Introduction: Lighted Sheet Music Stand
For my two nieces who are young aspiring violinists, here is an IKEA hack and their xmas gift.
If you are a musician, you know that having a good sturdy stand makes it easy to see your sheet music. Having a good light is better, especially if you play in a dimly lit room to set the mood. Those fold-up stands work well if you have a few pieces of music but you need something sturdier when you read music out of bound books.
This is my mod to a concert musician quality music stand with an added IKEA JANSJO LED lamp. It is powered from the mains so I don't have to worry about changing batteries.
If you are a musician, you know that having a good sturdy stand makes it easy to see your sheet music. Having a good light is better, especially if you play in a dimly lit room to set the mood. Those fold-up stands work well if you have a few pieces of music but you need something sturdier when you read music out of bound books.
This is my mod to a concert musician quality music stand with an added IKEA JANSJO LED lamp. It is powered from the mains so I don't have to worry about changing batteries.
Step 1: Shopping List
Music stand
They were having a sale at the music store on the same music stands they use in real orchestras, or so they say. They have heavy non-tilt bases and simple one handed lift and table tilt adjustments. The only thing I would have appreciated more was a heavier grade sheet metal on the easel part, and maybe metal instead of plastic tilt fittings...you get what you pay for...
IKEA JANSJO LED table desk lamp
The lamps come finished(IKEA is Swedish) in a few bright colors so pick one that you like.
I'm not sure what the LED lamp is rated at but it is probably a 1 or 2 watt light which is actually very bright. It runs pretty cool. The wall wart adapter electronics is in the wall plug end. It has an inline on/off switch.
Note that there are two models or versions of the desk lamp. One is in a more compact box and the other is packaged in a longer box. The difference is the way the flexible shaft mounts to the base. The one in the short box are configured with two mounting posts with screw bolts. The longer box contains the version of the lamp which the flexible shaft has threads cut into it so it is mounted in the base by securing with a nut. I picked the short box one with the two mounting posts so it would resist the torque better and not work loose when mounted.
They also have the same lamp "head" or light unit already attached to what looks like a giant spring clothespin instead of a heavy desk base. The flexible shaft is a little thinner and shorter. But it costs $30US as opposed to $10US. Why do you get less but spend more? I went for the $10 version. There is also a similar type LED lamp SUNNAN that has a solar cell for $20 but I found it a hassle to move it back into the sunlight to recharge the lamp battery. You could adapt that lamp if you needed something more portable..The other bookcase shelf lamps needed too much work to mod it to fit and adjust for a music stand.
Filler plate
I will not be using the base that comes with the lamp, There is a heavy iron core disk and the sheet metal cover that goes along with it. I will make a custom filler plate that makes up the gap of the iron disk so that the lamp can be positioned and fastened directly on the music stand. You can make this filler plate out of most anything rigid, metal, wood, plastic...
I used some tiny hardboard scraps from my TARDIS project to make the filler plate.
I had some silver spray paint laying around which I use to dress up the filler plate. The leftover Krylon gold paint from my Stargate gong would have been too gaudy, but some people like that Lexus emblem touch.
You need a drill/driver with various drill bits.
CAUTION:
Know how to properly use power tools.
Metal shards from drilling the music stand should be disposed of carefully.
The non-slip sandy finish on the music stand may have some sharp edges.
They were having a sale at the music store on the same music stands they use in real orchestras, or so they say. They have heavy non-tilt bases and simple one handed lift and table tilt adjustments. The only thing I would have appreciated more was a heavier grade sheet metal on the easel part, and maybe metal instead of plastic tilt fittings...you get what you pay for...
IKEA JANSJO LED table desk lamp
The lamps come finished(IKEA is Swedish) in a few bright colors so pick one that you like.
I'm not sure what the LED lamp is rated at but it is probably a 1 or 2 watt light which is actually very bright. It runs pretty cool. The wall wart adapter electronics is in the wall plug end. It has an inline on/off switch.
Note that there are two models or versions of the desk lamp. One is in a more compact box and the other is packaged in a longer box. The difference is the way the flexible shaft mounts to the base. The one in the short box are configured with two mounting posts with screw bolts. The longer box contains the version of the lamp which the flexible shaft has threads cut into it so it is mounted in the base by securing with a nut. I picked the short box one with the two mounting posts so it would resist the torque better and not work loose when mounted.
They also have the same lamp "head" or light unit already attached to what looks like a giant spring clothespin instead of a heavy desk base. The flexible shaft is a little thinner and shorter. But it costs $30US as opposed to $10US. Why do you get less but spend more? I went for the $10 version. There is also a similar type LED lamp SUNNAN that has a solar cell for $20 but I found it a hassle to move it back into the sunlight to recharge the lamp battery. You could adapt that lamp if you needed something more portable..The other bookcase shelf lamps needed too much work to mod it to fit and adjust for a music stand.
Filler plate
I will not be using the base that comes with the lamp, There is a heavy iron core disk and the sheet metal cover that goes along with it. I will make a custom filler plate that makes up the gap of the iron disk so that the lamp can be positioned and fastened directly on the music stand. You can make this filler plate out of most anything rigid, metal, wood, plastic...
I used some tiny hardboard scraps from my TARDIS project to make the filler plate.
I had some silver spray paint laying around which I use to dress up the filler plate. The leftover Krylon gold paint from my Stargate gong would have been too gaudy, but some people like that Lexus emblem touch.
You need a drill/driver with various drill bits.
CAUTION:
Know how to properly use power tools.
Metal shards from drilling the music stand should be disposed of carefully.
The non-slip sandy finish on the music stand may have some sharp edges.
Step 2: Filler Plate
We will not use the desk base that comes with the lamp. It would make the music stand topheavy and affect the friction tilt.
I had tested with the lamp on where the best placement of the lamp base should be. The stand would be tilted sometimes so having the lamp base attached to the back made the lamp top slowly fall back due to its own weight. It was best to attach it to the lip where the sheet music rests. The flexible shaft would be mostly vertical just as it was designed to work.
A suitable filler plate is neede to span the gap between the bearing part of the flexible shaft and the screws in the two posts.
I just glued two pieces of hardboard to get the thickness needed. You may have some other material such as metal, wood, or plastic that may work. It is in the shape of a little rectangle to provide a little bearing support for the flexible shaft and look nice to cover up the mounting shafts.
The filler plates just happen to fit on the lip of the music stand.
Find the centerline of the filler plate.
Position and center the flexible shaft to mark the locations of the posts.
Use a bit the diameter to fit the posts. Drill holes. I used a countersink bit to clean up the edges of the hole.
I had tested with the lamp on where the best placement of the lamp base should be. The stand would be tilted sometimes so having the lamp base attached to the back made the lamp top slowly fall back due to its own weight. It was best to attach it to the lip where the sheet music rests. The flexible shaft would be mostly vertical just as it was designed to work.
A suitable filler plate is neede to span the gap between the bearing part of the flexible shaft and the screws in the two posts.
I just glued two pieces of hardboard to get the thickness needed. You may have some other material such as metal, wood, or plastic that may work. It is in the shape of a little rectangle to provide a little bearing support for the flexible shaft and look nice to cover up the mounting shafts.
The filler plates just happen to fit on the lip of the music stand.
Find the centerline of the filler plate.
Position and center the flexible shaft to mark the locations of the posts.
Use a bit the diameter to fit the posts. Drill holes. I used a countersink bit to clean up the edges of the hole.
Step 3: Drill Mounting Holes
Position the filler plate on the lip of the music stand.
Use that as a guide to drill the holes for the mounting screws.
Select a drill bit that is the diameter of the mounting screws.
Drill the holes.
Use that as a guide to drill the holes for the mounting screws.
Select a drill bit that is the diameter of the mounting screws.
Drill the holes.
Step 4: Finishing Up
Sand and paint the filler plate.
Place the filler plate on the flexible shaft base with the mounting posts going through the drilled holes.
Position on the music stand lip and attach mounting screws.
Apply some electrical tape to the power cord part that might abrade on the music stand edge.
Plug it in.
Open up some sheet music.
Adjust lamp.
Play on. Enjoy!
Place the filler plate on the flexible shaft base with the mounting posts going through the drilled holes.
Position on the music stand lip and attach mounting screws.
Apply some electrical tape to the power cord part that might abrade on the music stand edge.
Plug it in.
Open up some sheet music.
Adjust lamp.
Play on. Enjoy!