Steampunk Clock and Lamp
I recently redecorated, and I wanted to build a steampunk lamp to go along with the industrial copper light shades and exposed polished copper pipes. I don't have the skill or tools to solder copper. However, I found epoxy resin works and is very easy to use, so I thought I'd share my adventures in this instructable. I hope you like it.
Supplies
Some of the parts the bulkhead clock and the copper ceiling rose, were bits I've found and collected from ebay, charity shops and reclamation yards so it depends what you can find if you fancy making something similar, I think the fact its unique is part of the fun.
The rest is easy to find;
Copper pipe
Copper fittings - I bought a job lot from ebay
Brass munsen ring - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233202003076
Acrylic Tube - [pre cut to size] https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322283612079
3 core flex - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182883937587?var=690183...
Light fitting - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163441967260
Filament bulb - this one is actually an led bulb with an acrylic insert to make it look like a filament.
Epoxy resin - Pacer Zap PT-35
Design
The design process involved taking parts from the things I'd collected and joining them together, I spent quite a while re-arranging them trying to decide on the height.
Cutting the copper pipe is done with a pipe cutter like the one in the picture above, it clips onto the pipe and you rotate it a few times to cut the pipe. The pipe doesn't have to be very accurately cut as there's a little wiggle room in the pipe fittings.
I didn't want to modify the clock in any way, it has 3 small holes which would have been used to screw it to a wall. I found nuts and bolts to fit the holes in the clock, but they were too big for the brass munsen rings I. So I used several washers to make them fit and called it a design feature.
The light fitting was originally going to be used on the kitchen walls, but my wife didn't like them. Luckily, found I could take it apart, I removed the red part and turned the blue part [see picture] upside down - I could then use the three screws on the edge to hold it inside the copper ceiling rose.
Contruction
The copper fitting and pipes are stuck together with the epoxy resin, the resin comes in two tubes and you need to mix roughly equal amounts of both. The resin sets solid in about half an hour so don't mix too much at a time. It also sets clear which if you're a bit messy like me it helps.
To join the fitting I mix up the resin, then swirl the end of the fitting in the resin, wipe off the excess on the outside with a bit of kitchen towel and then push the copper pipe into the fitting. I took my time on this so that I could make use of the wiggle room in the fitting and get everything square. The acrylic rod is done in the same way but I had to sand the end a little with sandpaper to make it fit into the copper fitting. In another project, I have added colour changing led's into the fittings pointing into the acrylic rod, this creates a great effect but you need somewhere to hide the power supply for them, so that works better if you are building onto a wooden box. The flex connects to the lamp holder and is threaded through the copper pipe (before it's glued). The lamp holder is metal and includes a ground connection to its case, the case is in contact with the copper pipes so that also grounds them. It's worth making sure the copper pipes are connected to the ground green and yellow wire, this prevents the pipes from becoming live/dangerous by blowing the fuse or tripping your rcd, if either of the other wires touches them. This is a good tip as it could happen when you thread the cable through the pipes. Finally, the other end of the flex goes into a standard plug with a 3 amp fuse.
Finishing Touches
I should go over it and give it a polish with Brasso, but for now, I quite like it less shiny. The little cork dude keeps the clock working for me when I'm not around - my lovely wife made that bit.
Hope you enjoyed this, it's nowhere near as complicated or needs as much skill/talent as some of the other folks projects on this website but hopefully someone else will be inspired to have a go.