After all these years, I finally found a good use for a blender -- it makes a great lamp.

I found this old blender at an estate sale, and what caught my eye was its style. The base was chrome plated steel, and the top part was heavy, fluted, slightly frosted glass. And instead of having a bunch of push button switches, it had one simple on/off rotary switch. As soon as i saw it I began envisioning a lamp.

Step 1: Dis-assembly

The first thing I did was to remove the rotary cutter from the bottom of the glass container, which involved unscrewing a retaining ring from the bottom, and sliding the cutter and rotating mechanism out the top.

The next step was to remove the motor from the base. Three screws held a cover plate to the base, four bolts held the three pieces of the base together, and four more bolts held the motor in place. Dis-assembly took only about ten minutes.

I left the original switch in place, since it would be used to control the light that I would install.

Step 2: Illuminate It

I used a single candelabra base for the light, which I found in kit form at a local builder's store. The kit came with a cord and an in-line switch, which I discarded (i did keep about 5 inches of the cord).

I enlarged a large washer to accept the candelabra base (photo 1), and hot glued the the candelabra base into the blender's base (photo 2), with the candelabra base flush with the top of the blender base (photo 3). I used a very slim candelabra blub (shown in photo 3) that would fit through the very narrow hole in the glass part of the blender.

Next, I wired the switch to the light (photo 4). The switch was an off/on/on switch, so I wired both "on" positions to one side of the light fixture, and the ground wire to the other connection. This way there is no dead position on the switch, and I was able to use the original blender switch instead of having to replace it. I soldered all connections and insulated them with wire nuts.

Since the original blender power cord was in excellent shape, I used it.

Step 3: Plug It in & Turn It On!

After testing the wiring with a continuity tester, I plugged it in and turned it on!

This entire project was pretty simple, and took only about an hour to build -- most of which involved figuring out how to mount the candelabra base to the blender base.

In terms of materials, I used a candelabra base, a small length of wire, some solder and wire nuts, a large steel washer, a bulb, and an old blender.

The tools used were a screwdriver, a rotary grinding tool to enlarge the hole in the washer, a continuity tester, and a soldering iron.