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Stacked Glass LED Light

Stacked Glass LED Light
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The base for this project was in a box of old boat stuff and was the inspiration for this light.  You could make a similar base using .060 copper sheet, notching the corners, forming the copper over a piece of wood and soldering the corners.  It might even look cool to just make a 1" cut at each corner then form the base and lap the "flap" over the corner and then solder it up.

 
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Step 1Whatcha gonna need

50 pcs. .250" thick X 3" square.
One (1) copper base 3.625" square X 1" deep.
One (1) 110V AC to 12V DC  generic power supply. 
One (1) female 12V plug to match above male plug
One (1) Ultra-bright cyn (color) Luxeon star LED
One (1) High Power LED driver  (Velleman K8078)
Some 16ga. copper wire
Silicone glue
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118 comments
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Feb 28, 2011. 4:53 PMtz1_1zt says:
Really beautiful lamp, great idea. I imagine it looks even better in the dark, do you have any night time photos? Ah, imagine......

Imagine there's no children or unhelpful commentators,
It's easy if you try,
No troublesome grabbing hands or knit-picking,
Around us potentially unsafe and fun Instructibles,
Imagine all the people,
Living life in peace and building interesting Stacked Glass LED Lamps.

You may say that I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one
Feb 28, 2011. 6:49 PMilpug says:
Pure poetry.
Feb 28, 2011. 4:29 PMstormthirst says:
If you have children in your house - not even your own children - anyone's children then you will figure out a way to stop 1ft of glass shards from doing some serious damage.

Personally I'd build a cage around the glass - perhaps out of copper like the base - or maybe steel and then copper plate the steel. Copper plating is ludicrously easy with copper sulphate, though it won't be shiny or flat
Mar 12, 2011. 7:59 AMskaar says:
if it's tempered glass, the edges wouldn't be terribly sharp in the first place, walking on tempered glass shards barefoot is pretty similar to walking on crushed stone, feels terrible, but won't do any real damage.

there's glue, that would keep it stuck together, even if it were beaten on with an iron pipe, heck, even plain silicone caulking would do that. like someone said, the edges of non-tempered glass could be heat ablated(blowtorch on the edges), but it wouldn't look as nice, or be that much safer.

what i would go for, is different shapes... maybe spacers of different materials or sizes, a small blowtorch and vacuum vessel could be used to holes for an led stick to go through, for brighter light. with a hole through, a rod could be put through to make it a hanging lamp.

then there's the possibility of using a glass cutting hole saw, use an abrasive circular saw to cut squares with curved L shaped cuts inside, add wedge shaped spacers, a pot lid with a hole, perhaps a glass one. make two round ones, fit them together, face to face, put a circular fluorescent tube inside, rough the glass lid for frosting.
Mar 12, 2011. 8:49 AMskaar says:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v413/sKaar/invention/ringlamp-glassstack01.png banged together something... and it looks sooo retro... if i could figure out how to put the lights inside, it'd glow, but, nogo.
Nov 7, 2011. 11:55 AMpddonovan2011 says:
There are reasonably priced diamond edged hole saws that cut through glass. i use them to install protein skimmers in glass Aquariums. Buy one, go slow, use lots of oil and it cuts through very nicely'
Nov 7, 2011. 11:50 AMpddonovan2011 says:
As a suggestion! Place a Quartz Crystal Rock under the stack, hang a green, red or blue laser directly overhead down the center of the stack so it is dispersed through out the stack by the refraction of the quartz crystals. Internal lighting that originates from outside the stack! I'll bet the light would dance all over the room! The color of the tempered glass should nullify the damaging wave length of the laser light!
Jul 23, 2011. 6:27 AMmginster says:
Have you read what there has been written in that picture - this means it is rendered by some kinda software - seems not to be real.
Jul 28, 2011. 7:07 PMskaar says:
you mean the link to the one i made in sketchup?
Mar 1, 2011. 10:44 AMtrustr says:
A solution for this problem would be to take a gas burner to round the edges

(... is this proper english?)
Mar 1, 2011. 11:42 AMmrmerino says:
yes, but is the burner supposed to melt the edges together?
Mar 2, 2011. 3:24 AMtrustr says:
it's worth a try :-)
when you burn the edges the whole thing could stick together

but you have to consider the tension of the glass when it's cooling down
Mar 3, 2011. 7:52 AMmankysteve says:
You trying building the stack in a mould and pouring an epoxy resin around it
Mar 9, 2011. 12:17 PMmercury says:
i think this is the best idea for keeping the original look, though this method would take away the off-set edges and make it flat on all four sides. it would still look nice.

my first thought was to glue the glass together and use it to cast a mould, then use resin to create the actual lamp design. perhaps the center could be hollowed out by inserting a tube 3/4 of the way through the mould, which would decrease the overall weight as well. however, casting resin is pretty expensive which makes my idea sort of unrealistic... some nice ideas here in the comments, and the original is wonderful, of course.
Mar 3, 2011. 8:25 AMmrmerino says:
what if you spread a very thin layer of epoxy between the layers as you build?
Mar 9, 2011. 8:37 PMtrustr says:
hmmm... why epoxy, i think the adhesion of oil (I dont know how fast water evaporates between two layers of glass) would do it, too

could somebody try it? i dont have enough glass tiles at home and I dont want to break a window ^^
Mar 11, 2011. 10:23 PMstatic says:
The contention that glass really never solidifies, and us still flowing centuries later has been debunked To suggest that the glass in these plates in time would flow together takes the old wives tale to another level.

I'm fairly certain the driver for these kind of LED Pulse Width Modulate the current sent to the LED. A quick use of google leads to circuit example. Even one here at instructables, but why would anybody be surprised yo learn that? :)

In the event one could fie polish the cut edges, and maintain tight 90 decree corners. brass angle iron or wood corner trim could be used to keep the stacked plates in place. An original idea AFIK, I agree with the other commenter a nighttime photo of the lamp lit would be a nice addition the instructable.
Mar 10, 2011. 2:10 PMmankysteve says:
Another choice would be to drill a hole though each glass sheet expect the top one which you could counter sink and fill with adhesive.
Nov 7, 2011. 11:44 AMpddonovan2011 says:
Suggestion only! You could place the stack inside a clear acrylic container custom built to fit around the sculpture. No glue needed to keep the stack standing and if secured to the base will prevent the lamp from toppling during an earth quake! It IS beautiful and something that will start Conversations at Parties. An update would be to have a multiple color changing LED array, under the glass that changes to a completely different color, very gradually, every five minutes! Come to think of it, that is what I should do! Another possibility! Sand down the roughest edges and place the stack in an aquarium using the LED's shining from under the Aquarium! Also, you could place the sculpture in a shallow Reflecting pool and let Sun light dance through the sculpture during daylight hours! I better stop now, I don't want to over do it! VERY nice sculpture, I love it!
Oct 13, 2011. 6:48 AMdjnikosburn says:
Its very nice! Im thinking to make one but bigger like 1,5m but im kind worring about how much heavy will be! :/
Oct 13, 2011. 1:11 PMdjnikosburn says:
no square! tall! im thinking of that and im afraid that maybe it will be to heavy but im thinking to make a heavy base my metal and for the light im not gonna use led but im gonna make a hole at half of the glasses (like 0.75cm) and ill put a fluorescent light in there with a brithness regulator.I saw something similar
with that but was a fountain with running water.
May 18, 2011. 9:09 AMLectric Wizard says:
Did something similair when I was a kid , using glass fragments from a broken car window. Glued them together with clear epoxy & then used colorless spray varnish to cover the sharp edges ( 4 or 5 coats). Well done 'able.
Mar 3, 2011. 2:53 PMwalshlg says:
Hey every one - a FYI:
1) its really pretty easy and safe to drill through glass - you get a glass bit and set the glass in a shallow pan and drill under water- just takes a lot of time
2) to smooth the edges of broken glass: There are many ways to do this - it will also look nicely frosted! a) Go to a stained glass supply store and buy a glass file ( again I like to use this under water as it makes little flakes that can flyyyyy). b) plain old carbide sand paper works well but PLEASE WEAR GLOVES c) plain old sand - just rub the edges through sand over and over and over and over, repeat, again.

FWIW my suggestion is go to a stained glass store and do this with "chunk" stained glass, also drill the hole offset and that way the rod will hold the pieces in place but they can be "fanned" to change the appearance.
May 13, 2011. 5:58 AMcbg3868 says:
Yes, holes can be drilled in class and it is delicate work. If you have the benefit of a class grinder with a small bit, you could just grind the holes. Get instruction for this process. Creating holes are risky at best. I do not care for the frosted edges. The brightness of the cut and well broken edges are beautiful and they sparkle in the light with different views from the cut.

Good luck
Apr 25, 2011. 5:16 PMhfairbank says:
Use a step drill bit instead of a regular drill bit to keep it from grabbing.
Mar 18, 2011. 9:38 AMphevtron says:
wouldnt be as cool as glass but something like plexiglass or any other plastic imitation of glass would do. i think.....
Mar 4, 2011. 1:27 AMnikki podmore says:
The safest and best away of bonding glass to glass is using a uv glue. You will also need an ultra violet light. You then set the glue with the uv light and it is 100% bonded with no marks showing
. With regards to the light I would use a tube light.to go up the middle. These are flexible and can be bought in metre lengths.
Another adhesive someone suggested to me was egg white but as I had the uv and uv light I never tried it.
Good luck with your project from nikki at rathart.com
Mar 5, 2011. 3:47 AMnikki podmore says:
I dont know if the egg white would turn yellow. I think it would be trial and error. I never degassed my uv glue and am not sure what the procedure is for this? Perhaps I did it unknowingly. My lights are different to yours - I cut thousands of little glass strips. Chipped one side with a glass pliers and then sanded down each piece and built it up like a tower. This gave a really nice diffused effect. Perhaps the weight of the glass degassed the uv glue itself!!!
I would never consider putting this on a ceiling unless you had the ceiling re-inforced. Safer on the floor unstuck than having a shower of glass on top of your head.
The only other way I can think of securing your glass light would be to put four thin metal poles on each corner of your base and drill four little holes on each corner of the glass and slot the glass down onto the poles. Drilling glass especially the thickness of your glass could be tricky as you would need to use water to cool down the drill so the glass does not shatter.but not being an expert on the matter I can not give you specific details on how to do this.
This wouldn't take from the beauty of the outside of the structure but would at least hold the structure together.
Good luck with your venture.
Mar 12, 2011. 8:56 AMskaar says:
i believe degassing is putting it in a bell jar to suck the air out with a pump. there's vac pump instructables, could end up with something useful for making vac formed replacement bike helmet shells too... or model airplanes... thin project cases... ... stuff...
Mar 3, 2011. 9:17 AMcipreses says:
Can you upload a video?
Mar 6, 2011. 2:54 AMflamekiller says:
If you can make and post an Instructable, you can upload a basic video! Of course, this all hinges on having some sort of video camera with digital output ...

At any rate, cool Instructable. This is definitely on my "to-do one day" list.
Mar 6, 2011. 6:21 AMcipreses says:
You took the word right out of my mouth!

Boblelon, you are seventy_xxx... you use computers, you make cool things and then publish it as instructables... you don`t know the word impossible!

I want a video! :D
Mar 5, 2011. 11:33 PMBuskieboy says:
Excellent light, very eye catching. I agree if you put it in a minimal copper frame it would stablize it but not take away anything from the look. It could be made to look like a seafarers lamp? In keeping with the theme?
Anyway, I'm curious, even though it doesn't get moved, how much does this thing weigh? It sounds very heavy.
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