Hinge Shade Empty Filament Spool Lamp

The idea for making a lamp from an empty filament spool was fueled by Norgaard87's One Ring Lamp on Thingiverse. I wanted to experiment with living hinges and thought a hinge would make a good shade. I felt the lamp needed to be something that would blend with contemporary décor; therefore, I wanted to transform the spool into a light that would fit that goal.

The lamp was designed using Blender and Tinkercad. The design on the top cover is called Geolace. I started the design in Blender, moved it to Inkscape, and finished it in Tinkercad. Living hinge number 1 from Instructable Patterns Collection - for Bending Rigid Materials was used for the lamp shade..

Links to Tinkercad files - https://www.tinkercad.com/things/9pkwBfKr9r5, https://www.tinkercad.com/things/eJV64NVnwP9, https://www.tinkercad.com/things/8XP8MLBtKIt, https://www.tinkercad.com/things/l1CLiYUpXid

3D printer

Filament (PLA)

Empty filament spool (203 mm diameter, 67 mm height outer, 59 mm height inner)

sandpaper (60 grit)

drill

step or spade drill bit

Hot glue gun

masking tape

LED Sewing Machine Light Strip Kit

Print 3 shade, 2 tube, and 2 groove files. Print 1 each of the remaining files.

Print at .2 layer height. 10% or 15% infill except for the tubes, which should be printed at 20% infill.

The tube files must be printed with supports, on the platform only. Use sandpaper to remove support residue.

1. Snap spool bottom onto spool.

2. Position midtop over drilled hole, approximately 1 inch from edge.

3. Insert light strip to check for alignment.

4. Remove light strip.

5. Glue midtop into position using the hot glue gun.

6. Snap spool top into position.

1. Slide 2 shade pieces to edges of 1 groove.

2. Add 2nd groove to top.

3. Place assembly in spool center, adjacent to edge. Make sure the drilled hole projects into the center of gap area (I neglected to do this, so it is not shown in the photos).

4. Tape top and bottom grooves.

5. Check positioning by inserting shade wedge.

6. Glue shade grooves into place using the hot glue gun. Do Not glue the shade wedge.

7. Remove the shades.

1. Push the light strip through side hole in bottom.

2. Push light strip through tube.

3. Push light strip through bottom of spool, encircling inner round.

4. Remove tape backing. Apply strip to inner round.

5. Push tubes fully into holes in both bottoms.

6. Insert shades into grooves.

7. Insert wedge assembly: Wedge, Shade wedge, and wedge top groove.

Lamp complete!