Helicopter Hanging Light Made With a CNC Machine and Fusion 360

Face it, the standard hanging light you can buy in the store doesn't illicit any oooohs and aaaaahs when your guests enter your living room. When only a helicopter light will do choose the Chinook as it has plenty of space in the flat bottom for light fixtures.

Supplies

Fusion 360 CAD program

CNC Machine

4 feet of 2.5 x 7 inch wood. (You'll likely need to glue up boards to get this thickness.)

1 inch flat steel for the rotor blades

Black paint and varnish

LED light fixture.

Chain for hanging the light

Step 1: Get Top, Side and Front View Photos to Import As Canvases in Fusion 360

A line drawing like this works nicely:

Line drawing of the Chinook Helicopter side, top and front views.

I used Inkscape to make 3 individual pictures to import as canvases into Fusion 360.

Scale your first drawing to fit your light. I needed the helicopter to be 5 inches wide to fit my light. Then scale your top and front views to match.

I used 4 different forms and put them together to make the helicopter; the main body, the two lower sides that stick out (just one form using width symmetry) and the two housings holding the front and rear rotors.

Authorization to use this line drawing:

Step 2: Split Your Drawing Into Two Sides in Order to Cut on the CNC Machine

Use the "Split Body" menu item under "Modify" and split your drawing in two equal sides in order to place on your CNC machine table.

Step 3: Manufacture in Fusion 360

Step 4: Build Your Rotor Blades

I used 1 inch flat steel for the blades. Measure the distance from the tips to align them equally. For my light which was 20 inches long the rotor blades were 10 inches long.

Step 5: Assemble Your Helicopter

Glue the two sides together sand off the rough edges and varnish it.

Step 6: Enjoy Your Very Cool Light!

Why have an ordinary hanging light when you can enjoy a very cool Chinook helicopter light. You will need to modify this for your particular light assembly. The light I used was a 4.5 inch square 6 watt LED which also has a small power supply. I drilled a hole in the top for airflow but the LED fixture is barely warm after hours of operation.