Introduction: Simple Moon Lamp

By Blog
Hi All,

For my wife, what can I do if she says, "Please bring me moon from the sky?"

Well I am no astronaut, nor do I have heaps to money to hire one..

An Engineer always finds a way !!!

In this instructable I will share how to make a Paper Mache Moon and bring moon from the sky in your room

Step 1: What Do We Need

Material

  • Tissue Paper ( preferably non textured 2 ply)
  • PVA glue / Fevicol
  • Led Strip
  • LED Driver
  • Wires
  • Electrical plugs etc
  • Basket Ball Size 5
  • Paper tape
  • Cling wrap

Tools

  • Paint brush
  • Pencil
  • Black Acrylic paint
  • Water
  • Paper Cutting knife / blade
  • Soldering iron

Step 2: Dome

To prepare dome we will use a basket ball, one can use balloon as well

Cover the ball using cling wrap and use paper tape to mark a reference around the ball. We will cover tissue paper till this reference, it needs to be smaller than the diameter, to enable us to remove the dome easily later.

In a large pan mix PVA glue or fevicol with water ( 1:1 ratio) Using large paint brush spread it over the ball and place tissue papers to cover the ball till the reference paper tape mark.

In my first attempt, I did 5 layers and after paint job etc, it was opaque...

So in the second attempt I covered 3 layers only .... Let the dome dry for 12 hrs atleast

Step 3: Paint Job

Demold or remove the dome, carefully from the basket ball. If you tear it a little, then use tissue paper and patch it, set it to dry for few hours

Draw a reference carter shapes, one can use internet to get the right shapes.

Using black acrylic paint with excess water, paint the carters.. Caution : Too much of water will melt the tissue paper.

I lost some dome shape here due to water... I let it dry for few hours after paint an then coated a layer of PVA glue or fevicol ( Do not add any water ). AGain let it dry for few hours....

Step 4: Back Cover

Back cover : Measure diameter of the dome and cut a cardboard circle that slides inside the dome about 1 mm.

Note that I tried to create phases of moon but the cardboard partitions were too small. May be I will make it in next version

Electronics :

Paste few pieces of LED Strips in curved lines as shown. Connect all -ve and +ve to the LED driver circuit.

Connect the AC in to a power plug best suited to your requirement

Note : Usually, I solder all connections and cover it using heat shrink tubes, this give strength to the connections

Step 5: Final Touches

Using Glue gun stick the back cover to the dome. Hang it on the wall and enjoy moon light indoors

Improvements

  • To have moon phases, need to increase height of internally partitions
  • Use Acrylic dome to have stronger structure
  • Paint job need someone better who could paint it

Please share your comments