Clamp on 12 V Anglepoise Lamp for Wood Lathe Made for Recycled Stuff.

This is a project I have been meaning to do since I got my wood lathe, today I found the groove to do this project.

The design changed about 3 times before the end of the project as i engineered myself into and out of problems.

I fished the chrome anglepoise lamp out of a skip at the recycling depot about a year ago the Edison bulb holder and switch was burned out but other than that there was not a mark on it, it was just to beautiful to get sent to the scrappers.

This was one of those just see what I have lying around that can be used to do a proper job moments so the initial plan changed as it evolved so i will not give any measurements as i didn't once lift a tape measure other than to move it out the way.

Now that my workshop is getting established I had a good selection of nuts bolts and materials to work with.

I decided to go 12 as I intend to have all my lighting done with 12v powered from my wind turbine project.

Thanks for looking, hope you like the idea. comments welcome.

The materials used :

Angle Iron.

M12 x 100 cup square bolt

Wood for the handle. I had some seasoned white thorn for this.

Plastic chopping board.

3mm x 30mm bolts and nuts

Crimp on conectors

Halogen bulb holder

Tools used:

Metal chop saw

Mapp Gas torch for brazing

Drill press

I had some scavenged angle iron in my store shed that i got one lucky day at the recycle depot.  I always check the metal skip to see it there is anything decent for use in projects. That lucky day i got a fold away bed frame that had about 20 feet of this stuff plus metal legs with casters plus it was the same day I spotted the anglepoise lamp.

The guys in my local depot are OK with my occasional skip hoking, I always ask if I can take the stuff and tell them what I'm going to use the stuff for.

I marked out the angle iron for this and another couple of jobs. The chop saw lives in the an ancient workshop that dates from the early 1930's it was originally driven by a large engine that powered a belt and pulley system that powered the machines. I fear that a picture of this workshop would anger the tidiness trolls (like the one who commented on my last post :)  as it has a earth floor an was probably never cleaned in its history, It would be a health and safety inspectors nightmare.  If anyone is interested I can post a few pics of some of the machines that are in it as they may be interesting to some people.

I used a flap disk mounted on the wood lathe to remove the burrs and sharp edges from the pieces.

I decided that couldn't be arsed with the hassle of using the stick welder to do this project, my skills are very lapsed and I'm a bit ropey at welding light stuff.

I have a Mapp gas torch and decide to try and braze the clamp together for a couple of reasons, I wanted to see if it the angle was light enough to be brazed by my torch and secondly I do enjoy joining metal together with fire and its a good excuse to let the inner pyro out in a controlled manner.

I used pre fluxed brazing rods for this job.

Its very important to have the work piece propped up very well so it will not move once you start heating things, its most annoying and hazardous if you have to move anything and it is glowing almost white hot.

For brazing its best if the joints are held in a position where the brass can run into the joint well and can require allot of turning on some jobs. 


Once the frame was brazed together i drilled a hole in the angle to mount the lamp swivel.  The swivel was a fine m12 thread and i had only course thread nuts in stock, I was able to retread the swivel to M12.

For the handle i used some white thorn that grew in my back garden. its a nice wood to work with.

Once the handle was parted from the blank I tidied it up on the sander and the drilled a 12mm hole through it to attach the Cup square bolt.

A few months ago I checked through the wood pile and turned some of the promising pieces of green timber into blanks and stored them in a shed where they could season up.  I did this to have a stock of pieces.

I turned the branches down until they where free of all bark and there was no sign of cracks in the wood. I stored the blanks in a shed inside a cardboard box with good ventilation but covered enough not to be exposed to to much heat if the shed got to warm.

I left the blanks for a few months and they have nearly all dried out without cracking.

The handle turned out so nice I decided I had better make the rest of the job look pretty too.

I used a bolt as a temp handle so i could turn the clamp easy during spraying.  I used enamel rattle can spray paint, I did 2 coats using a heat gun to speed the drying time but allowed a good 5-10 mins between coats and about 15 mins after the 2nd coat before handling.

The lamp had a burnt out bulb holder and switch all in one unit.  I replace it with a bayonet type but then changed it for a 12v halogen bulb holder.

There is no pics as this was done months ago.

I made a simple contacts board from some chopping board and some 3mm nuts and bolts.

I made it 12v as i hope to run all my lighting needs from a 12v system charged by a wind turbine.

I got a faulty 12v battery charger for free from the hardware store I worked in.  There was a short in the molded jack and i simple cut the cable and added some crocodile clips. I decided that I could also use this to power the light.

I made the contacts board so there would be no chance of the croc clips touching and getting a short when its plugged in.

I'm quite chuffed with the results.

Now I will be able to see my work pieces better.

Thanks for looking, hope you like the idea.