Modern Space-Saving Desk Lamp (laser Cut)

Managing your desk space can be a difficult task especially if you use it for project work, modelling etc, leaving little space for a desk lamp, and most lamps on the market are either unstylish or too expensive. In this instructible, I'll show you how to make an inexpensive laser cut modern desk lamp that takes up very little desk space.

Here is a brief overview of its features:

• The lamp can be placed at the corner of the a desk with items directly underneath due to leg design
• Light is mounted on an arm that can be rotated and elevated to achieve various lighting angles.
• The light itself consists of 5mm LEDs powered from a 5v USB plug, so you can power it from a laptop, wall power supply or even a portable charger if you intend to use it in different places.
• Can be almost completely of laser cut out of plywood and polypropylene, other parts can be bought at a low cost
• Mostly held together with interlocking tabs (gluing isn't necessary but helps improve strength)

The appearance takes a modern style made up of triangles, possibly a little abstract but could be a great addition in the home for functional and decorative purposes.

If you would like to make this lamp yourself, I have included .dxf files for the laser cut parts.

Supplies

The lamp is made primarily using a laser cutter but a scroll saw could be used instead if you don't have one. You will also need soldering skills for the electronics. The rest of the assembly can be done with basic equipment.

You will need the following supplies to make the lamp:

Tools

• Laser cutter
• Paint brush
• Sand paper
• Drill with 5mm bit
• Hacksaw
• File
• Soldering equipment
• Wire stripper
• Adjustable spanner for tightening bolts

Materials

• 3mm laser plywood- I used two 600mm x 300mm sheets
• 1mm frosted polypropylene sheet- at least 300mm x 200mm size
• 5mm white LEDs (Ideally wide angle) x4
• M6 threaded bar- just under 250mm needed
• 4mm wooden dowel- 55mm length
• Low profile M6 nuts- I used square roofing nuts
• Various resistors
• USB wire (at least 400mm length)
• Small length of solid core wire
• Many brass split pins

Step 1: Design Process

My first step in designing the lamp was to find a suitable appearance. For inspiration, I searched the web for existing design movements and eventually settled with using simple colours and geometric shapes, a style that can look effective without being too obtrusive. I used Fusion 360 to mock up concept ideas of the lamp because it is easy to apply different colours and visualise the appearance. I refined the design over several stages; AutoCAD was used to make accurate 2D designs for the laser cut parts, which I imported to fusion 360, extruded and assembled to make sure everything fits together.

The finalised design uses wide legs set at a 90 degree angle to help it fit to the corner of a desk. The light itself is integrated into an arm that can be rotated/elevated to various angles using a pulley mechanism. A distinctive feature is the shade system resembling a series of polypropylene triangles running down the arm, whilst these serve no real function I thought it helps the front to blend into the swivel mechanism at the back and sharpen the appearance.

Step 2: Laser Cutting

I was able to laser cut most of the 3mm plywood parts from a single 300mm x 600mm sheet, with ones that didn't fit on a small piece of offcut. Rearranging the parts in the laser cutter software may be necessary if your laser cutter is a different size. 60w power at 20mm/s worked fine for cutting the plywood but I would recommend carrying out tests on an offcut to find the optimum speed and power for your laser cutter. The polypropylene parts require a 200mm x 300mm area of material and the laser power can be a lot lower than what was used for cutting the plywood due to the low thickness.

I have assigned a name to each part in green text on the images (sorry the resolution is low but it should be readable), I will be referring to these names as well as using images to avoid confusion in later steps.

Step 3: Preparing Laser Cut Parts

You will notice the laser cutting creates brown marks on the edges of polypropylene parts, this can be mostly removed by running the parts under water and rubbing them.

I used a brush to apply dark wood stain to a number of parts (leg reinforcements, leg braces, centre bracket, rotating joint holders, arm sides, arm braces and shade holder). This aims to improve visual contrast while retaining the grain appearance of the wood which would be lost if paint was used. I applied two coats of wood stain because the first one looked patchy and not dark enough.

Step 4: Making the Light

We will next take the light holder that was laser cut earlier (the plywood part with 4 holes) and set up the LEDs inside each hole.

I purposefully designed the holes in the light holder too small and drilled them to 5mm size because laser cutter accuracy varies and cannot guarantee an accurate fit. Once each hole has been drilled out with a 5mm drill the LEDs should fit in them perfectly.

Now the LEDs can be installed by inserting them into each of the holes, ensuring the polarity is in the same direction as this will make wiring a lot easier (flat side is negative). The LEDs I used were rated at 3.2v so they need to be wired in parallel to receive enough voltage to work from the 5v USB power. I wired them together by soldering a length of wire across each side of the LED wires.

But before it can be tested, a resistor needs to be wired in series with the LEDs to prevent over voltage, as shown on the diagram.

The amount of resistance the LEDs need can be calculated using ohms law. In my case, the voltage across the LEDs needs to be around 3.2v and the input voltage is 5v, so the voltage across the resistor has to be 5 - 3.2 = 1.8v (Since voltage is shared across components in series). Given the current needed for each LED is around 10mA and there are four of them in parallel, there will be 40mA of current going through the resistor, therefore the resistance should be 1.8v / 0.04A = 45 ohms.

Finally, the LED assembly is soldered in series with the resistor. If not already, the USB cable will need to be stripped to gain access to the power wires. The side of this circuit with the flat side of the LEDs is wired to the negative (black) wire of the USB cable and the other to the positive (red) wire (see wiring diagram).

Now if you plug the USB to a power source, the LEDs should turn on.

Step 5: Base Assembly

The base for the lamp is assembled from the plywood parts laser cut earlier. The parts should hold together on their own but wood glue can be applied to the joints for extra strength. The plywood I used actually turned out to be slightly thicker than 3mm so some light sanding was needed to get the interlocking tabs to fit.

The parts are assembled in same order as the images. If unsure about which parts are used, see step 2 to find the parts with each name.

1. Insert the laser cut "Pins" into each of the holes in a leg such that half sticks out of one side
2. Press a "Leg reinforcement" onto these pins
3. Press "Leg bracket 1" onto the tabs on the leg, making sure it is the same way round as in the image
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for the opposite leg with "Leg bracket 2" on the end of the leg
5. Hold the leg brackets together and press "Bottom plate" onto the lower tabs
6. Insert "Back plate" into the bottom plate
7. Press "Top plate" onto the exposed tabs on top of the assembly so far
8. Put "Leg brace" around the backs of the legs

Step 6: Preparing Threaded Bars

M6 threaded bar needs to be cut into three lengths with a hacksaw, one 65mm, one 70mm and one 90mm long. It is important to file the ends after cutting to remove burrs and allow nuts to be screwed on easily. These will be used for the next step.

Step 7: Arm Assembly

With the threaded bars prepared, the arm is ready to be assembled. This is the part that holds the LED assembly, incorporating a height adjustment mechanism.

As with before, assembly is in image order and the name of each laser cut part can be found in step 2.

1. Push "Rotating joint holder" parts onto top and bottom of "Centre bracket"
2. The two "Arm pivots" fit into either side of the centre bracket
3. Push "Lock pin" outwards through one of the arm pivots
4. Insert the 65mm long M6 threaded bar through the bottom hole in the arm pivots. Place "Arm side" onto one side of the bar with the two "Arm braces" fitting into the gaps shown in the image. The "Light holder" assembly made earlier fits into a circular hole at the end of the arm side with the LEDs facing downwards.
5. Place the second arm side onto the other side of the assembly and screw bolts on either side of the threaded bar. I would strongly recommend applying two bolts to either side and tightening them together, thereby preventing it coming undone.
6. Partially Insert the 70mm long threaded bar into the top holes of the arm pivots and put a 55mm long 4mm dowel through the round holes in the arm sides. On the inside of the arm pivots, screw on two bolts with a small gap in between; clamp a length of string between these bolts by tightening them together and the other side of the string is tied to the 4mm dowel. On the end of the other side of the threaded bar, screw on a bolt, followed by "Locking ratchet", the two "Knob" parts and finally a bolt to clamp these parts together (see images for positioning).
7. Align the vertical holes at the back of the arm assembly with the hole in the base, then insert the 90mm threaded bar through to the other side. Screw double bolts onto either side to prevent coming undone.
8. Route the USB wire from the LEDs down the arm, through the base and out of the round hole on the back plate.

The mechanism made in part 6 acts as a pulley; when the knob is pulled outwards and turned, the string holding up the arm wraps around the threaded bar, lifting the arm to achieve the desired lighting angle. When the knob is pushed back in, the square "Locking ratchet" makes contact with the "Lock pin", holding the arm in the correct position and preventing it from falling down.

The horizontal rotation is a simple pivot since it doesn't have to act against the weight of the arm.

Step 8: Making the Shade

The shade is made from the polypropylene parts laser cut earlier. First, the "Shade holder" plywood part is fitted into the gaps at the end of the arm; this will be used to hold some of the polypropylene shade parts.

Here you should decide which side of the polypropylene you would like to see, i.e. if one side has more brown marks from laser cutting it would look better on the inner side of the shade where it is seen less.

I first mounted the "Light diffuser" (A polypropylene section in front of the LEDs to scatter the light and achieve more even coverage). It is held to the front of the arm by inserting split pins between gaps in the "Arm sides" and edges of the light diffuser, then separated the pins to lock it in place.

To assemble the front of the shade, the two "Shade inserts" attach to "Shade front" via interlocking gaps such that it looks like the fourth image. This assembly is held to the arm by inserting paper split pins through aligning gaps in the shade holder and shade front. Place two shade sections on top of these protruding pins, bend the pins outwards to lock the polypropylene parts in position and you have completed the front of the shade.

The remaining 6 "Shade sections" join to gaps down the top of the arm using split pins. By bending the rear shade sections upwards (final image), they won't interfere with the pulley mechanism and also give the lamp a cleaner look.

Step 9: Finished Lamp

You now have a useful USB powered lamp that fits to the corner of your desk without compromising the space, which can also serve as a modern decorative item that enhances the look and feel of your home.

Whilst I can see the the look of the lamp I made going well in many locations, there is also potential to try different wood stains if you want it to convey a certain style. Also, I imagine the polypropylene triangles down the arm would make an amazing lightshow if you run RGB strip down the inside (maybe a good visual asset for a gaming setup?). Both of these I haven't tried yet, but if you make your own these are certainly things to consider.

I hope you liked this project, if you have any questions or problems, feel free to leave a comment below.