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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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
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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It's easy if you try,
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Around us potentially unsafe and fun Instructibles,
Imagine all the people,
Living life in peace and building interesting Stacked Glass LED Lamps.
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But I'm not the only one
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
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.
(... is this proper english?)
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
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.
could somebody try it? i dont have enough glass tiles at home and I dont want to break a window ^^
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.
with that but was a fountain with running water.
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.
Good luck
. 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
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.
At any rate, cool Instructable. This is definitely on my "to-do one day" list.
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
Anyway, I'm curious, even though it doesn't get moved, how much does this thing weigh? It sounds very heavy.