Introduction: Junk Yard Lamp

About: Fixer, Finder, Fabricator. I teach engineering to high school students, at St Marys Secondary College in Nathalia VIC Australia
Ive been wanting to make a lamp for a while now, as nothing in the shops appeals to me, its all too shiny and plastic looking. So after a little scavenging at the dump, I found a few things that kind of look lamp like, so I Frankensteined this together.  It works well and changes the whole mood of the room when turned on

Step 1: Stuff You Will Need

I found a beat up telescope and an old horn speaker at the dump. After pulling it out of the mud I was able to take it home at no charge, I also found an old pressure cleaner on a previous trip and I cut the cord off it and took home the high pressure hose.
Free stuff
1. Telescope
2. Horn speaker
3. Cord
4. Grommety thing

Stuff I had to pay for
1. light bulb
2. Bulb holder
3. Switch

Tools
1. Pressure cleaner
2. Drill
3. Screw driver
4. Furniture oil and rag
5. Wire cutters.
6. About 2 hours

Step 2: Cleaning

One of the first things I did was to pressure wash every thing, to get rid of all the mud, spiders and general crap off the tripod and speaker. don't go too nuts with the pressure washer on wood as it can make the wood go fluffy or fury which is never a good look. This took a lot of the lose paint off, and made the tripod look older than it is. I finished it off with some furniture old which brings out the grain in the wood and restores the paint some what.  The paint doesn't look so oxidized, and it stops that chalky paint leaving marks when you touch it.

Step 3: Visualize the Lamp

With many of my projects I like to put them together quickly and roughly to get a feel for what it will look like, this is what I did here, and though I'm not entirely happy with the shape of the speaker, I didn't find anything better, and I can always change it if something better comes along.
So I pulled the telescope off the tripod and attached the speaker to the tripod with a bolt that came with it.

Step 4: Gut the Speaker

This is pretty easy just go nuts with a screw driver, and pull it apart. There is a magnet in there that I'm thinking of using for another project, but the only 3 bits you will need are the horn, the back cover and the bakerlite disc that is in the centre.  Oh and the 3 screws.

Step 5: Fit the Horn to the Tripod

In this step I cut part of the telescope off drilled it out  and bolted it to the frame on the horn speaker. This allows the lamp to turn without the bolt coming lose. 

Step 6: Mounting the Lamp Holder

When looking at how to mount the lamp holder I noticed that the baker light disc could bit fitted back to front.
This made it easy to mount the light fitting on to the bakerlite disc just drill one hole and screw it on

Step 7: Wiring

WARNING.
I'm fortunate enough to live in a location where we are still allowed to do our own electrical work, In some parts of the world it is illegal to do this step unless you are a qualified electrician, and in other places you must have your work checked over by an electrician before you plug it in. This must be because electricity is more dangerous in some parts of the world than others  ;- )  ha ha  just kidding.
In any case do not attempt to wire it yourself unless you know exactly what you are doing and are aware of the dangers involved with mains power electricity.

I had to buy 3 items for this project, the light bulb, the light fitting and the switch. total cost was around $20. I would of rather a black light switch but I could only find white.

First thing I needed was a grommet or cable strain relief I thought the cable on the computer power supply might have a good grommet but alas it was too big. Then I spotted the of pressure cleaner hose  so I cut the hose to get the grommet like thing off it and it fitted. A couple of cable ties and now the cord cant be pulled out or damaged if some one yanks on it.
The wires are then threaded through everything and insulation striped back so it can be fitted to the light socket.

Step 8: Assembling the Lamp

The lamp just needs the horn, baker light disc and the back cover to be screwed together, the bulb to be fitted and the it can go on a test run.

Step 9: The Switch

Ive added a switch to the cord. The same warnings apply please unplug before you start cutting the cord etc etc.
These switches are easy to attach just cut the cord in a spot where it will be most useful, strip the wires back and screw the wires into the appropriate places. The cover is screwed back on and this provides the cable relief so the cord cant be easily pulled out of the switch.
All that is left to do its give it a couple more coats of oil and try it out.