Mini LUXO Lamp

Luxo lamps are an icon of industrial design and innovation. Their history begins in 1937 when Norwegian engineer Jac Jacobsen designed the first balanced-spring lamp. This revolutionary design allowed for smooth and precise movement, ideal for illuminating work areas.

The Luxo lamp quickly became popular in industrial settings and offices due to its functionality and durability. Its simple yet efficient design made it an indispensable item for those in need of adjustable and reliable lighting.

Over time, Luxo became a household name worldwide, and its lamps were used in a variety of fields, from medical offices to design studios. The timeless aesthetic of Luxo lamps has kept them relevant over the years, making them a symbol of quality and style.

Today, Luxo lamps continue to be produced and admired for their intelligent design and their ability to adapt to the changing needs of users. Their legacy endures as a standout example of how functional design can transform an everyday tool into a piece of industrial art.

Join me on this wonderful journey in building a miniature replica of this fabulous lamp.

Carbon Fiber Square Hollow Bar Reinforced Connecting Rod Shaft for RC Airplane Model 2x2x1x200mm Length (x 4)

Head Pins Silver for DIY Jewelry Making 20mm (x14)

Wire Jewelry Sterling Silver Micro Crimp Bead 1x1mm (x10)

Wire Ferrule Terminal , AWG 22 Terminal Connector Wire Insulated Cord Pin (x2)

High Power Led Chip 3W White (6000K - 6500K / 600mA - 700mA / DC 3V - 3.4V / 3 Watt) Super Bright Intensity SMD COB (x1)

3D PRINTED PARTS

The LUXO mini lamp must be fully functional.

It must be possible to select between two types of base: clamp and firm base.

The clamp-type base must be fully functional, allowing the lamp to be held in various positions.

The lamp must be able to rotate on its base.

The lamp must be able to articulate its arms.

The lamp must allow the lamp head to be rotated in the pan & tilt angles.

The internal head of the lamp must have a reflective surface.

The lamp must have a 3W white LED.

The electrical system cables must pass through the inside of the struts.

The lamp must be powered through a USB port

The patent 2,787,434 is a patent granted in the United States and is related to improvements in balanced-spring lamps, specifically in the articulation mechanism of the lamp arms. It was granted on April 2, 1957, to the Norwegian inventor Jac Jacobsen, the creator of the popular Luxo lamps.

The patent describes an articulation system for lamp arms that includes a combination of pivots and springs that allow smooth and balanced movement in various directions. This design allows the lamp to be easily adjusted to different positions and angles, providing optimal lighting in any situation.

The mechanism patented in patent 2,787,434 significantly improved the design of balanced-spring lamps, contributing to the success and popularity of Luxo lamps. This type of lamp has become a standard in work environments where adjustable and high-quality lighting is required.

The US patent 3543019A, granted on November 24, 1970, describes an articulated work lamp with an improved balancing mechanism. This patent was also granted to Jac Jacobsen, the creator of Luxo lamps.

Summary of Patent US3543019A

Patent US3543019A details a lamp with an articulated arm design that includes a spring and pivot system allowing for constant balance and smooth movement. The described mechanism focuses on enhancing the stability and adjustability of the lamp, allowing it to remain in the desired position without shifting.

Key Components

1. Articulated Arms: The lamp features multiple arms connected through joints that enable smooth movement and precise adjustment of the light's position.
2. Tension Springs: The springs are designed to counterbalance the weight of the lamp, ensuring it does not fall or move unexpectedly.
3. Pivots: The pivots in the joints allow the lamp's arms to rotate and adjust in multiple directions, providing great flexibility in light orientation.

Design Advantages

The design described in the patent offers several advantages:

• Improved Stability: Thanks to the use of springs and pivots, the lamp can maintain its stable position at any angle.
• Precise Adjustability: Users can easily and precisely adjust the lamp to direct light exactly where needed.
• Durability: The materials and design are intended to withstand continuous use in work environments.

In summary, patent US3543019A enhances the classic design of balanced-spring lamps by providing a more efficient and stable articulation mechanism, allowing the lamp to be easily and accurately positioned. This innovation has contributed to the durability and functionality that have made Luxo lamps famous.

Efficient 3D Design: Use 3D design software like SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Tinkercad, or Blender to create your model. Ensure you are familiar with the chosen tool.

Design the structure to require the least amount of supports during printing. This will make printing easier and reduce the time and material needed.

Print Orientation: Plan the orientation of the part on the 3D printer to minimize the need for supports. Often, a flat orientation is the best choice.

Avoid sharp angles or excessively long overhangs as they might require supports or be prone to deformation.

Printing Material: Choose a suitable material for your application. PLA is common for prototypes, but if you need more strength, consider ABS, PETG, or Nylon. For specialized applications, you might consider materials like TPU for flexibility or resin for high resolution.

Wall Thickness and Infill: Adjust the wall thickness and infill of your design according to your needs. Parts that need to be stronger can have thicker walls and more infill, while less critical parts can be lighter.

Easy Assembly: Design parts that are easy to assemble without the need for additional tools. Consider using clips, bolts and nuts, or slot and tab systems to keep parts together.

Consider Tolerances: Take into account tolerances to ensure that the printed parts fit together properly. 3D printers can have some variability in the dimensions of printed parts.

Modular Structure: Divide the structure into smaller modules that can be printed separately and then assembled. This makes printing, troubleshooting, and part replacement easier.

Iterative Testing: Prototype and test with 3D-printed parts before printing the complete structure. This allows you to make adjustments and improvements to the design without wasting time and material.

Documentation: Document your design in detail. Provide clear assembly instructions, a parts list, and any additional information that might be useful for others looking to build the same robot.

Consider Functionality: Ensure that the structure can accommodate all necessary components, such as motors, wheels, sensors, and circuit boards.

Strategic Reinforcements: If needed, you can add reinforcements in critical areas of the structure to increase strength and durability.

Optimize for Weight: If mobility is a significant factor, look for ways to optimize the weight of the structure without compromising strength.

Respect Copyrights: If you are using pre-existing designs or third-party components, make sure to respect copyrights and relevant licenses.

The following files contain the parts that we need to print that are part of the Mini LUXO:

3D PRINTER: Creality K1

FILAMENT: SUNLU PLA Black

IMPORTANT: Because they are very small pieces and they will be in motion, it is recommended to use the minimum layer height allowed by the printer and print with 100% infill. For the other parameters see the images.

Once the 3D printer has finished its work, it is often necessary to work on the part itself: this is where post-processing comes in. Post-processing includes several steps on the cleaning of the parts. The goal is to remove all excess material.

The post-processing steps are:

• Support Removal
• Sanding
• Joining
• Priming & Painting

Tools that we are going to use in this step:

• Dremel
• Dremel 432 Sanding Band
• Dremel 932 Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone
• Dremel 9901 Tungsten Carbide Carving Bit
• Retracting-Blade Utility Knives
• Straight Rectangular File for Coarse Finish, 8" Long x 1/2" Wide
• Sanding Sheet with Paper Abrasive Backing, for Smooth Finish, 220 Grit
• Drill Bits: 0.7mm, 0.8mm & 0.9mm

Using a utility knife, carefully remove excess plastic from the printed parts. Using a drill bit, grind the clamp hole.

If you want to paint your lamp, this is the time to do it.

You can follow this tutorial:

Painting a 3D Printed Object

Before starting to assemble the LUXO lamp, we have to prepare the parts that we will need, the steps that we will have to carry out are:

• Get the bushings for the lamp supports.
• Cut and drill the carbon fiber rods.
• Cover the inside of the lamp with a reflective surface.
• Obtain and prepare cables.
• Solder and prepare the LED assembly.
• Cut the screw for the clamping clip.
• Modify the USB cable.

So let's start:

TOOLS:

Heat Insertion Tool For Plastic 3D Printer Soldering Iron

MATERIAL:

Wire Ferrule Terminal (AWG 22) x2

STEP:

With the Heat Insertion Tool, remove the pin from the isulated part.(Two pieces required)

TOOLS:

Dremel Cutting Disc

Measuring tape.

MATERIAL:

Carbon Fiber Square Hollow Bar 2x2x1x200mm (x4)

STEP:

• With electrical tape, join all the carbon rods to cut them simultaneously.
• With a measuring tape, mark 100 mm on the carbon fiber rods.
• Using a Dremel cutting disc, carefully cut the carbon fiber rods.

TOOLS:

Mini Hand Drill Bits 0.7, 0.8 & 0.9mm

Drill Chuck Keyless Mini 3-Jaw Adapter with Quick-change 1/4" Hex Shank

MATERIAL:

Carbon Fiber Square Hollow Bar (from the previous step)

STEP:

• Carefully using manually the drill chuck with a 0.7mm drill bit, drill both ends of the carbon fiber rods.
• After, do it again with de 0.8 & 0.9 drill bits.

TOOLS:

Mini Hand Drill Bits 0.7mm

Drill Chuck Keyless Mini 3-Jaw Adapter with Quick-change 1/4" Hex Shank

MATERIAL:

TWO Carbon Fiber Square Hollow Bar (from the previous step)

STEP:

• Carefully using the Dremel with a 0.7mm drill bit, make a slot in both ends of two carbon fiber rods.

Through these slots, we are going to pass the electric cable.

For the Heat-set inserts tutorial, follow this link

TOOLS:

Heat Insertion Tool For Plastic 3D Printer Soldering Iron

MATERIAL:

Heat-Set Inserts for Plastic, Brass, M3 x 4.2 mm, 3 mm Installed Length

3D PRINTER PART:

Clamp.stl

STEP:

Carefully using the insertion tool, install the insertion nut into the clamp as shown in the picture.

Now let's prepare the clamp.

TOOLS:

Wire Stripper Tool

Mini Hand Drill Bits 0.9 mm

MATERIAL:

M3x25 screw

Bushing (from step 9) x1

STEP:

• Using the wire stripper tool, cut off the head of the screw.
• With the mini hand drill bit, grind the hole and then place the bushing in its place.

TOOLS:

Heat Insertion Tool For Plastic 3D Printer Soldering Iron

MATERIAL:

Bushing (from step 9) x1

STEP:

Carefully using the insertion tool, install the Bushing into the base as shown in the picture.

MATERIAL:

Old stepper motor (Or any electric motor, or coil that has thin copper wire inside)

STEP:

• Disassemble the stepper motor to access its coils.
• Cut about a meter of copper wire fold it in half and twist the wire to form a thicker section.
• Repeat the previous step to get two cables.
• Identify one wire as negative and the other as positive.

NOTE: I used The stepper motor with two different colors: Reddish Copper and Natural Copper. I used the reddish copper wire for the positive and the natural copper wire for the negative.

TOOLS:

Sandpaper

Iron Solder

hot glue gun

MATERIAL:

High Power Led Chip 3W White (6000K - 6500K / 600mA - 700mA / DC 3V - 3.4V / 3 Watt) Super Bright Intensity SMD COB

Cables ( from the previous step)

STEP:

• Using sandpaper, gently remove the protective varnish from the ends of the cable, so that it can be soldered to the LED terminals.
• Identify the positive and negative terminals of the LED.
• Carefully solder the wire to the LED terminals. The wire identified as positive, solder it to the positive terminal of the LED, and the wire identified as negative, solder it to the negative terminal of the LED.
• Later, using a hot glue gun, glue the LED to the 3D printing part Led Support.

NOTE: This piece has guides designed so that the cables pass through there and can be passed through the hole in the head of the lamp without damaging the cables.

TOOLS:

Scissors

MATERIAL:

Aluminum adhesive tape

STEP:

• Cut small triangles from the aluminum tape the size of the reflector section of the lamp.
• Remove the protective sheet of aluminum tape and place these triangles inside the lamp, overlapping each other, until the entire interior of the lamp is covered.

Carefully pass the cables through the inside of the lamp head and take them out through the rear hole. Then pull the wires until you can place the Led Support inside the lamp head and tighten firmly.

NOTE: With the mini drill bit, make the hole in the Led Support to be able to place the lamp on its pivot using a pin.

TOOLS:

Soldering Iron

MATERIAL:

150 ohms resistance 1/4W

Heat shrink tube

STEP:

• Cut a USB cable and identify the positive and negative cables, cut the rest of the cables.
• Solder the resistor to the positive USB cable.
• Then cover it with the heat shrink tube.

This cable will be placed until the end...while it serves to test our LED.

Temporarily connect the cable we prepared in the previous step to the LED to test that it works correctly.

Now that we have everything ready, let's start assembling.

TOOLS:

Wire Stripper Tool

MATERIAL:

M3 screw (from step 13)

Pin

3D PRINTED PARTS:

Clamp.stl (from step 15 & 16)

Base Screw Clamp.stl

STEP:

• Place the Base Screw Clamp on the end where the screw was cut and screw it in tightly.
• Using a small drill bit, grind the hole for the pin.
• Pass the pin over the hole and fold the tip and cut off the excess with the Wire Stripper Tool. Look at the figure to see how to do it.
• Insert the Bushing (from step 9) into the corresponding hole. If necessary, apply a little quick-drying glue.
• Put the screw in place and you're done.

TOOLS:

Wire Stripper Tool

MATERIAL:

Pin

3D PRINTED PARTS:

lamp_head.stl (from Step 21)

pivot_joint.stl

STEP:

• Cut the pin to the required length to be able to insert it into the lamp (20 - 22 mm).
• Pass the pin through the hole in the pivot_joint and insert it into the hole you made in the Led Support (step 21).

TOOLS:

Wire Stripper Tool

MATERIAL:

Pin x3

Silver Micro Crimp Bead x3

3D PRINTED PARTS:

joint.stl x2

STEP:

• Pass the pins over the holes of a joint and the carbon fiber rods (struts) and the pivot. Then secure the pieces by placing the other joint over the pins and placing a micro crimp on each pin.

Follow the same instructions as step 27

TOOLS:

Wire Stripper Tool

MATERIAL:

Pin x4

Silver Micro Crimp Bead x6

3D PRINTED PARTS:

Clamp.stl

STEP:

• Place the spring supports as shown in the images.

Follow the same instructions as step 27

Now we have to place the "Springs" on the lamp. These have the function of keeping the lamp firmly in place regardless of the position in which we place it. Due to the difficulty of obtaining and/or making springs that have the required functionality, I have decided to use rubber bands.

MATERIAL:

Rubber Bands

STEP:

Carefully place the rubber bands in their respective places.

Carefully insert the lamp wire inside the carbon fiber tubes. The entry and exit of the wire are through the slots we made in the carbon fiber tubes in step 14. This is the most difficult step of all and requires a lot of patience.

NOTE: You can use the tip of a pin to guide the cable exit.

Finally, we are going to solder the USB cable that we prepared in step 22 with the cables that we just passed through the interior of the carbon fiber tubes...and...

THAT'S IT...

WE HAVE FINISHED BUILDING OUR LUXO MINI LAMP.

This project has been one of the most enjoyable in all its steps, from design to construction. The challenge of being able to run the cables through a small duct and have it work was a very pleasant experience. And getting all its parts to articulate precisely was quite a challenge. I hope that, like me, you enjoy creating your miniature replica of this iconic lamp.

Greetings from Mexico

Jorge Moreno