THE ULTIMATE LIGHT BULB WALL HOOK

Intro: THE ULTIMATE LIGHT BULB WALL HOOK

A few months ago while looking through some of the awesome Instructables, I came across the Concrete Light Bulb Wall Hook by Whamodyne. Ever since reading that Instructable, I've been literally... "hooked".

I decided to make my own version by improving upon the idea by making it as realistic as possible.

I've taken my old unused lightbulbs and turned them into something very unique, very useful, and very different than what Edison intended.

I think this makes a nice addition to the BEFORE & AFTER CONTEST.

I started a few months back with just an idea, not sure whether it would work out or not.

I do have this to say: this is the most difficult Instructable to date. I had almost given up a few times trying to figure it out - but persevered and finally reached my goal.

Hope you enjoy this Instructable!

STEP 1: MATERIALS + TOOLS

Ok, the tools and materials you will use are:

1) Dremel tool

2) Diamond bits

3) Mixing cups

4) Painters tape

5) Plumbers torch (MAP gas)

6) Leather gloves

7) Safety glasses

8) 5/16" x 3" anchors bolts + nuts

9) Light bulbs

10) Epoxy resin

11) Respirator

12) Wet/dry sandpaper (800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 3000 grits) OPTIONAL

13) Liquid car wax

14) Disposable nitrile rubber gloves

STEP 2: Let's Get Started...

#1 priority is safety at all times working with glass! Light bulb glass really wants to fly....BE CAREFUL!!

ALWAYS HAVE YOUR GLASSES ON AND WEAR YOUR LEATHER GLOVES!

Take your torch and slowly introduce the metal end of the light bulb into the orange part of the flame and rotate it.

(If you're too aggressive you will hear a "pop". This occasionally happens. The glass and metal cap break off together at the seam, making the bulb useless. Keep the metal cap if not wrecked and throw the other parts away. Try again with less flame).

When using your torch on the metal cap - you don't have to totally melt it, just soften it up. It's really soft pot metal and will soften very quickly.

Once it's soft, quickly grab your knife and put the tip into the seam of the metal cap - then cut it off. It will take a swipe or two from the knife.

After the metal cap is off, the glue underneath is still somewhat soft. You can now carefully cut or scrape it off with your knife.

STEP 3: DREMEL TIME!

Make sure your have your safety glasses on!

Also - wear a dust mask or respirator.

Take your Dremel tool and attach a diamond coated cut off wheel.

Start cutting around the rim of the bulb. You want the top part to come off clean including the filament. (Put tape around the rim edge for extra support because the fragile glass will want to crack from the vibrations of the Dremel).

Once you cut through the top - carefully remove the filament from the bulb and set it aside for later.

STEP 4: Clean Out the Bulb....

FIrst, find the capacity of your bulb by pouring water into it.

It's ~125 - 150ml. This is the amount of epoxy mix you will use.

Now that the empty bulb is ready to go - we first need to clean it out thoroughly.

I first clean it out with hot water, shaking it back and forth - then empty into the sink.

Now, use a hair dryer on the inside of the bulb to dry the water.

Once dry - I like to use Wax and Grease Remover to get rid of the remaining grime that the water never removed. (remember: oil and water doesn't mix) Pour it in the bulb, shake it up and then empty contents back into container.

Dry again with the hair dryer.

Now it is thoroughly clean and ready for the liquid wax. This is what prevents the epoxy from sticking to the glass.

Pour the Meguiare's wax into the bulb and shake it up good, holding your thumb over the top. Empty the wax back into the bottle it came from.

Now use the hair dryer again, and dry the wax inside the bulb. You will see there is a slight cloudiness once it dries. That's ok - it's a waxy film so your epoxy won't stick to the bulb!

Now it's tape time :~)

STEP 5: Tape Up Your Bulb, Bub

Now you will tape up your bulb. The reason for this is because when the epoxy resin and hardener mix - it starts what is called and exothermic reaction = gives off heat. A lot of heat! This heat will want to cause the mix to expand and push outward on the glass. This will crack the glass and/or displace the glass somewhat and will make the epoxy dry uneven. This can be prevented with the tape.

You can go without the tape - but you will be doing a lot of hand sanding to smooth down the uneven surfaces.

In the above pics - you can see me dry fitting the filament into the bulb. Do so carefully to not bend the arms of the filament. Try it a few times to get the hang of it because you don't want any unsuspecting issues once you've poured the epoxy.

EPOXY TIME

Find a container big enough to hold your mixing cup. I used an old margarine container.

Fill it with hot water.

Put your rubber gloves on and your respirator too. Make sure you work in a well ventilated area like the garage.

Measure out your epoxy in a mixing cup and your hardener in another mixing cup. (follow the instructions from your epoxy manufacturer).

Place the mixing cup holding the epoxy, into the hot water container.

(this reduces the viscosity of the epoxy so well - it'll pour almost like water! This makes it very easy to work with).

Remove the epoxy from the hot water bath and pour the hardener into the epoxy cup.

Stir well but not too agressive. You don't want a lot of air bubbles.

After a minute or so of stirring and when the mix appears to be clear - pour the epoxy mixture into the empty light bulb. Leave a little bit of room at the top.

Wait 10 minutes for bubbles to rise, then use your torch to quickly pass over the bubbles to pop them.

Now take your filament, and carefully place it into the light bulb. When inserting the filament it will displace some of the epoxy - let it flow down the sides - it's ok.

Now you're done. Wait a few days then you can start removing all the tape from your bulb.

STEP 6: Glass Removal

SAFETY FIRST! Wear your glasses and your leather gloves!

Ok, this is the fun part where you get to see your final product.

Stand or sit over a garbage can or bucket and carefully remove the glass.

Be very careful - this glass is very thin and wants to fly!

If you've waited long enough for the epoxy to set - the glass will easily come off there with no problems.

STEP 7: Prep Your Cap and Bulb

SAFETY FIRST!

Ok, you now want to remove enough of the glass around the top rim of the bulb so your cap sits on there properly.

Take some of the different diamond bits and use them to clean up the inside of the cap.

Place your cap onto the bulb so it is centered over the hole.

I used a dab of Krazy glue to temporarily hold it.

Place a nut onto your anchor bolt and place into the hole. Adjust accordingly.

Once you're happy everything lines up - mark around the rim of the cap with a marker.

Now use a small dab of glue to hold the cap on.

STEP 8: A Little Fun Before the End

I held a small LED in the bottom of the bulb to show the cool effects of this project.

STEP 9: Now Install Your Anchor Bolt

Now we will install our anchor bolt and do the final pour of epoxy.

First, tape up your bulb to protect it from the epoxy.

Mix up a small amount of epoxy as per the instructions in the earlier steps.

Pour a small amount into the recessed opening of the filament - then place in your bolt.

Make sure everything is straight and square.

Let it stand for a few days.

STEP 10: Final Finishing: Optional

There was some residual epoxy that I had to remove. Also, the black marker around the bottom of the cap seemed to get covered by the epoxy and was hard to remove. I initially thought I was just going to wipe it with acetone and it would be gone. Nope, it got covered a bit so I had to remove the epoxy first with acetone, the clean everything up with the razor. So, maybe try and find another method to mark the cap location.

Start at 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper and work your way up:

800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, then 3000 grit - then final polish.

YOUR DONE!

STEP 11: The Ultimate Light Bulb Wall Hook

I hope you enjoyed this Instructable and ask that you vote for me in the BEFORE & AFTER CONTEST

And that's it. Just remember...I didn't invent the light bulb, but I did make it cooler!

Craig Arges

Canada

Comments

[Framemaker]

Why do you charge for downloading a pdf

[Murry1900]

I like it. Well done.

[brreed]

Loved it! Very cool.

[mindbender66]

Use salt with enough water to make it slushie for a much better cleaner then just rinse when done. Might be funny to keep original appearance without the bolt and short toss it to unsuspecting people who will jump trying to save a bulb from breaking

[CraigRJess]

I did use the salt rinse at first, but forgot to take pics.

I thought going a step further with the degreaser would eliminate a micro bubble or two which seem to show up btw the resin and the glass. I figured the glass isn't 100% clean inside.

Ya short tossing it would be funny to do to people, but if they got hands of brick and it bounces off...I could be out a nice bulb from it crashing down.

[jbrauer]

That is a seriously awesome idea! I really like West Systems epoxy, having used it to make boats, furniture, and to attach knife scales. But for something like this a clear casting resin might save a little on the material cost. And I built a vacuum chamber for degassing silicone and poly, one of those would work for drawing the small air bubbles out of the resin. I might have to make one of these. I cast some LEDs into clear resin about 20 years ago, but this looks way better.

[CraigRJess]

Thank you.

Have any brand in mind for the clear casting resin? Vacuum chamber, like vacuum bagging for carbon fiber parts? We'll have to chat later.

[jbrauer]

It has been so long since I used clear casting resin, I don't know what is out there. I've got other dual component materials from smooth-on, they are good to work with and might have something that would work.

A vac chamber is is sort of like vacuum bagging, but a rigid container and an electric vacuum pump. I got a good vacuum pump from Harbor Freight. You want a two-stage, not the venturi. Your resin will set up before that venturi can suck all the air out. I've tried venturi pumps, and the hand pumps that come with a vacuum bag, and neither works all that well.

For the chamber, I welded ends on a pipe 12", but some people use paint pots or pressure cookers. Or if you search for vacuum chamber kit, you can get the pump and chamber all in one. These chambers are used to extract the solvent from solvent soaked reefer to make hash, so you will see some marketed to that application (they will work for degassing). I use mine for degassing silicone molds, degassing latex, and polyurethane.

[CraigRJess]

Ok, so after the help from everyone here and after doing some more research on the net - I see how simple and cheap it really is to degass.

Now, definitely degass B4 pouring into the bulb. But would I need to do that after pouring into the bulb as well? If so, then I would have to attach a funnel of some kind to the bulb for the epoxy to expand out of the bulb while degassing BUT this will also allow it to drop back in.

[quas1mod]

By coincidence, I happened across this video today. It's a BJB advertisement of their commercial vacuum cart, but it is also a good demonstration of how and why to use a vacuum chamber to "de-gas" mixed polyurethanes, silicones and epoxy products prior to pouring (you can skip to about 1:15 or so to see the action):

[CraigRJess]

Thanks Quas1Mod - I'm gonna have to investigate this more.

So, you think degas the epoxy first then pour into bulb or after it is in the bulb?

[quas1mod]

Degassing before the pour makes sense to me, but I don't have any idea what I'm talking about. I just happened to watch that video 5 minutes before I found this thread :D

One thing I did learn from BJB's "Droid Farmer" video, is that if you call the number on their website, they are happy to discuss weird projects and give expert advice.

[lr10cent]

At a job I had long ago, we used to take bubbles out of mixed polyurethane with a big bell jar. If I applied the vacuum too fast, it would froth up several inches and spill over the top of the container. We mixed by hand at first, but for some reason the urethane was FAR more critical than epoxy is. We went to a pneumatic gun that pushed the two components through a splitter nozzle. A large version of the mixing nozzle you sometimes see with epoxy at the hardware store.

So yes, degassing before the pour may be a good idea.

[jbrauer]

I made some pretty big messes until I learned to just fill my container about halfway full. I was degassing some MoldMax silicone and it foamed up like warm beer from a nearly empty keg.

[lr10cent]

Speaking of warm beer, I once mixed up some Gorilla Glue with a drop of water to make foam. There was already some amber colored epoxy in the bottom of the container. Overnight, the leftover GG continued to foam up. The result was a fairly convincing miniature beer that was impossible to drink.

The foam is much like the usual polyurethane foam that you get from one of those two part foam kits.

[CraigRJess]

Good to know - will have to give it a try :~)

[lr10cent]

Come to think of it, you could have a line of the light bulb coat hooks, but make one out of soft polyurethane. The last person might have a really hard time hanging their coat!

[CraigRJess]

LOL, that would be funny to watch the drunks at a party.

[CraigRJess]

I will have to investigate a bit more. Thanks for the help :~)

[Jobar007]

Epoxy, while strong, isn't all that UV resistant. Instead of polishing it through subsequent sandings, you could sand it down to 200 grit and then coat it in varnish. You could dip coat it for the first several layers and then brush (or spray) the last coat to get a flawless finish.

Alternatively, you could use polyester resin or a UV resistant clear casting resin.

Neat idea and great execution.