CeeDee Light

This is a desklamp I made for my little sister. It's mostly made of scraps. It can be attached to horisontal boards (tables, shelves, etc.). The lampshade can be angled in any direction. The device is portable since the LED's are powered by a 9V battery (although my sister doesn't want to bring a piece of scraps to school when studying).

Two instructables that was an inspiration for this project was Tristantech's and Artificial Intelligence's own projects seen at:

https://www.instructables.com/id/The-USB-powered-LE...
https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-led-desk-lamp/

Note that CD 3 is optional. I used it as one extra cover for the back to prevent light from escaping from the back. If you prefer, you can skip CD 3 and use transparent discs as CD 1 and 2, or one shiny disc as CD 1 and one transparent as CD 2, etc. It's mostly about aestetics and functionality, a matter of opinion.

Tools:

• Drill and drill bits in picture above.
• Screwdriver.
• Hobbyknife (scissor works).
• Glue pistol and ammo.
• Power glue. for extra POWAAAH!
• 1 meter of stiff metalwire.
• Wire stripper (scissors works too).
• Working gloves (not necessary, but good for safety).
• Solder iron and solder (but scissor wor... no jk).
• Wirecutter.
• Adhesive daub or tape (to keep LED's on place during soldering).
• Rubber duck (to boost morale during work).
• Workshop-vise.
• A stack of newspapers, wood or other disposables as base for drilling CDs.

Warnings:

• Be careful with cutting and heating tools. Use gloves.
• Don't use CD markers to mark CDs, since you cant remove it later with nail polish (it dissolves the plastic).

Print and cut out the template in the PDF file. Align the template with one CD at the time and use a hobby knife, needle or other pointy sharp object to mark the middle of the holes that needs to be drilled. Make the markings on the shiny side of the CDs, so that you can drill from the shiny side and get better edges.

• On CD 1 (the one with the LEDs) you mark out the eight 5 mm holes and four 3 mm holes.
• On CD 2 and 3 (the ones at the back) you only mark out the four 3 mm holes.

Drill from the shiny side. Use a flat surface to drill the CDs on, otherwise the thin shiny layer will take more damage.

1. Attach the eight LEDs on CD 1 with adhesive daub.
2. Take material #6 and cut it in three equal length jumper cables. They will connect the ground of each of the four individual LED loops (consisting of two LEDs and one resistor, see diagram).
3. Strip about 5 mm wire from one end of the power cables and both ends of the jumper cables.
4. Tin ends of wires.
5. Solder each part according wiring plan and diagram (same picture). Mind the LEDs polarity; the negative side should be connected to the positive side of next LED and then via a resistor to the red power cable, which leads to the negative side of the battery.

I used this site when I designed the circuit: http://electronicsclub.info/leds.htm

Glue the power cables to the CD at each side of one 3 mm hole (I glued some more, but it wasn't necessary). Use whatever glue works on plastic (I used hot glue). NOTE: Once the glue has dried you cannot tear it off the CD without ripping of a part of the shiny layer.

1. Put the four screws with four washers through CD 2 and 3.
2. Align three nuts and the base of a telescopic antenna over CD 1. If the antenna base has a more flat side, I'd make it face down to CD 1, but it won't make much difference.
3. Screw the screws through the washers and the base and through the 3 mm holes in CD 1.
4. Put the remaining four washers through the screws next to CD 1.
5. Attach the remaining four nuts.

1. Mark the center to drill. If your clamp has a cavity, it might be good to drill above the center of the cavity.
2. Use a drill bit for wood with a thickness equal to end B of the flex-arm or even a bit smaller if the end of the flex-arm has a screw thread.
3. Screw the end of the flex-arm on. NOTE: Don't force it, if the hole is too small for the flex-arm, the clamp might crack. We do not want crack.
4. Glue the flex-arm to the clamp. Put glue around in the clamp cavity and outside around the hole. Hot glue NOT recommended because it's too soft. use power glue or similar hard glues.

The flexible arm has inner tubing for wires. The ends of the flexible arm I found has holes which the base of the telescopic antenna fits perfectly. But it still needs a hole for the cables to get in the arm's inside. Hence, I drilled a 5 mm hole a bit from end A of the arm.

To consider:

• Attach the arm on the workshop-vise with something soft, to not scratch the arm.
• Use drill bits intended for metal.
• Since it's such a small area to make the hole, it might be easier to start with a 3 mm or smaller metal drill bit, and then work up to 5 mm.

I recommended choosing power cables with a thickness smaller than 0.75 mm2, because thicker wire is harder to thread through the inside of the flex-arm. If it still doesn't work with a thinner wire to thread throug the drilled 5 mm hole to the other end, you can follow the steps in the sketch I made.

• If the end hole of the flexarm is too small for the base of the antenna: drill a hole equal to the base's thickness and then glue it on.
• If the end hole of the flexarm is too big for the base of the antenna: use a whole lot of glue or wrap the base with tape to make it thicker.

The clamp has a fairly flat surface (but a bit arched) on which you can attach the batterycase. I used two small screws (shown in picture above) to screw it on place. You can glue the batterycase if you choose to, but it might not attach as good as on a plane surface. Here's how I did it:

1. Mark two holes on the clamp and two of the same distance on the batterycase
2. Drill holes at the markings on the clamp and batterycase with a drill bit smaller than the thickness of the screw.
3. Screw the screws into the screwholes.

1. Drill another 5 mm hole on the side of the batterycase, close to the handles.
2. Thread the wires through the hole from inside the clamp.
3. Cut excess wire off. NOTE: the wire from the lampshade to the switch gets "stretched" when the clamp is opened. Hence, when excess wire was cut off, I made sure the clamp was fully opened (attached to a table) and the wire reached the switch.

1. Strip about 5 mm wire from the battery connector wire, and power cables.
2. Tin end of wires.
3. Solder the black wire connected to the LEDs' negative pole to one side-connector of the switch.
4. Solder the red (positive) wire of the battery connector to the middle connector of the switch.
5. Optional: Put a piece of heat-shrink tubing (or use electrical tape later) through the red power cable.
6. Solder the black (negative) wire of the battery connector to the red power cable connected to the LEDs' negative terminals.
7. Thread the heat-shrink tubing over the connection and shrink it.

I used hot glue.

Total cost for new material: 8,4 USD.