Steampunk Inspired Lamp -Legs Are On

Last posting, I documented the lamp legs.

Now that the various parts have come in and the wood has been stained and clear-coated, it is time to put it all together!

The first step was to create a small triangular brace inside the box. Since the wood is just nailed together on the edges without any central support, I was worried it might collapse if pressure was applied.

So I cut out some triangles, sized them down so they wouldn't full the inside and glued them to the box-halves.

That gave me some good bracing, but when I put the box-halves together, although the braces fit together:

it didn't leave any room for the proposed light inside. I could place the light on one side of the brace but not much light would make it to the other side. It was too late to take the braces out and put in smaller ones, so....

I cut a notch out of them:

Now when the box-halves are put together I have ample room for a light:

After attaching the light to the brace, via the old-school system of hot-glue:

I was able to complete the boxes.

Then it was a matter of measuring and screwing in the legs and the bottom half is done!

LOL, It looks like it ought to be walking around on those legs.

The next step is to connect to the two wooden boxes with the connector pipes and feed the wires through the pipes. Plus do the power switch.. and I have a cool idea for it.

Steampunk inspire lamp - pipes

Woohoo, With the design complete and the wood in fabrication, the timing was perfect for the pipe order and they have begun to arrive for the Steampunk-inspired lamp!

I don't have the box ready yet but I've set up a sample leg just to see how it will look:

Big and beefy, I like it! those are 6" straight pieces and 3/4" pipe of "black iron" - it has a good look that I think will work well against the wood box.

I like the large length of the pieces for the base, it will make the lamp more stable but it may be too big for the upper connectors. I might go with 3" or 4" offsets rather than 6." We will have to see.

Steampunk Inspired Lamp - starting construction

Initial work has begun on the steampunk-inspired lamp.

I chose to use cedar fence-boards for the "box" primarily because I had a couple pieces laying around and they seemed like they would work well. 

First, the wooden sides of the upper and lower box were sanded smooth:

Then cut to size and have received their first coat of stain:

Tonight will be the first coat of clear!

Globetrotters wooden box restoration - phase 2

Primary Sanding is complete. The majority of the (probable) lead-based paint has been removed and I can move one with detailed sanding and application of the first coat of filler and primer!