Light Bulb Lamp

Intro: Light Bulb Lamp

After seeing this forum post I was dumb-founded that, Brooklyn Industrial Designer Sergio Silva, was selling these pairs of Light Bulb Lamps for $650!! So, with my creative senses tingling, I went scavenging around the house for what would become a much cheaper rendition of Sergio Silva's own, Oyule Lamp Set.

STEP 1: Supplies

So, you want to beat the system and not pay $650 for a set of Light Bulb Lamps? Sounds good, you'll need:

• a clean light bulb
• a shoe lace (cotton)
• a metal bottle cap
• a rather large washer/spacer
• two little magnets

Tools:

• drill/punch
• drill bit a little smaller than your shoe lace
• tape
• lamp oil
• preferably sand, its more abrasive...
• water

STEP 2: Disassembling/Cleaning the Light Bulb

First, take your drill/punch and tap at the bottom of the light bulb, until you break the black glass.
Then tap on the inner tube inside the bulb with the wire in it, then extract the insides of the beast.
Now, go grab your granular substance (sand works best) and put some into the bulb, now add water and swirl the mixture, while your swirling you'll notice that the inner white coating will flake off.
Once all the white coating has detached itself from the inside of the bulb, rinse the bulb thoroughly and set it aside.

STEP 3: The Cap

After you have cleaned the innards of the bulb and washed the inside, grab your bottle cap and shoe lace. Locate the center of the cap and drill your hole, start with a small hole and work your way up to just under shoe-lace-diameter. Before you cut your shoe lace, tape the middle with a little bit of tape, so when you do cut (in the middle of the tap band), you wont have a frayed mess. Thread your taped end into the fresh wound in your bottle cap and pull the lace through. Screw the cap (with the lace threaded) onto the top of light bulb and do a measure test, you want a little slack at the bottom, but not much. Take off the cap and find where your magnets have run off too.

STEP 4: Making the Base

With your washer/spacer in hand, and magnets stuck to some valuable electronic devise, put a small length of tape on the one side. Flip it over and center one of your little magnets on the tape. Cut another length of tape and stick it on the washer/spacer, trapping the menacing little beast in between.

STEP 5: Finishing

Go ahead and find your lamp oil. Before pouring the oil, put the other magnet into the bulb, and set on the base. Carefully pour about 2-3 teaspoons of lamp oil into the bulb. Find your cap, complete with shoe lace wick, and screw the cap on to the light bulb. You may need to roll the liquid around a bit to get the wick a little damp. There should only be no more than 1/2 of an inch of wick poking out the top of the cap. Grab your lighter, and light it up!!


(save your breath, you need to smother the flame in order to extinguish the flame)

-bumpus

Comments

[GeorgeCoull1]

Fantastic idea had a bash myself and it was quite easy - thank you

[travis.taylor.3720]

What kind of oil did you use? Some sort of scented Lamp Oil?

[Jantho]

Don't it just figure? The ONE step in the whole process that NEEDS pictures to explain what's going on because it's the most important PART of the process and there's not one to be found anywhere! I NEED to see what the heck it is you're explaining here. I don't think you can get the guts out of a light bulb without breaking the bulb! SHOW us how you DID it!!

[Electrospark]

I'm working on a very well explained instructable on how to open a light bulb without breaking it, I still have a few things to work on but I'll be able to post it in a couples of days I hope! :-)

[Jantho]

Thank you.

[Electrospark]

Finally done making the instructable on how to open a light bulb without breaking it!

Here's the link to it.

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-open-a-light-bulb-without-breaking-it/

Enjoy! :)

[gez.sullivan]

where did you put the magnets it only mentions them at the end "take off the cap and find where your magnets ran off too" ???????

[gisa.stornant]

I love working with recycles, and I've been cleaning,light bulbs since the late 70's.

[DC4Projects]

Well that is nice i think ima buy one n make a video to youtube on how to make one!

[Jussi Kontio]

Hi, and thanks for the good tips on opening the bulb. I first went on drilling the light bulb and spoiled a good drill head since the hole in the black glass was so small.
I had few good realizations on how to use the beautiful porceline parts of fuse boxes since they have exactly the same screw thread as the helix of light bulb, and wrote a blog post about it at http://themostwiththeleast.blogspot.com/

Im not sure is this global phenomena, but would like to know if someone can check it out!

[kaleighacurtis]

That one is so cool! How did you do it?

[Jussi Kontio]

I made a blog post about making it at http://themostwiththeleast.blogspot.com/
It does not have every single detail, but enough information to make one. :)

[poofrabbit]

This is so cool! Well done!

[martyh]

Beautiful instructable, I had so much fun making it. Thankyou. I used a hinged cap from one of my housemates fancy beers so you can refill the bulb stylishly. So stoked how well it fitted. I made this as a present for a friend who was trying to live without electricity for a week, good luck buddy.

[martyh]

Forgot to add image

[kaleighacurtis]

Wow. that is amazing.

[Kaleoscope]

martyh, Seriously make an instructable tellin' us how you did yours!!! I's so cool... Do I see a wine cork?

[light.spark.flame.]

This looks epic. Any chance you could explain how you attacked the hinged cap to the bulb. I'd love to make this as a Christmas present for my dad.

[bumpus]

That looks excellent! :D

[stringstretcher]

I made mine a while back. I have a couple more on the workbench under construction. I found a wick holder at the hobby shop (shown here) but had to turn it down a little bit to get it to work. I love these!