The Hidden Lamp

My project is based on the Hiding Places Contest. The objective of this project is to create a hiding place to store valuable objects. It should be a stealthily way to hide items that you do not want visitors to view and touch. My project is a Hidden Lamp. The bottom of the lamp has a hidden compartment in which you are able to hide small objects away from the sight of any snooper.

TOOLS REQUIRED - The tools I will need to construct this project is an Exacto knife, Sandpaper, scissors, scrap paper, and a Hot Glue Gun (ask your teacher or parent/guardian first.)

MATERIALS NEEDED - A project board (for cutting purposes),a hard material able to cut, a metal, antique lamp, a felt cloth, and 3-4 Magnets.

Find an Old Lamp with a metal, hollow base. it can be an antique lamp or a new lamp.The less it stands out, the better it will be to go unnoticed. I found a lamp with a metal base, (which later led to me using magnets.)

Get a solid piece of plastic, Styrofoam, cardboard or any other hard material. It should be fragile enough to be cut precisely. Measure out the circumference of the base of the lamp. You have a choice to do the measurements of your lamp, but for this Instructable, that will not be necessary.

Trace out the circumference of the base onto the hard material, then cut it out with an X-Acto Knife or scissors. It will come out rough but that brings us to our next step.

Sand down the edges since they will be rough and uneven due to the cutting. To sand the edges, lightly brush the sandpaper on the surface of the edge. Apply pressure and speed for more curvature.

Cut out a piece of felt that is a bit bigger then the hard material. You need to cut it bigger so that we can glue it to the material and then cut it precisely.

Hot glue the Felt to the Hard material. Make sure it is dry before you handle it because the felt does absorb the hot glue and it is very hot to the touch.

Now that the Material is secure and won't move, you can now cut it correctly. Use Scissors to Cut the felt to the same size as the hard material (an X-Acto knife will not effective.)

Place the magnet on the inside of the hard material on the edge so that it is not visible from the other side. Trace around the magnet and then use an X-Acto to cut it out. Repeat on the exact opposite side of the hard material.

Glue the two magnets into their specified place and ensure that they are secure to the hard material. Also make sure that the hot glue is smooth and is not caked onto the magnet or material. The less separation, the better the magnetism. (You should have at least one extra magnet.)

Now, Choose the magnet that you would like to be stationary and choose one that will be moving. The Magnet that is Stationary requires another magnet to keep it in place.

Place your third magnet on the inside rim of the lamp's base. Trace with a pencil on the magnet how much space the magnet is touching the lamp with. Glue this space with a hot glue gun to secure the magnet in place.

Now, you may test out the final product and even place objects inside of it to experiment it's security and efficiency.