Completed Lamp

Just some photos of my completed lamp. I'll let the lamp speak for itself...

Wiring of the lamp

Almost up to completion.
I began wiring the lamp up by simply cutting and splitting the positive and negative wires from the light pack and adding them to the wires I had embedded in the lamp.

Using a soldering iron, I first tinned the wires to make it easy to solder to the LED strips. 

Once wires and soldered, I used heat shrink tubing to cover wiring. 

The LED pack I bought only allowed me to connect them by the tip, not next to each other. I used a similar process to where I soldered the positive and negative wires to the LED strip. Then stuck the two strips together. 

LED strips parallel as oppose to being connected to the tips.

First assembly stage & counterweights

I cut the redwood laminate to shape and then glued them to the plywood using PVA glue. 

I used nails as pins to place in the base of the concrete lazy susan using epoxy. 

Using a small masonry drill bit and a hammer drill to drill out holes for the pins to sit in. 

This idea worked well and I used another piece of ply to seal in the cable and for added strength as the base pillars will be holding the most weight. 

The wire extrudes for the bottom pillars very discretely, giving it a nice aesthetic. 

I then moved on to moulding the counterweights. This was done by using laminated paper for a glossy finish and placing them between brinks for keep flat while setting. 

I decided to leave a little bit of wire on either side of the pillars also to give a nice aesthetic. 

Making wire cavity and base cap

There are a few features in the lamp making that I recently completed. One being, I added foam feel to reduce the vibration on the desk when the base is spun. This worked very well.

I also cut out a cap, would be placed over the cavity in the base when the transformer is added.

I purchase some Redwood veneer from a specialty hardware store and I am going to use this to veneer all the ply wood in the lamp. I thought the combination of redwood and concrete would give a better contrast.

I simply cut the veneer to the size i needed and used PVA glue to glue to the plywood base cap.

This was the reason of embedding wall p[lugs into the concrete base when casting. This allowed for the cab to be drilled in and secured. 

I then used an engraving tool on a Dremel so I could route out a cavity where the wiring would go as this would be covered up by the Redwood veneer.

Complete concrte lazy susan base

Finally completed the lazy susan base for my lamp, and it turned out a lot better than expected. 

 The mould left a natural shine to the base so their is no need for polishing.

 The weight of the top part of the base is perfect as it slots down the mechanism, making it move smoothly and not too fast.

The clear tubing was cut right down so only a little bit is exposed.

Bottom of lazy susan

Just made a basic mould for the concrete to set in, Measuring the exact dimensions to and using laminated MDF so I wouldn't need to apply a release. 

I inserted a piece of wood which I cut a little bigger than the transformer so when the concrete set there would be a cavity for the transformer to sit inside. I also laminated the wooden insert for easy removal. The wall plugs are used to leave spots to drill a plywood cap to cover the transformer.

I inserted two pieces of clear plastic tubing extruding the mould. This was done to leave a cavity for the cable leading to the transformer and the other for the power plug. 

Just used a metal ruler to hold the tubing in place while it was drying. Then waited overnight to dry. Before releasing it from the mould. 

To my surprise the concrete released without any effort and nothing was stuck to the walls of the mould. The lasy susan mechanism was also attached without any problems. I placed wall plus in the top of the concrete as it was starting to set to attach the mechanism. 

Cavity was a success, leaving me with plenty of space for the transformer to fit. 

Mechanism in action!

My Time Plan

Below is a Gantt chart, helping me to complete certain aspects of the lamp complete by certain dates. This was just made using Excel