DIY led desk lamp

Step 1 Get your supplies

Before beginning, gather these materials and tools:

Tools:

• Small Philips screwdriver
• Little Pliers (for bending and cutting wire)
• Big Pliers (for cutting through stiff electrical conduit
• Hole punch (not the kind you find in an office, the kind that looks like a screwdriver but with a very sharp end)
• Note: If you have a drill, you can use that instead of the hole punch. If you have a hacksaw or other metal-cutting tool, get that out as well.

Materials: (because this isn't as straight-forward as the tools, I'll go a little more in-depth. Also, look at the picture at the bottom for reference)

• Small Clamp - This will be used to attach and mount your lamp on a desk, shelf, or wherever you need it. Be sure it has a hole in the handle (the part you would normally grip to open it). If you have access to drilling equipment, you should be able to make your own hole, no problem.
• Flexible Electrical Conduit - This is the part of the lamp that will make it flexible, look real good, and protect/hide the wires to the LEDs. Usually this stuff is used in commercial buildings to guard the electrical wires. You should get roughly 2 feet, but you can always trim it if it's too long. Unfortunately, this stuff is sold in rolls of 10 to 100 feet. So, if you want just a little bit of it, you'll have to either buy a lot of it and save the rest for another project, or peek in construction dumpsters for a few scrap pieces. Look for the type that's about a quarter-inch. the exact size does not matter.
• Stiff and thick copper wire - This will be inserted into the electrical conduit so it will hold its shape and not unbend. It will also be wrapped around a clamp so you can mount your light somewhere. Don't worry, you won't have to buy this in bulk because most hardware stores sell wire by the foot. Buy three feet of it because you will need some sticking out of the conduit to mount it. This will cost you $1 to $2.
• The LED lamp itself - these ready-made LED lamps came from IKEA's lightning department and can be purchased in several colors. Note that the color shown in this instructable has been discontinued --you can no longer buy the green lamps, which is why I got them cheap. The lamps come in packs of two with the the power supply. The lamps also come with brackets attached so you can easily press-fit them onto IKEA furniture. These brackets will be removed in a later step. Unfortunately, I do not know the product number and the price, so you'll have to use the pictures below for reference.

Okay, we're now going to move onto our first step.