Introduction: Cadillac Dystopic Lamp
When I'm going through midterms I need to think of something else to break the monotony of studying German and History. To do that, I brainstormed about this project.
As far as what "Genre" it's placed in. I don't really care. However, It doesn't look particular Victorian so it can't really put it with Steampunk (disregarding how much I would like to) but it does look like a lamp that might be used by a literate War Lord in the Mad Max Universe. So...I'll go with that. Crazy Mad Max Lamp.
This project takes several skills and combines them to make awesome.
Sweating Copper Pipe
Making Solid Electrical Connections
Cutting Glass
If you have all these skills then do this project. If you don't. Do some research, then be careful doing this project.
As far as what "Genre" it's placed in. I don't really care. However, It doesn't look particular Victorian so it can't really put it with Steampunk (disregarding how much I would like to) but it does look like a lamp that might be used by a literate War Lord in the Mad Max Universe. So...I'll go with that. Crazy Mad Max Lamp.
This project takes several skills and combines them to make awesome.
Sweating Copper Pipe
Making Solid Electrical Connections
Cutting Glass
If you have all these skills then do this project. If you don't. Do some research, then be careful doing this project.
Step 1: Tools and Supplies
Tools are a biggy on this project. You can't really complete the project without them.
Propane Blow Torch
Tubing Cutter
Dremel Tool Kit
Drill with Bits
Machinist Vise
Wrenches
Screwdrivers
Hammer
Nail
Pocket Knife
Leather or Heavy Canvas Work Gloves
Safety Goggles
Supplies for this project will set you back about 50 Dollars
6 Feet of 3/4" Copper Pipe
4 90 Degree Elbow Fittings
4 Three Way Fittings
6 End cap Fittings
1 Electrical Box
2 Electrical Box Clamps
2 Hose Clamps
1 Light bulb Dimmer
1 Garden Spicket Knob
1 Appliance Cord
1 Electrical Box Faceplate
2 Perrier 1 Liter Bottles (or other large green glass bottles)
1 Cadillac Hood Ornament
Electrical Tape
Solder
Flux
1 Wine Cork
2 Light bulb fittings
2 Olde Timey Light bulbs
2 Screws
4 Washers
2 Nuts
Speaker Wire
Raw Wire
Cork
Glue
Propane Blow Torch
Tubing Cutter
Dremel Tool Kit
Drill with Bits
Machinist Vise
Wrenches
Screwdrivers
Hammer
Nail
Pocket Knife
Leather or Heavy Canvas Work Gloves
Safety Goggles
Supplies for this project will set you back about 50 Dollars
6 Feet of 3/4" Copper Pipe
4 90 Degree Elbow Fittings
4 Three Way Fittings
6 End cap Fittings
1 Electrical Box
2 Electrical Box Clamps
2 Hose Clamps
1 Light bulb Dimmer
1 Garden Spicket Knob
1 Appliance Cord
1 Electrical Box Faceplate
2 Perrier 1 Liter Bottles (or other large green glass bottles)
1 Cadillac Hood Ornament
Electrical Tape
Solder
Flux
1 Wine Cork
2 Light bulb fittings
2 Olde Timey Light bulbs
2 Screws
4 Washers
2 Nuts
Speaker Wire
Raw Wire
Cork
Glue
Step 2: Plans
These are the plans that I was working off of when I made this project. They are mostly correct. Do what I say in the instructable. Not the plans.
Step 3: The Base
When you have acquired all of your supplies you need to work on dry fitting the parts for the base.
Get out your Tubing Cutter, Copper Pipe, and Pipe Fittings.
Take the Labels off of your fittings, pipe, and Green Bottles. I did this with crazy hot water.
Cut these lengths of Copper Pipe
2" x 4
2 1/2" x 7
Now dry fit your creation together.
After you know that it fits you need to drill a 1/4" hole or larger in the bottom of the center three way fitting for the electrical cord to go through
First use the hammer and nail to center punch the hole. Then use a 1/4" bit or larger to drill the hole. It is likely that the drill will catch the brass at this point if your not using a drill press. Be careful.
Take your dremel and clean the hole up.
Start Sweating.
Sweating a Copper Pipe is dangerous business. You can burn yourself badly if you screw up. If you are under 18 get a parent to help
Here are some resources for sweating together Copper Pipe
Popular Mechanics - "How to Sweat a Watertight Copper Fitting"
Easy2diy - "Soldering Copper Pipes Tutorial"
This is my 2 Cent Tour
1) Get out your first pipe and fitting
2) Put flux on both the end of the pipe and the fitting
3) Put pipe and fitting together
4) Put pipe and fitting in a machinist vise with the fitting below the pipe
5) Put on Gloves
6) Heat the line between the fitting and pipe with the Propane Blow Torch until the flame is green
7) Apply solder all the way around the joint
8) Wipe the joint clean
9) Let the Joint Cool
Now you need to simply sweat all 20 joints required for the base so your dry fit looks like your soldered fit.
Be careful around 3 way joints. When you heat up one side the other sides also heat up. Sometimes this breaks joints.
Don't burn yourself
After you finish the base. Get the Electrical box, punch out one hole in the box, attach the fitting to the electrical box, wrap the top of the top pipe of the base with electrical tape. Tighten the fitting around the brass pipe
Get out your Tubing Cutter, Copper Pipe, and Pipe Fittings.
Take the Labels off of your fittings, pipe, and Green Bottles. I did this with crazy hot water.
Cut these lengths of Copper Pipe
2" x 4
2 1/2" x 7
Now dry fit your creation together.
After you know that it fits you need to drill a 1/4" hole or larger in the bottom of the center three way fitting for the electrical cord to go through
First use the hammer and nail to center punch the hole. Then use a 1/4" bit or larger to drill the hole. It is likely that the drill will catch the brass at this point if your not using a drill press. Be careful.
Take your dremel and clean the hole up.
Start Sweating.
Sweating a Copper Pipe is dangerous business. You can burn yourself badly if you screw up. If you are under 18 get a parent to help
Here are some resources for sweating together Copper Pipe
Popular Mechanics - "How to Sweat a Watertight Copper Fitting"
Easy2diy - "Soldering Copper Pipes Tutorial"
This is my 2 Cent Tour
1) Get out your first pipe and fitting
2) Put flux on both the end of the pipe and the fitting
3) Put pipe and fitting together
4) Put pipe and fitting in a machinist vise with the fitting below the pipe
5) Put on Gloves
6) Heat the line between the fitting and pipe with the Propane Blow Torch until the flame is green
7) Apply solder all the way around the joint
8) Wipe the joint clean
9) Let the Joint Cool
Now you need to simply sweat all 20 joints required for the base so your dry fit looks like your soldered fit.
Be careful around 3 way joints. When you heat up one side the other sides also heat up. Sometimes this breaks joints.
Don't burn yourself
After you finish the base. Get the Electrical box, punch out one hole in the box, attach the fitting to the electrical box, wrap the top of the top pipe of the base with electrical tape. Tighten the fitting around the brass pipe
Step 4: The Tower
Now is the time to add the top of the lamp.
For this you need these lengths of copper pipe
2 - 3 1/2"
1 - 4"
Before you do any sweating you need to make the end caps that hold the lamp.
Get your two copper end caps.
Center punch them with a nail and hammer.
get your bolt, washer, nut assembly and match the bolt to a bit that would drill the appropriate hole.
Drill the hole with the help of a machinist vise. Watchout for breakback.
Drill a hole in the hose clamp near the mechanism of the clamp
Assemble the end pieces.
Drill a hole in the three way fitting like you did in the center three way for the base.
Sweat the fittings and pipes together.
This is your last Sweating. You can put the Torch, Solder, and Flux away.
Now you need to add the Cadillac Hood Ornament. I used wire to attach it to the lamp. You can use whatever you want.
For this you need these lengths of copper pipe
2 - 3 1/2"
1 - 4"
Before you do any sweating you need to make the end caps that hold the lamp.
Get your two copper end caps.
Center punch them with a nail and hammer.
get your bolt, washer, nut assembly and match the bolt to a bit that would drill the appropriate hole.
Drill the hole with the help of a machinist vise. Watchout for breakback.
Drill a hole in the hose clamp near the mechanism of the clamp
Assemble the end pieces.
Drill a hole in the three way fitting like you did in the center three way for the base.
Sweat the fittings and pipes together.
This is your last Sweating. You can put the Torch, Solder, and Flux away.
Now you need to add the Cadillac Hood Ornament. I used wire to attach it to the lamp. You can use whatever you want.
Step 5: Making the Shroud
This is the most frustrating step of the whole thing. You need to learn how to bottle cut.
haventmadeabombyet's Practical Bottle Cutting
Ojuiceboy09's Bottle Cutting Instructable
Make's Bottle Cutting
If you don't like any of those you can try my instructions
1) Get the bottle you want
2) Put a hose clamp around the part you want to cut
3) Get a Plate Glass cutter
4) Trace one side of the hose clamp with the plate glass cutter until you have a deep, straight groove.
5) Heat the groove up with a candle or very carefully with your blowtorch
6) Plunge the bottle into ice cold water
7) Repeat steps 5 and 6 till bottle is cut
8) Sand sharp edges
This skill is an art. The deeper and straighter your cut the better your bottle will break.
Cut the ends off of two bottles that you want to use for the lamp
Tape the end of the bottle up with electrical tape
Put it into the clamps on the tower of the lamp
Move to the next step
haventmadeabombyet's Practical Bottle Cutting
Ojuiceboy09's Bottle Cutting Instructable
Make's Bottle Cutting
If you don't like any of those you can try my instructions
1) Get the bottle you want
2) Put a hose clamp around the part you want to cut
3) Get a Plate Glass cutter
4) Trace one side of the hose clamp with the plate glass cutter until you have a deep, straight groove.
5) Heat the groove up with a candle or very carefully with your blowtorch
6) Plunge the bottle into ice cold water
7) Repeat steps 5 and 6 till bottle is cut
8) Sand sharp edges
This skill is an art. The deeper and straighter your cut the better your bottle will break.
Cut the ends off of two bottles that you want to use for the lamp
Tape the end of the bottle up with electrical tape
Put it into the clamps on the tower of the lamp
Move to the next step
Step 6: Electrical Work
Now for the electrical work.
Get out your electrical equipment
Dimmer
Appliance Cord
Cork
Light Bulb Sockets
Light Bulbs
Speaker Wire
Raw Wire
The first thing you need to do is wire the lamp.
Take your cork and shave it down with a pocket knife until it fits into your 1/4" hole in the bottom of the lamp
Then drill a hole in the cork that your appliance wire can fit into.
Run the Appliance wire through the cork.
Run the wire up to the electrical box
Jam the cork into the bottom of the lamp leaving about 4 inches of wire at the box and the rest at the bottom of the lamp.
Next you need to attach the Light Bulb Sockets with the Lightbulbs.
Drill three holes in the caps of both of the bottles that you are using
Tie your raw wire to the center of the Socket
Put a loop into a length of rope. Run it down the neck of one of the bottles. Tie the wires from socket to the rope and pull it to the top.
Put the 3 wires through the three holes in the bottle tops.
Use the raw wire to tie off the socket to the top of the bottle
Repeat with the other bottle
Make all of the required connections with solder and electrical tape
Screw in the dimmer
Move to the next step
Get out your electrical equipment
Dimmer
Appliance Cord
Cork
Light Bulb Sockets
Light Bulbs
Speaker Wire
Raw Wire
The first thing you need to do is wire the lamp.
Take your cork and shave it down with a pocket knife until it fits into your 1/4" hole in the bottom of the lamp
Then drill a hole in the cork that your appliance wire can fit into.
Run the Appliance wire through the cork.
Run the wire up to the electrical box
Jam the cork into the bottom of the lamp leaving about 4 inches of wire at the box and the rest at the bottom of the lamp.
Next you need to attach the Light Bulb Sockets with the Lightbulbs.
Drill three holes in the caps of both of the bottles that you are using
Tie your raw wire to the center of the Socket
Put a loop into a length of rope. Run it down the neck of one of the bottles. Tie the wires from socket to the rope and pull it to the top.
Put the 3 wires through the three holes in the bottle tops.
Use the raw wire to tie off the socket to the top of the bottle
Repeat with the other bottle
Make all of the required connections with solder and electrical tape
Screw in the dimmer
Move to the next step
Step 7: Add a Bit of Flair
For one final touch you need to remove the standard wheel from the dimmer
Remove the center of the dimmer wheel with a dremel tool
Take that center and glue it into the Spicket wheel.
Let it dry
Put it in the place of the dimmer wheel
TA DA
Now your done. Congratulations on your awesome lamp.
Remove the center of the dimmer wheel with a dremel tool
Take that center and glue it into the Spicket wheel.
Let it dry
Put it in the place of the dimmer wheel
TA DA
Now your done. Congratulations on your awesome lamp.