Custom made light progress thread

[wakadoo]

I may be a bit late to the suggestion party but..

why not fix some piping/tubing to the contour of the shells and bracket it on so it looks like an
oil feed pipe, that would sort of keep the theme.

oh, I love the contrasting copper by the way.

[lagigolo]

If you go for an angle poise type head, or standard fitting you could then angle it whatever way you like and you could get a 5w led remote control colour changing bulb to go into it. They are not very dear and be easy to fit after.

[CallmeGoose]

well i have some lights to fit from b&q today, tricky bit is going to be mounting them to the copper pipe (the copper pipe is only a template and will be replaced with stainless steel soon)

ill post an update later tonight once ive figured out how to mount these lights properly.

[Lighty]

Its a nice little project youve done there mate, Ive done a few similar things myself, I did my engineering degree thru OU at home and 1 of the things you do learn in the patent and design stage is that , you really cannot make things up as you go along and expect things to be perfect. The fact that you were originally struggling to hide the cable should have been probably the 2nd most important factor at the design stage. Having said that youve come up with something that will look pretty good and will be unique to you so well done.
Personally its a bit too futuristic for me and the LED's youve talked about so far are not going to give any really useable light. Personally id mix something really old in there like an edison squirrel cage lamp of say 40watt and run some old steel conduit up the side, threaded complete with spigots/elbows/t's whatever it needs. Ive had some nice success with the edison lamps and you can really make them stand out with old fashioned twisted flex in red, this way you can actually get away with not needing to hide the cable so to speak

[B.I.G.]

If you're worried about wires could you not get some thin strips of steel .5 or .6 cnc'd and sit them in the recess as it would hide any wires without really taking away from the look and could give you an extra bit of depth for your lights.

[CallmeGoose]

got an update to post on this tonight. here are the lights I will be using



I've cut them off the frame and they just need to be welded to the stainless steel pole which will run down the centre of the light and also hide the wire. :-)


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[CallmeGoose]

heres and idea what it will look like unpainted


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[greens117]

It's a shame you didn't stick with led bulbs incerts, as it looked a whole lot better still better than anything I could come up with tho !

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[beerman]

Can you not run the cables down the middle of the steel pipe?

[CallmeGoose]

Can you not run the cables down the middle of the steel pipe?

See my post above ;-)

I've cut them off the frame and they just need to be welded to the stainless steel pole which will run down the centre of the light and also hide the wire

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[neo2810]

Nice little project! Why not reverse the lights so they point into the little alcoves and bounce light off the steel and through the holes. Might make an interesting spread?

[jaygo]

Lookin good fella

Just out of curiosity what's the cost coming in at for this whole project??


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[CallmeGoose]

material = £0.00 (scrap bearings from the ship)
welding = £50.00
lights = £20.00
Primer = £13.00
Paint = £28.00
Lacquer = £13.00
Stainless steel tube = £10.00
Devcon Magic Weld putty = £20.00
3 core cable and plug = £10.00

so about £164 in total. give or take

[jaygo]

Well worth that fella looks fantastic.


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[macmilm]

material = £0.00 (scrap bearings from the ship)
welding = £50.00
lights = £20.00
Primer = £13.00
Paint = £28.00
Lacquer = £13.00
Stainless steel tube = £10.00
Devcon Magic Weld putty = £20.00
3 core cable and plug = £10.00

so about £164 in total. give or take

To be fair yes you can go get a lamp for £20 from Argos......

Will it look nice = NO
Will it last long = NO
Can you say it has been in the North Sea = NO

Its a no brainer

[CallmeGoose]

cheers lads. im a little stuck on the welding at the moment..

basically i have to tack weld those small lights onto the stainless steel tube.

i own a stick welding machine, and i have some 3.2mm welding rods although I think these are too big... i think i need some 2.0mm E6013 rods

Not exactly sure what amperage to set this at those, too high and ill burn through the steel, too low and it wont weld and it will just stick. According to this calculator : http://www.millerwelds.com/resources...calculator.php

40-80amps is enough based on stainless steel and 2.4mm thickness welding rods...

ill figure it out...

[macmilm]

Would have thought a bit higher but not sure !!!

I can mig weld no problem !!!! but stick welding is a grey area for me!!!

Dunno if stick is different but I have welded lots of steel at 130 Amp using MIG without burning through !!!!

[CallmeGoose]

you wouldnt happen to own a mig welder by any chance? ;-)

[macmilm]

I did but no longer....... I may be able to borrow though !!!!!

[Goldberg]

!!!!!!!!! Just popping by!!!!!! Wondering what mcjoke!!!!!!!! Is harping!!!! On about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think it looks great. Looking forward to the finished product pal.


Oh, hang on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!