Introduction: Swivel Wall-Mounted LEDs

By Just Can't Stop Thinking
About: Just an ordinary person who loves #thinking and #tinkering

Having several caster wheels around brings the idea of making a torch light that can beam anywhere around the room. This is the same caster wheel I used on my Swivel Keyboard. I have plenty of these because I only change the wheels of the old one, then I keep the swivel legs :D

Why the "torch" comes up in my mind? Because I am lack of light from the right side while working on my desk. I always think of making a desk lamp (well, I have a commercial one around though) but it would then populate my crowded desk >.<

This swivel LED is wall mounted. That makes it the winner and be built right away. I have caster's legs and old unused (but working) headlight. One 1.5" - 10 hex cap screw, and another two to four screws to mount it on the wall. That's all we need. Tools needed in this project are power drill (drill and screwdriver), a vise and a file. That's all. For the hex cap screw I only fasten it with hand because I need the adjustable the beam position.

At first I was intended to make a holder to any small flashlight until I found three headlights in a box and one of them is working :)

Step 1: Prepare the Light

Simply remove one screw at the headlight hinge.

Step 2: Prepare the Caster's Legs

The legs are too wide for the headlight, then I pressed it with a vise. This is a heavy duty caster wheel, so it has a very hard legs. It is made of 2 mm metal plate. You can bend it with light hammer hits, but it is hard to balance the left and right bends while using a vise will give equal forces at both sides.

Step 3: Drill a Hole

Drill to enlarge the hole in the headlight hinge.

Step 4: File the Legs

The hinge is too close to the headlight body so the thick legs will limit its movement. Filing the legs will give more angles for the headlight to move.

Step 5: The Dowel

Put the dowel in and we are done. I used 1.5" - 10 hex cap screw as the dowel.

Step 6: Mount It

Mount it on the side wall, a little bit above your head is a good position to beam anywhere in the room and the on/off button is also reachable.

Step 7: Let There Be Light

Now I get extra light while working on my desk. This is very helpful while working on my desk and also useful as emergency light when there is a blackout. The most important thing to me is : it populates the wall and not my desk ^^

You might find that your headlight will not balance at some angles due to asymmetrical caster's legs, then you need some neodymium magnet to help holding the legs at desired position.

Step 8: Add Some Fun

Who do you call when you need help? Batman? Wait a minute ... Minion? Yeah.. why not? Batman takes care of the bad guys, while Minion can help you do housework : cooking, sweeping, dry cleaning, etc. :D

Have some fun with some cut out cardboard. If you really want to project the shape on the wall, you need a brighter light and also do some test or calculation for the distances between the led to the cardboard and the cardboard to the wall, or maybe invert the cut out cardboard. I think I should build one more for my kids as a night lamp with lower luminosity of course ;)

Maker Olympics Contest 2016

Participated in the
Maker Olympics Contest 2016