Take your sewing station, craft area, or workbench to the next level with some overhead lighting for under $20. This setup is lightweight, portable, and can be take apart for storage.

Supplies

Tools and Materials:

3/4" PVC Pipe (see next step for specifics)
A Hand Saw or PVC pipe cutter to cut our PVC pipe down to size
Some kind of LED light
Double-sided tape, velcro, or zip ties to mount your light
OPTIONAL: Access to a 3D printer to print our PVC clip mount to make adding the light a little easier.

Step 1: Gather Your PVC

If you have PVC on hand, re-use it! If you need to visit your local hardware store, here's a list of what you'll need. We're adding in prices for each part for reference, but our grand total was under $15.

4 3/4-in x 2-ft PVC Pipe ($1.60 each)
4 3/4 in. PVC Sch. 40 Socket Caps ($0.64 each)
2 3/4 SCH 40 TEE S X SX S ($0.61 each)
2 3/4 in. PVC Sch. 40 90° S x S Elbows ($0.48 each)

Step 2: Time to Cut!

Cut one of the 24 inch PVC pipe into four pieces, 6-inches each.

Step 3: Building the Base

To build the legs of our base, grab a T-joint and put a 6" piece of pipe on the two opposite sides.

Repeat for the other side, and add caps to the open ends.

Step 4: Assembling the Frame

With the 3 remaining 2-ft pieces of PVC and our elbow joints, we are going to build a U shape that will serve as the sides and top of our frame.

Once assembled, the side pieces will slide into the open part of the T-joints we used to build our base.

Step 5: Attaching the Light

If you do have access to a 3D printer, use our clip mount design to print 2 clips to help mount an LED work light onto our PVC. These mounts are designed to slide onto 3/4" PVC and have a flat place for you to add an adhesive like double-sided tape or velcro.

Our design was adapted from a design on Thingiverse by DikH. We used TinkerCAD to modify it.

If you don't have a 3D printer, use heavy-duty double-sided tape, velcro, or zip ties, whatever will work best with your style of light. Medal washer could be taped on if your light is magnetic.

We already had this LED strip on hand, but a similar option would be this LED Portable Task Light from Home Depot.

Step 6: DONE!

Set your newly assembled light and frame at your workstation and enjoy!

You could also expand this concept and use the frame to mount a camera or cell phone for creating your own overhead project photos or how-to videos. If you do, document your project and share it with us!