Drippy Trippy Halloween Lantern

Impulse buys are always an inspiration for me. My latest impulse buy was a pack of smart color changing light bulbs. Envious of lanterns I saw on my favorite Twitch stream I set off to construct my own version of those lanterns. The idea for the Drippy Trippy Halloween Lantern was born! Off to the 3D modelling software! Yeah, thats how I conceive a lot of my projects but a pad of paper and a pencil would be just fine too. From there I jumped over to a vector layout program to formalize my design for the CNC. In this project I took advantage of two pieces of equipment that are on the pricey side, I am lucky to have access to a CNC and a laser cutter. Let's get making!

3/4 inch thick piece of chainsaw milled / planed mountain ash (OK, any piece of wood that is roughly 3/4 inch thick with an area of 19" x 9", I was just jazzed to repurpose wood from a fallen tree in my front yard!)

1/8 inch thick hardboard - 18" x 9" piece

Lamp holder (light socket)

Extension cord

Parchment paper or tissue paper

two 1/2 inch screws

four 6mm rare earth magnets

Elastic band (trust me it helps)

Smart programmable lightbulb (or a regular bulb if you want to skip the Trippy part)

Spray adhesive (high tack)

Wood glue

Sandpaper

Channel lock pliers

Wire cutters

Screwdriver

Smooth cut fine metal file

After designing the vector cutting template for the top and bottom pieces (see the SVG attached) I secured my piece of wood into the CNC and proceeded to make the required cuts. I used a 1/8 end mill for all the cuts. All the outer shapes were cut out with tabs along with the circle in the center of the lantern top. The hexagon track on the inside was pocketed to a depth of 0.25". The lantern top cover magnet pilot holes were cut to a depth of 0.1" and the holes in the lantern top were cut all the way through to save the CNC cut from having to be flipped. After cutting, a light sanding gave the wood a finished feel. You may want to stain or seal the wood at this stage too. Notice the pilot holes for the rare earth magnets?

I wanted to have access to the bulb after the lantern's construction (my first prototype had a fixed top with no access to the bulb). To secure the lid I decided to go with rare earth magnets. From previous experience I knew to triple check the orientation of the magnets before pressing them into the pilot holes. There is nothing like discovering you put them in backwards and the lid levitates instead of locks in. Also be sure to press the magnets into the top face of the lantern top (the side opposite to hexagonal track).

In order to safeguard the wood from damage I placed an instruction manual on the opposite face of the wood to protect it as I used the channel locks to press the magnets into the drill holes. What good are instructions anyway ... wait ... keep reading!

Enter the Drippy. Heading over to the laser, I cut the drippy pane pattern from the hardboard (see SVG attached). Your laser settings may vary, I did two passes at 50% speed and 100% power to cut all the way through.

Using the cut out lantern panes I started to trace the shapes onto the parchment paper then got lazy and returned to the laser to let it cut the parchment for me. I set the laser to 100% speed and 5% power and used the Parchment Pane Pattern below. Gotta love alliterations!

Using a liberal amount of spray adhesive (by its nature the parchment doesn't like to have things stuck to it, so use lots of glue) spray the back side of the panes and carefully place the parchment down on the pane. Tissue paper or tracing paper would also work instead of parchment.

Using your trusty rusty wire snips cut the end off an extension cord and wire it to the lamp holder. Be sure to attach the wires securely to the holder and that the wires will not have any chance of touching each other.

Before I secured the lamp holder to the lantern base I used a fine file to create a notch in the bottom of the holder. The wire nested into the notch, allowing the bottom of the holder to sit flush with the lantern base. Line up the lamp holder to the center of the base with the cord angled to a point on the hexagon and attach the lamp holder with the two 1/2 inch screws.

Use the wood glue to attach the panes into the hexagonal pocket in the base making sure to have the parchment on the inside of the lantern. The cord should fit in between two of the panes once assembled. If it is too tight then notch the panes at the bottom.

To make gluing the panes to the top easier I stretched a loose rubber band around the outside of the panes to keep them from falling out. I also found flipping the lantern upside down made it a bit easier to get the panes to slot into the hexagonal pocket.

Flip the lamp back over and screw in the smart bulb. Attach the magnetic top and plug in the lamp. Bring on the Trippy!

The bulbs I used were the Govee Smart LED bulbs (link here). They have a variety of trippy programs that can add atmosphere to any room.

Enjoy your Drippy Trippy Halloween Lantern!