PVC Pipe LED Reading Light

Hello, my name is Cesareo Campos and I designed my very own PVC Reading Lamp Using LED's, to start I had to look for ideas and things that could be a reason to do what I wanted to do or take the ideas of others and use them. When we were assigned this project we went with the discovery phase which took 1 week to look at ideas things around our school and that sort of stuff. Next the designing phase at first I came up with ideas like, a wall light, roof light but that would be hard to replicate especially in a school environment so I decided a simple reading light but with an easy to access material, PVC and some LED's that could go inside of them held together by zip ties and glue for the PVC pipes. This idea was generally supposed to be smaller but I began to doubt the size and the final result was not as expected there is some room for improvements. For example, the PVC is too thick they could be thinner, next to the PVC pipes where a bit heavy and made the light tilt, next the wiring, was an issue and I was planning to put a wooden box for support to all the added weight but due to time purposes didn't have time. Alright, let's get to the supplies which include.

Supplies:

- PVC 40 cm (Width) x 40 cm (Height) x 120 cm (Length) x 4

- LED strip mine was 300 cm in length (a bit too long)

- Pack of Zip Ties

- Transparent PVC Glue of 100 ml

- Extender Cable 7 Ft (white)

- 2 T shape pvc pipe connectors

- 5 90º degree angle connectors

- 4 45º degree angle connectors

After getting the materials I planned and layout the measurements and began cutting i put down 1 pipe and cut it in half which is why the bottom part is flat and do the same to 2 other smaller pipes that go in the sides where the T side connectors go, then I cut in half 1 T side connector and then 2 90º connectors to be in the corners. Next, I cut out the pipes that go up to the main light source to have a light to read on. I had a 40 cm long and 2 25 cm long for the top to be shorter, just so you know you can adjust the size of the pipes and the measurements but this is my way of doing it.

After I got the measurements all done correctly I first began cluing the base of the lamp which is a process of using the brush from the transparent PVC Pipe glue (comes with) and applying it to both parts where you want the PVC to glue on. After finishing the base I began drilling the holes for the zip ties to hold the LED's, note that I used zip ties since I am going to reuse the LED's for a future project... so if it is more convenient use the sticky part of the LED's strip and secure it, plus with the zip ties it will stay there and won't rip off any time soon. After drilling the holes to the base I decided to while I was at it, drill the holes for the pipes that would lead to the main source of lighting to hold all the led's in place. After drilling all the holes I cut open the hole for the Led's to create the "main source of lighting" after that I went back and glued it all together again with the transparent glue for pvc pipes.

Note that steps 2 and 3 have adult supervision since some of the tools I used where dangerous and provided by the teacher and the maker pod in the school.

At last, you scrolled and read all the way down here to find the final product, I was relieved when done but does have some room for improvement there were some concerns with time and booking for the tools I needed to use for this project, I will look back at this as my first ever design I have done and I am proud but I know I can do better and I have potential for growth I will look back at my mistakes and correct them next time, thank you for my teacher the workers and my parents who helped me get this done.