Bright Idea Lamp Man

by LoMac

5.3K1705

Intro: Bright Idea Lamp Man

I wanted to make a last minute entry to the Home Depot Lamps and lighting contest and was trying to think of something feasible.

https://www.instructables.com/contest/lampslighting...

So I was sitting in my room thinking of all the different lamps and lights I could make in a short amount of time. I look up and I see my Drawing figure I found for a dollar at Goodwill and a light bulb goes off in my head. A Bright Idea Lamp Man. So I scrounged up some things and made one.

Here's how I went about it.

If you enjoyed it I would greatly appreciate a vote.

STEP 1: Materials and Tools

Materials

  • Some thin wire. (I used some strands from cat5)
  • Small light bulb ( mine was a 4.5V 0.5A)
  • Small switch
  • 4.5v AC adapter and jack (took mine from a Motorola phone.)
  • Drawing Mannequin ( mine was about 12 inches)

Tools

  • Solder iron
  • Flux
  • Solder
  • Two part epoxy
  • Drill
  • Drill bits
  • Third hand helps
  • I used a small chisel as well

STEP 2: Power Jack

I took apart an old cell phone for a little jack and unsoldered it.

The AC adapter for my particular phone was a 4.5V one.

STEP 3: Layout and Drilling Holes

  • After I removed the power jack from the phone I soldered a length of wire a bit longer than the drawing Mannequin to it.
  • I then laid out where about I wanted the switch and plug and marked it.
  • Drilled the hole for the switch just enough that the terminals on the bottom were barley sticking out. I had to mark around the switch and chisel out the square part.
  • I drilled a hole on the side for the power then drilled a hole from the bottom up into that hole to feed the wires to the switch and carved a channel between them.
  • Then drilled a small hole close to the drawing Mannequin's post for the light wires to come up through.

STEP 4: Drilling Holes in the Mannequin

The mannequin is hollow inside so I just needed a few holes to feed the wire through the body.

On in the butt drilled at an upward angle.

I had to carve out a notch in the neck bead for the wire

The last one was in the top of the head.

STEP 5: Soldering and Wiring

  • I pulled the wire that's attached to the power jack through the jack hole.
  • Soldered one sort power wire to the switch then ran it back to the small hole to go to the light bulb.
  • Pulled the other power wire and the switch wire through the small hole.
  • Then ran it through the hole in the butt and fed it though the body ( you may have to stretch the spring joints to see where the wire is going.)(You may want to twist the wires before you try to pull them through. I soldered the ends together also.)
  • When I got to the neck I had to drill a hole inside the bead to make room for the wire
  • Fed it through the head and your about done.
  • Then soldered the two wires to the light bulb side and bottom terminal.
  • When I screwed him back on the post it had the added benefit of wrapping the wire around the post for a tidy look.

STEP 6: Feet or Base

Because my switch was too big and the terminals stuck out I had put sticky pad on it so he wouldn't fall over.

While I was at it I epoxyed the power jack in the hole so it wouldn't move around.

Later I'll cast him a heavy duty concrete or metal base. Just didn't have time today.

STEP 7: Testing and Celebration

Plugged in the power flipped the switch and the Ideas shown bright! Just how I pictured it.

The first picture is with it off.

The other three are with the idea bulb illuminated and various exposures and lighting trying to get a nice look.

Hope you enjoyed it. I sure did making it.

Also entered in the Epilog Challenge because LASERS! I would use that thing everyday. I do a bit of graphics and 3d work and would love for that work to get out of my computer and into the physical world. Who needs a regular printer I would just laser etch all my documents that need to be printed.

If you like I'd appreciate the vote.

4 Comments

M3G 9 years ago

Cool instructable!

LoMac 9 years ago

Thanks Yo.