Lampy: the Desk Buddy That Brightens Your Workspace

I developed this lamp as a special challenge to myself: to try to design a lamp that was easy to make and assemble, without requiring specialty equipment other than a 3D printer. I also wanted this lamp to be an interesting decorative piece with personality while also serving as an accent light. And thus, Lampy was born!

Components

Filament for 3D Printing (I used PLA)

A small Light Bulb (I used a Phillips 60-Watt Equivalent A19 Non-Dimmable Energy Saving LED Light Bulb)

A Clip-On Light Socket (I used a Leviton 660-Watt Keyless Porcelain Lamp Holder)

Around a meter (a bit over 3 feet) of Broomstick/round dowel/closet pole / round moulding (I used 2.5 cm (1 inch) diameter, pine wood)

Six small wood screws (I used #6 x 5/8 in. wood screws)

Electric cable, any that has two wires and is safe for indoor lamps or small appliances (I used 18 Gauge, 2 wire stranded copper cable)

Electrical 2 pole electrical plug (I used a 15 Amp, Flat Plug)

Tools

3D Printer (Can be printed with small 3D printers)

Saw (Any kind that can cut wood)

Phillips-head screwdriver (the one with the cross head)

Sanding paper, Rough grit (80-120 grit) and Medium grit (150-220)

Optional

Power drill with a small drill bit to make some pilot holes and a medium drill bit to make holes that cable can pass through.

Step 1: Measure

I find it easier to start with the general measurements of your supplies to get a feel for what you have to work with. This grounds your project and gives some constraints that will help guide your project.

The measurements I recommend you start with are:

The diameter of your broomstick (round dowel/closet pole/round moulding) and how much you have. This will give you the diameter the leg and neck fixtures will have to be.

How much broomstick you have (so you know how long you can make the legs and the neck of your Lampy)

Printable area of your 3D Printer (This one will restrain how big your lampshade can be).

The general dimensions of your light socket. Focus mainly on the max length, width, and height and the max distance between the clip legs of your light socket (if you get a clip-on light socket, which I recommend).

Here I like to sketch down several quick ideas, all of which use the basic elements which are: a printable lamp shade, printable neck/leg fixture, and legs & neck made of broomstick. Once I have several ideas down, I’ll choose the one I like the most or combine a few elements of different ideas and sketch a more detailed drawing.

For aesthetic purposes, I decided to give my Lampy rounded feet. Using the measurements of the diameter of our broomstick I modeled a quick rounding guide to help make the rounding of the feet as even as possible. Start printing this one as soon as you can and then continue with the next steps. That way your 3D printer can start working while you work on the other steps.

I know some of you will probably want to skip this step, but I recommend you don’t. This will help you get a better sense of the proportions and angles of the different elements of your Lampy. It’s a quick process that will help you save more time in the next steps and will ensure your end result looks great!

Use the measurement of your rough model as a reference when modeling your Lampy in CAD. Going over the steps of how to model the lampshade and the leg fixture would require an additional Instructable on its own. But I’ll go over the main things you should have in mind when modeling these parts:

5.1 Modeling the Lamp Shade

a. How large your printing area is. It really sucks when you’ve modeled a beautiful part only to find that it doesn’t fit on your printer.

b. The dimensions of your light socket. This is key because if your light socket doesn’t fit in your Lampy then it is no longer a lamp. Oh, and don’t forget to leave some space for the cables connecting to the socket.

c. Make sure you plan how the neck and Lampshade of your Lampy will go together.

d. Make sure you include some holes where you can insert screws to hold the lampshade to your Lampy’s neck.

e. Plan out how the power cable will exit the lampshade.

5.2 Modeling the Leg/Neck Fixture

a. Make sure the holes where the legs and neck will go are large enough to fit them.

b. Make sure the angles and placement of the legs and neck allow your Lampy to stand up on its own. Making the rough model beforehand really helps with this. (See! Told you it was important!)

c. Include holes where you can insert screws to hold the legs/neck to the fixture.

I’ve included my STL files in case you want to print your Lampy just like mine and the model files for Solidworks so can modify them if you’d like. 

Highly recommend you don’t skip this one! Print some test prints to make sure all your measurements are correct, it’s faster than waiting 8 hours for your lampshade to print only to find that the light socket doesn’t fit. I recommend you test print for the following:

a.     That your light socket clips on and fits (including the cable).

b.     That your leg and neck holes are large enough for the broomstick to fit, but not so large that it looks like your Lampy has on baggy shorts and skinny legs (unless that’s what you’re going for).

c.     That whatever method you use to join the neck and lampshade of your Lampy works.

d.     That your cable fits whatever cable hole you made on your lampshade.

e.     That the hole you made for the screws allow the screw to fit but aren’t so large that the screw head will go completely through them.

Once you have made sure all your parts will be able to fit together go ahead and print the full parts! If you’re using the STL files I’ve Included, then you wont need to use supports. When printing the neck and leg fixture just make sure you place the neck hole flat on the bottom so that the fixture stands up like a tree. 

While you wait for the lampshade and fixture to print, you can get started on cutting the legs and neck. I’ll include some drawings to show you the lengths that I used for my Lampy.

Try to make the cuts straight but don’t stress too much about it, all the cuts will either be rounded off or will be hidden inside the fixture. Make sure that you keep in mind the distance that your legs and neck will be inside the fixtures when you plan out the cut lengths.

Now start rounding the leg feet if that is part of your design. Use the rounding guide we made in Step 3 to make sure your feet are rounded evenly throughout. Use rough grit sandpaper first to get the main shape then switch over to medium grit sandpaper to finish off.

If you’re making your Lampy like mine, the top part of the neck is also going to be rounded as well. Only round off the parts that are going to be visible, there’s really no point in rounding the parts that are going to be hidden inside the fixtures.

Remove any supports you used and sand any parts you deem necessary. 

Insert the neck and legs of your Lampy into the fixture and mark with a pencil or pen where the screw will go; this will serve as a guide to help you make sure all your legs end up the same length.

(Optional): If you have a power drill and a small drill bit, make some pilot holes. This will make it easier to insert your screws.

Now you can screw the neck and legs of your Lampy into the fixture. I recommend screwing in the neck first and then the legs, this will give you a backstop to use when screwing in the legs.

Same as with the previous, place the lampshade on the neck of your Lampy and mark where the two screws are going to be. Then screw the lampshade to the neck of the lamp.

(Optional): If you want the cable to go through the back of the lampshade, you will need to have a power drill and a medium drill bit. Using these, make a hole through the neck of your Lampy, making sure that it aligns with the hole on the back of your lampshade.

First cut the cable to the length you want it to be. Then proceed to peel off the plastic coating from both poles of one side of the cable and connect them to your light socket. Afterwards, pass the cable from inside your lampshade to the outside of the lampshade through the cable hole you made. If you have a clip-on socket, simply clip it onto your lampshade so that it becomes fixed.

On the other side of your cable peel off the plastic coating from both poles. If you bought a flat plug, remove the lid and connect each pole to either end of the plug and place the lid back on.

You can also add an on/off switch if you choose to. I didn’t because the plan I had for my Lampy was to use a smart plug so that I could integrate it as part of my smart home system.

Lastly, screw in the lightbulb, and your Lampy is officially complete!

Plug in your Lampy to a power source and enjoy your new desktop pal!

If there are any mistakes or if there’s something that I should’ve gone over that I skipped, please let me know in the comments. This is my first Instructable and I’m still learning so please be kind in the comments section.

If you liked this project, please consider following us on Instagram or TikTok at @forma.designs and when you build your own Lampy please share a picture and tag us!! We can’t wait to see the Lampys you all will make!

Thank you!