Levitating Ladder Lamp

I made… what I'm calling a “Ladder Lamp”. I made it because my wife was continually harassing me about building her a ladder up to the mezzanine in her “she shed”. So, To appease my overlord I was going to have to build it but, If I was going to build it. I was going to build it my way the Garage Avenger way. 

Wherever I can, I try to reuse and recycle materials, So, the ladder lamp was no exception. For the rungs I used some of the packing wood from the “she shed” kit that we built a year earlier. The rope I had extra lying around from a previous project. The plywood I found in a trash bin and the other wood came from an old bed. 

I did however have to buy some materials. I ended up buying a laminated sheet of Pine and some LED strips with covers. Along with some pulleys and other fittings for the rope.

Materials

• 1x laminated pine board 2400 x 80 x 15
• 2 x 4m LED stips
• 4 x 2m LED Cover
• 4 x LED connectors
• 3 x single wheel pulley
• 1 x double wheel pulley 
• 6 x stainless half loop bracket
• 2 x hinges

Consumables

• wood glue
• screws
• Aluminum tape
• finishing oil
• rags

Tools

• Wood thicknesser
• table saw
• combined mitre saw
• clamps
• clamps
• more clamps

Or if your old school and love sweating just your standard woodworking hand tools.

Time to get this party started with the ladder rungs

The rungs were fashioned from the packing materials from the she shed kit. I started to thickness these down by hand but then soon realized I was "not" Armish. I could use power tools! So I unleashed the electro-mechanical beasts. (Insert clip of Jeremy Clarkson shouting "POWER")

Rough cut the rungs to length then thickness them down to size. I made them 420mm x 100mm x 35mm Once in the correct dimensions. Round the edges with a round router bit.

The next step is to cut the tenon. Using the table saw, cut a tenon on each side. I did this by removing 5 mm from each side with the tenon length of 30mm. In addition, you can see in the picture there is one rung with a hole through it. This is for the LED cables. If you have a drill bit that can go through the entire length of the rung and you can safely drill it you're welcome to give that a go. But if you're like me and you are both lacking in tools and skills, then you need to split the rung in half. Using the table saw, cut a channel then glue them back together to create the hole needed for the cables.

To finish sand them down and apply finishing oil. Be sure not to put finishing oil on the gluing surface of the tenon.

First of all...Never skip leg day!

This is where you'll need your laminated pine board. Split your pine board into 5 lengths. With each length at 140mm wide. 

To find out your desired ladder angle. Take one of the lengths up to the final location of the ladder. Using a spirit level mark the angle on the bottom of the length. I found 15 degrees was the perfect angle for my ladder. 

Back in the workshop mark the distance between the rungs. I calculated approximately 230mm between but you may have to adjust accordingly to the length of your ladder. 

Make a copy jig for the mortise. I used some plexiglass but you could just used what works for you.

Using the copy jig to mark out the mortise. Next rough cut the mortises with a jigsaw and then place the copy jig with some double sided onto the leg in the correct position. Use a flush router bit, to clean it up. 

To finish the mortise use a chisel to square up the edges.

The rest of the leg will be a sandwich of wooden, gluey goodness. Using some 15mm bed slats (stolen from your daughter's or in my case my son’s bed) and the extra length we cut from the laminated pine board.

Cut 280mm lengths of the pine board at the 15 degree angle. These will be placed at each end of the leg lining up with the top and bottom rung.

Between these two pieces cut the bed slats to length to run up the middle of the leg. This will create our recess for our LED strips. Note: be sure to make space for the cables to be placed through the bottom rung. I cut a channel using the router on the inside before gluing to make sure the cables could be accessed.

Once you are satisfied with the position of all the pieces. Glue and clamp them to each leg.

Ensure you "rock out" whilst you let the glue dry.

Clean off excess glue and prepare the surface for gluing.

Prepare the outer leg side. Glue and clamp the outer side of the leg.

Be sure to again "rock out" whilst waiting for the glue to dry

Plane off any glue and make sure all surfaces are square

Cut the ends at 15 degrees.

Round off the edges with a round router bit.

Sand that bad boy down.

Apply finishing oil, making sure you do not apply oil to the gluing surface of the mortise.

It is time to celebrate! One leg down!

Now is the time to become despondent and depressed as you realize you must do it all over again for the second leg.

Lets get those lights shining.

First line the the LED recess with adhesive aluminums tape. This will help the light reflect better.

Cut the LED strips to length.

Drag power cables though the cables channel you made in the legs. Then carefully solder them to the correct terminal. Then use a LED connector to link the LED's in both legs. ( Do not solder these as you will have to disconnect them for the ladder assembly)

(If elect-trickery makes you nervous then be sure to reach out to that friend or licensed electrician who is willing to play with such voodoo. It is better to let them be responsible for burning down your house or even better.... I mean worse.. sending your mother-in-law off to hospital.)

Now! Be sure to test the LED's before you go any further! You don't want to cry yourself to sleep when you realized, you glued everything together but you wired it wrong.

Once happy that everything works, remove the adhesive backing strip and fix in place. ( I later came with the hot glue gun and placed a glob of glue every 15 -20cm. As sometimes the adhesive strip just isn't up for the task of staying stuck)

The last thing is to cut the LED covers to length. Test fit them and check you are happy with how it all looks.

Ok no pressure here but this is where it can all go wrong and you could be crying yourself to sleep again.

So... a precaution here. Be sure to dry test fit everything first and have all your equipment ready to go.

Once you are satisfied with everything. Drag your wife away from the important tv soap opera she is watching. So that she can watch you struggle with all the clamps and straps instead.

Apply wood glue to the inside of the mortise on one leg. Insert the rung tenons like you see me doing in the picture. Carefully thread the LED connector through the mortise on the last rung, before pressing into position.

In the next step is where your wife's hands could be useful. You are going to be applying glue on the other leg and clamping it all together. So, be sure once you have yelled and sworn enough to tell her how she can help you.

Begin to tension up the clamps or in my case the straps evenly. Make sure every thing is square and true then firmly tension your clamps or straps.

Now let the glue dry and celebrate a successful assembly with some flossing. No not the dance move. Teeth flossing! Dental hygiene is no joke.

The original idea was to use a pneumatic cylinder which would have been way cooler. My wife however didn't like the idea. Which made me want to do it more. Knowing what was good for me though. Happy wife happy life. I had to go back to basics. So, I decided to build a simple counterweight and pulley system.

I calculated that I needed roughly 15 kg to allow the ladder to hold it's self in the horizontal position and so that it could also be easily pulled down to the vertical position.

I did not have weights though, but I did have a bag of sand. The problem was, a plastic bag of sand going up and down was not going to cut it. I was going to have to make a real "Man Bag"

For the Man Bag I used a half sheet of plywood I found in the trash at my local industrial area. The man bag dimensions were as follows 120 x 380 x 420mm.

Cut the plywood into the 5 pieces for the dimensions above.

Place the front and back together. Mark out the center and position of the handle and drill a 12mm hole for the metal rod.

Using a jigsaw or bandsaw cut out the profile for where the handle will be mounted. Make sure you give your profile just enough curves so that it looks both feminine and masculine. Sand the profile smooth to finish.

You are going to assemble this Man Bag with biscuits. You could use a nail gun or screws instead but, biscuits taste better. Mark the positions and then cut the biscuits

Dry fit. If you are happy, apply wood glue and clamp together.

Whilst waiting for the glue to dry be sure to make yourself a cup of coffee and get yourself some real biscuits. The wood ones just taste a little bland and are hard to chew.

Once dry, remove the clamps and give the edges a sand.

Cut a 12 mm metal rod and round the edges of slightly to remove any burs.

Place your sand bag inside and finish by hammering in the metal rod.

On the back side I also made some buffer cushions, so that the Man Bag does not scrape the wall. These were made from some 10mm foam and some felt fabric. Simply stapled to the back panel.

Now your Man Bag is finished but, before you put it in place. Take your shirt off and let your hair out and get your wife to awkwardly take modeling photos. As you can see from mine

Almost there guys

Move your ladder into place and attach the top of your ladder with some hinges.

Mount the lifting brackets approximately in the middle of the ladder.

To attach the rope to the ladder you'll need to go back to your Boy Scout days and tie a bowline knot. You know the one. The rabbit comes out of the hole, around the tree and back down the hole again. If you don't know knots just tie lots.

Mount the pulleys to a structural beam in the ceiling. Then thread the rope through them down to the counter weight.... I mean man bag.

With the ladder in the vertical position attach the man bag to the rope in the upper position. ( you may have to adjust this as you test and play around with things.

You've worked so hard. Now it's time to stand there for too long and admire your work. Be in awe... you made this! You are a "top gun"

Then its time to film your wife's reaction to the project for social media. It is important to direct her appropriately in her reaction, to pretend as if she hadn't seen it finished 3 weeks prior. Be sure to get some shots of her using it and of your cute dog wondering what the heck is going on.

I hope this project has inspired you to ignite your creativity and go make your ideas reality.

Thanks for reading

Cheers

Justin (aka Garage Avenger)