Light Switch Hack

All mornings, I (and maybe you will recognize you) must take my phone to light my path through the light switch. That's why I make this hack, I can now turn the light by staying in my bed. It was, for me, really simple to install this light switch and it's a beautiful thing ! Only one hole in the ceiling was had necessary to install it in my bedroom (without sheath or wire in the wall).

My design inspiration was Leonard (French comic book - De Groot & Turk).

Necessary materials :

• Nice plank of oak wood (3cm thickness)
• 10mm x 10mm steel rod
• 5mm diameter steel rod
• 5mm threated rod
• Push button (light switching)
• Chain
• 18mm diameter copper tube
• Varnish

Tools :

• Band saw (or just à saw)
• Wood router
• Power drill
• hole saw (68mm)
• wood drill bits (5mm)
• metal drill bits (4,5 mm & 6mm)
• tap M5
• Sanding paper
• Wood chisel
• Paint brush
• screw driver (electrical connection)

To make this step, you need either a forge or a blowtorch to shape the beam. For this one, I use a square steel rod (10mm x 10mm) about 500 mm length.

After metal's heating, set it in a vice and start twist the rod. This task look like difficult but you just need an adjustable wrench. Adjust it to the square rod and make slowly a half rotation in the rod axis.

You need now to heat the steel many times and hit it with a hammer to make a volute. Please see the pictures.

To finish this parts, drill the rod like on the drawing, once in the middle (6mm) and once on the top (4.5mm). You need the top hole to M5.

This step is the more difficult because you must know how to sculpt wood. You need an oak cube, about 50mm x 50mm x 80mm for the hand and a 40mm x 40mm x 120mm for the handle. The two methods are almost identical.

Start to draw on your block the outline of the hand/handle like the drawing above. After this, start sculpting...

The hand will be fixed to the beam with a M5 threaded shaft

First, we need to build the light switch support.

Cute the plank. I put upside the drawing printed. The dimension aren't significant and you can adapt it to your light switch dimensions or to the place so you want to use. It's more easy to make this step using a band saw but there's no problem if you don't have anyones.

You need now to use your wood router to create a fillets. You can use 20mm diameter brush.

After this, you need to drill a hole with your push button diameter. Personally, I use a 68mm hole saw (standard for French electrical device)

Be careful, If you don't use teleswitch on your installation, you need to create a toggle with a special device (push button 1st push = On, 2nd push = Off)

To finish and make a pretty render of your wooden part, you can varnish all your wooden part. There's no particular way ! You only need a paint brushes and transparent or slightly tinted varnish. You can don't paint one face of the support (that will be fixed to the ceiling) and it's easy to paint the hand and the handle because you can fix them in a vice.

To give a 'vintage' effect to the chain, I threw it in my furnace to burn the zinc...

For this last step, you only need to bend the U beam support, thread it and fix it...

Mount the switch, the beam, fix the support on the ceiling just above your bed, attach the chain + handle switch off the light and good night! have sweet dream.

Enjoy!

Eliott.