs to hold some captive lock nuts. These will hold the acrylic panel and the rear panel in place.

The nuts were a snug fit - I had to tap them down into place.

I made a little template to help locate the tabs equidistant from each side.

I placed the mounting tabs so that they would be directly in line with the first and last louver pivot points so the dark spot they create on the lit acrylic won't be too noticeable.

The back panel is 1/4" BBP with laminated veneer of Alaskan Yellow Cedar on the exterior surface.

I still need to work out what type of ventilation openings I want to put on the back, but I've got the rocker switch and dimmer knob placement worked out.

I did opt to buy a different strip of LEDs. These ones are 2700K, so warm white. I'm happy that I did. I couldn't resist another test assembly to see how it looks lit in the living room. So far, so good, I think.

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Almost there

I'm down to the final bits of construction now. I'll be down to just sanding and finishing in no time. To finish up the light box, I added some baltic birch ply mounting tabs to hold some captive lock nuts. These will hold the acrylic panel and the rear panel in place.

The nuts were a snug fit - I had to tap them down into place.

I made a little template to help locate the tabs equidistant from each side.

I placed the mounting tabs so that they would be directly in line with the first and last louver pivot points so the dark spot they create on the lit acrylic won't be too noticeable.

The back panel is 1/4" BBP with laminated veneer of Alaskan Yellow Cedar on the exterior surface.

I still need to work out what type of ventilation openings I want to put on the back, but I've got the rocker switch and dimmer knob placement worked out.

I did opt to buy a different strip of LEDs. These ones are 2700K, so warm white. I'm happy that I did. I couldn't resist another test assembly to see how it looks lit in the living room. So far, so good, I think.

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Almost there

I'm down to the final bits of construction now. I'll be down to just sanding and finishing in no time. To finish up the light box, I added some baltic birch ply mounting tabs to hold some captive lock nuts. These will hold the acrylic panel and the rear panel in place.

The nuts were a snug fit - I had to tap them down into place.

I made a little template to help locate the tabs equidistant from each side.

I placed the mounting tabs so that they would be directly in line with the first and last louver pivot points so the dark spot they create on the lit acrylic won't be too noticeable.

The back panel is 1/4" BBP with laminated veneer of Alaskan Yellow Cedar on the exterior surface.

I still need to work out what type of ventilation openings I want to put on the back, but I've got the rocker switch and dimmer knob placement worked out.

I did opt to buy a different strip of LEDs. These ones are 2700K, so warm white. I'm happy that I did. I couldn't resist another test assembly to see how it looks lit in the living room. So far, so good, I think.

Click to expand...

Looking good, Ross! That's one seriously cool looking lamp.

Nice attention to detail aligning the tabs with the louver pivots. That's the sort of thing that elevates a good project to a great one.

- Ron Stewart

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Almost there

I'm down to the final bits of construction now. I'll be down to just sanding and finishing in no time. To finish up the light box, I added some baltic birch ply mounting tabs to hold some captive lock nuts. These will hold the acrylic panel and the rear panel in place.

The nuts were a snug fit - I had to tap them down into place.

I made a little template to help locate the tabs equidistant from each side.

I placed the mounting tabs so that they would be directly in line with the first and last louver pivot points so the dark spot they create on the lit acrylic won't be too noticeable.

The back panel is 1/4" BBP with laminated veneer of Alaskan Yellow Cedar on the exterior surface.

I still need to work out what type of ventilation openings I want to put on the back, but I've got the rocker switch and dimmer knob placement worked out.

I did opt to buy a different strip of LEDs. These ones are 2700K, so warm white. I'm happy that I did. I couldn't resist another test assembly to see how it looks lit in the living room. So far, so good, I think.

Click to expand...

That is going to be one cool lamp!

- sras

Click to expand...

RossL said:

Almost there

I'm down to the final bits of construction now. I'll be down to just sanding and finishing in no time. To finish up the light box, I added some baltic birch ply mounting tabs to hold some captive lock nuts. These will hold the acrylic panel and the rear panel in place.

The nuts were a snug fit - I had to tap them down into place.

I made a little template to help locate the tabs equidistant from each side.

I placed the mounting tabs so that they would be directly in line with the first and last louver pivot points so the dark spot they create on the lit acrylic won't be too noticeable.

The back panel is 1/4" BBP with laminated veneer of Alaskan Yellow Cedar on the exterior surface.

I still need to work out what type of ventilation openings I want to put on the back, but I've got the rocker switch and dimmer knob placement worked out.

I did opt to buy a different strip of LEDs. These ones are 2700K, so warm white. I'm happy that I did. I couldn't resist another test assembly to see how it looks lit in the living room. So far, so good, I think.

Click to expand...