Cool Industrial Light Fixture Made From Old Floodlight in Less Than an Hour

A couple of week ago I decided to retire my backyard flood light, which were installed when the house was built, in 1998. The old fixture was not in terrible shape, and I felt sorry to throw it away. I remembered that I saw at the hardware store a desk lamp that looked like was made of plumbing pipes. Therefore, having some elbows and t joints left from an old project I decided to give it a try.

Old flood lights.

1/2" plumbing hardware:.

2 x 1/2" elbows.

2 x 1/2" t-joints.

2 x 2" 1/2" nipples.

2 x 4" 1/2" nipples

1 x 6" 1/2" nipple.

2 x 1/2" flange

This is very easy, it only requires removing the light bulb sockets, which are screwed into the base. They required a little bit of cleaning.

I coupled all the plumbing parts together to make sure everything matches.

1. Fish the wires thru and screw the light bulb sockets into the t-joints.

2. I soldered extension wires of matching colors, and used heat shrink to isolate the splices. I chose to fish all 4 wires in the same direction, but I could have routed them separately too.

Now I have 4 wires coming out of one t-joint. I soldered the two white wires together, and the two black wires together. Next, I used a 3 core cable salvaged from an old extension cord, and soldered the white conductor to the two white wires soldered previously together. I did the same with the black wires, then I put heat shrink over the splices. I fished the cable through the last nipple, elbow and flange, and attached them together to complete the fixture.

I used a 1" x 4" board (also scrapped from an old project). I marked the center of the 4" side and drilled a hole for the cable. Next, I fished the cable through the hole, then bolted down the flanges.

Last step is installing the fixture on the wall. Two LED light bulbs will give me way more light than my old neon lights. Connection to the power line must be done only after the breakers were switched off, and in accordance with the local regulations or electric codes.

Please feel free to let me know your thoughts or suggestions for improvements. I could have used PVC plumbing hardware, but I had some steel parts left from an older project. If purchased from the hardware store, they should be less than $20. PVC parts would probably be cheaper, but less durable. Painting the pipes would give it a more finished look, but I preferred the rugged industrial style aspect, which goes better with my garage.

Thanks.