Thursday, December 14, 2017

How to make a DIY ballerina lamp, with LED strip













I made this wall lamp out of 9mm birch plywood. It is actually a backlight lamp with LEDs.

First of all I cut a piece of birch plywood to size. I used my circular saw with a guide rail for this job.

I then printed out a template. I Joined the pieces of the template together. I added masking tape on the plywood and then I glued the template on the tape with spray adhesive. This way there won’t be any left over glue on the wood, once I remove the template.

I then cut the template out on the bandsaw. I sanded the piece using my belt sander and my rotary tool with a sanding drum bit.

To support the LED strip, I cut several square plywood blocks on the bandsaw. I glued them on the back of the lamp. I used my nail gun to add one nail to each block, until the glue dried.

I also glued and nailed a couple of spacers. Those spacers prevent the lamp from touching the wall. This way the light comes out much nicer.

I secured the LED strip with my hot glue gun. To force the hot glue to freeze faster I provided air with my air gun.

I then soldered and connected the power supply and the on/off switch of the lamp. I also used heat shrinking tubing to a couple of exposed solders. I glued the wires on the back of the lamp with my hot glue gun again. 

I also drilled a hole to act as the hanging mechanism.

I painted the lamp pink. After the first coat was dry I lightly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper. I applied another coat of paint and then finished the piece with two coats of clear water based varnish.

My cute ballerina lamp was now ready, I hope you like it!

1 comment: