Corner Lamp Made From Plywood

In terms of the creative idea and reasons for making this project:

For this project I wanted to make a lower power (about 2W) corner lamp that will sit in the corner of my lounge. I've got lots of left-over pieces of Plywood that have piled up from previous projects and since some of these pieces ultimately end up being binned I decided to utilize them in making this project. These pieces of plywood would be cut and glued together to make a tower, with Strip light LEDs being located internally at the base, and holes will be made in the sides to allow light to escape. Also, I have a number of PSU's (ranging from 6v - 12v) that I have accumulated over the years so would use one of them as the power source.

Finally I wished to have some ability to control the lamps brightness, so as to have higher brightness when more light is required and lower brightness for relaxation. To accomplish this I researched on google with the terms 'LED Dimmer Circuit' and 'NE555 PWM Circuit' for any suitable circuits that could be used to control the luminosity of the LEDs. I found a suitable circuit labelled 'A Simple 555 PWM Circuit with Motor Example' on Build Electronic Circuits website (https://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/555-pwm-circuit/) which used a NE555 Timer Chip and I could convert to control the Brightness of my LEDs Brightness.

Tools used during the construction of this project

• Pillar Drill.
• Hegner Scroll Saw.
• Belt Sander / Sandpaper (Various Grits).
• Lathe.
• Dremel 4000 Hobby Drill + 636 Drill Bit Set.
• Hammer.
• Hacksaw.
• G-Clamps.
• Flexcut Carving Tools KN13, KN18 & KN27.
• Small Paintbrushes.
• Various Screwdrivers.
• Soldering Iron.
• Pliers / Wire Cutters / Strippers.
• Pencil, ruler, compass, etc.

Materials for Table Lamp Tower

• Bits of Scrap wood (mainly Oak & Plywood remnants from previous projects).
• 6mm Wooden Dowel.
• LED Strip Lights.
• 15 AWG Electrical Wire. (Colours as shown in photos).
• Titebond II wood glue (Or other type of wood glue).
• 6x 20mm self tapping screws.
• Linseed Oil.
• 3x 15mm M4 Stainless Steel Bolts.
• M4 Stainless Steel Countersunk Rivet Nuts.

Components Required for Circuit Board

• 2x 47Ω 5W Resistors.
• 1x 1KΩ Resistor.
• 1x 100KΩ Potentiometer.
• 1x 12V Processor Fan
• 1x NE555N Chip.
• 1x 8PIN DIL (DIL = Dual In Line) Socket.
• 1x IRF640 N-Channel MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor).
• 2x 1N4006 Diodes.
• 1x 10nF & 100nF Capacitors.
• 4x 20mm M3 Male-Female Threaded Hex Spacers.
• 4x M3 12mm Screws + 4x M3 Nuts.
• 15 AWG Electrical Wire. (Colours as shown in photos).
• 5mm Pitch Male / Female Pluggable Terminal Blocks.
• Vero/Strip board.
• 0.5mm Solder Wire.
• 12V HJC HASU05F AC Adapter

A: First I gathered up leftover pieces of plywood, then I drew a number of circles onto the wood before using a scroll-saw to cut them out. First five photos show wood being cut on my Scroll Saw.

• All circles have outer diameter = 120mm and inner diameter = 100mm.
• The Base is solid with no inner diameter. It's thickness is 13mm.
• For Layer 1 the circle is incomplete giving 2 3.5mm gaps to allow light through. Layer thickness = 8mm.
• Layer 2 is a complete circle with no gaps. Layer Thickness = 13mm.
• Layer 3 comprises of four pieces of circle with 4 gaps. Gaps about 20-25mm. Layer thickness = 6mm.
• Layer 4 is a complete circle with no gaps. Layer Thickness = 13mm.
• Layer 5 comprises of four pieces of circle with 4 gaps. Gaps about 20-25mm. Layer thickness = 6mm.
• Layer 6 is a complete circle with no gaps. Layer Thickness = 13mm.

A) I applied Titebond II wood glue onto the first piece of 'layer 1' and fixed it to the 'layer 2' piece with G-clamps. Left for about 6 hours before performing the same process with the other 'layer 1' piece. Then left 24 hours to dry fully.

B) For the 4x 'layer 3' pieces I decided to make them thicker (about 13mm thick) using 2 pieces of plywood on top of each other. After glue had set I removed excess wood with Flexcut Wood Carving Knives and Belt sander.

C) I applied more Titebond II wood glue onto the first two pieces of layer 3 and fixed them to the main tower piece with G-clamps. I positioned the two pieces so that they were opposite each other with a similar size gap on both sides. Left glue to dry for about 6 hours.

D) I then applied glue and positioned the other two 'layer 3' pieces in center of the two gaps. Again used G-Clamps to hold them in place and then left for 24 hours to dry. The 4 remaining gaps measured about 20-25mm width with about 13mm depth.

A) I applied Titebond II wood glue onto the first piece of 'layer 4', fixed it to the top of the main tower piece and held it in place with G-clamps. Left for about 6 hours before performing the same process with the other 'layer 4' piece. Then left 24 hours to dry fully.

B) To increase the lateral strength of the corner lamp, I used my Dremel 4000 Hobby Drill to make four vertical 6mm holes in the main tower piece then glued 6mm diameter dowel into the holes.

A) Again, as with step 3, I made the 4x 'layer 5' pieces thicker (13mm) by gluing 2 pieces of plywood on top of each other. After glue had set I used the Flexcut Wood Carving Knives & Belt sander to removed any excess wood.

B) I applied more Titebond II wood glue to the first two pieces of layer 5 and fixed them to the main tower piece with G-clamps. I positioned the two pieces so that they were opposite each other with a similar size gap on both sides. Left glue to dry for about 6 hours.

C) I then applied glue and positioned the other two 'layer 5' pieces in center of the two gaps. Again used G-Clamps to hold them in place and then left for 24 hours to dry. The 4 gaps measured about 20-25mm width with about 13mm depth.

D) I applied Titebond II wood glue onto the first piece of 'layer 6', fixed it to the top of the main tower piece and held it in place with G-clamps. Left for about 6 hours before performing the same process with the other 'layer 6' piece. Then left 24 hours to dry fully.

E) Used Flexcut carving knives to remove any excess wood on the inside/outside of the main tower piece so that all the layers are the same level and relatively smooth.

A) To further smooth the main body of the corner lamp it was attached to a machine shop lathe and various grit sandpaper was used on both it's inside and outside while being spun. The lathe was run on a low speed setting (~250rpm) while I applied only light pressure with the sand paper to reduce heat build-up. I started with P120 Grit sandpaper until most of the scratches had been removed then used P220 & P400 sand paper to further smooth the surface. Excess dust was wiped off between each sandpaper.

A) I used my Scroll saw to cut out 3 pieces from a piece of scrap oak and then glued & clamped each one to the main tower piece, leaving glue to set for 6 hours before gluing and clamping the next piece.

B) Drilled 6 equidistant holes around the outside of the base and 6 corresponding holes in the main tower piece. I used 6* M2 20mm self tapping screws to attach the base to the tower.

C) For increased lateral strength, I again used my Dremel 4000 Hobby Drill to make more vertical 6mm holes in the main tower piece then glued 6mm diameter dowel into these holes.

A) For the LEDs I used some LED strip-lights that were recovered from the bin at work. I chopped 4x LEDs off one of the strip-lights, drilled two small holes on either side of each LED, then used a scalpel to isolate tracking. I then fixed each LED to a circular piece of scrap wood (from a previous scroll saw project) with a couple of screws.

B) To attach the circular piece of wood to the base of the corner lamp, I used a pillar-drill to drill 3x 6mm holes in the circle. I then placed the circle in the approximate centre of the base and used a pencil to mark centre of each hole on the base. The pillar drill was used to drill 3x 6mm holes in the base. I then inserted 3x M4 Stainless Steel Countersunk Rivet Nuts into the holes (using a hammer), the circle holding the LEDs was then fixed to the base with M4 15mm Bolts.

C) I wired red wire to the positive side & black to the negative of the each LED, the other end of the wires was slotted though the gaps in the corner lamp and an Orange 2 pin connector was fitted to the end. The LEDs where wired in parallel & the LED forward voltage = 3V. Tested LEDs with battery pack from my torch project (Torch Made From Left-over Bits of Wood).

A) For the Light Dimmer controller, I found a suitable circuit labelled 'A Simple 555 PWM Circuit with Motor Example' on Build Electronic Circuits website which used a NE555 Timer Chip and I added a IRF640 N-Channel MOSFET (as shown in schematic above). I made further modifications to the circuit to incorporate the four LEDs at the base of the corner lamp.

B) I soldered the components onto some Vero Board (as shown in photos) and bodged the board into a small discarded case I found. I then tested the circuit, tried different resistor values and choose 10k between pin 3 and Gate of MOSFET, 47Ω in series with the four LEDs and a 100KΩ Potentiometer for controlling LED Brightness. When running the LEDs at their brightest I found the 47Ω resistors were getting to hot so found an old PC fan and bodged that onto the top of the case with four 20mm pillars.

C) I have been using the Corner Lamp for the last 6 months and it has functioned well with no problems. I finished the corner lamp by vanishing it with Linseed Oil.