Nerd Lamp

Hello everyone:)

I'm so lucky because i have two magnificent sister. The younger one had her birthday in the last month and she is a real gamer girl that's why i made her this "geek themed" lamp. I hope you will like it as much as she did. So let's start the work:)

Materials:

• 80*100 cm polywood sheet
• 80*20*2 cm wood sheet (you don't need all)
• 12 pcs 300 green LEDs
• 12 pcs 300 blue LEDs
• 12 pcs 300 red LEDs
• 8 pcs 120 ohm resistor
• 2 pcs 56 ohm resistor
• 1 pcs 390 ohm resistor
• some prototype pcb
• glue for wood
• some wire
• 1 pcs toggle switch
• 1 pcs 5.5*2.1 mm power dc conector
• 1 pcs LED power supply
• templates for the sides
• woodstain
• lacquer
• some heat shrink

Tools:

• wood saw
• jig saw
• glue gun
• drill
• dremel (you can replace it with a sandpaper)
• hole cutter (non-essential)
• 2 pcs brush (1 for the woodstain and 1 for the lacquer)
• soldering iron

First of all I needed the templates. You can find the pictures what i used at the bottom of this step (i choosed the zerg logo from starcraft the horde logo from world of warcraft and the rebels logo from star wars). I cutted out the shapes and drew around them. After that I dismembered the polywood sheet (20*40cm each plate). To cut out the shapes I used a jig saw, but when i cutted the zerg logo i drilled some hole for help the cutting. Because the jig saw could break the polywood when you try to cut out the little parts. After that I cutted a triangle (25*25*25 cm) for the bottom. And two smaller triangle ( 20*20*20 cm) these two parts needed for fix the plates. On the big triangle's center I drilled a hole for the wires. The last parts were the inner plates and the legs. 3 same inner plate (each is 16cm*11cm). For the legs I used the circle cutter and i cutted one with the saw. After the cutting I had to grind all the parts because of the splinters. After the grinding I used the woodstrain on every parts.

Attention: when you grinding or pickle something advisable wear a safety glass and gloves for your own safety.

The woodstrain needs couple of hours to dry. After that I put the lacquer on the bottom and top trinagles and the side plates(it only needs 1 hour to dry). It makes it looks cooler and protect the wood.

I had a 12 V LED power supply but i didn't have a ledstrip for it so i used 3 mm LEDs. After calculated the perfect resistors for the job soldered them to a prototype PCB. You can check the schematic on the picture. You can calculate with the Ohm's law or just search an online led calculator. When i finished the circuit i glued them to the plates and pulled out the end of the wires cross the bottom triangle's hole. Important testing the circuit before the assembling cause really hard fixing or replace it after the final step.

The first part i fixed was the zerg plate. I fixed it some nails. After that i glued the horde plate. It was an important step because of the inner plates. It makes easier to fix them with wood glue as you can see in the picture. After every inner plate was glued to the perfect position i glued the last side plate "the rebel plate". At this step i realized that the side plates don't connect perfectly, so i had to make 3 pcs small triangle (3*3*3 cm) and glue them to the adjacent plates. That step was a bit tricky because i had to use some books to hold the plates together as you can see in some picture:) And here is the final step soledered the wires to the dc connector and to the toggle switch i glued the switch and the connector to the bottom triangle and put the top triangle on the top. And the gift is ready:)

As you see it's not a complex lamp but looks really nice. My sister was so happy about it:) Some advice if you want to make something similar. If you use ledstrips they are make much easier the life. Less solder easier fixing and if you want you can program them. And iy you are lucky you have a lasser cuttur or some proper wood working tool which can make easier the cutting.

Thanks for wathcing and if you want me support please vote me in contest.

Have a nice day and happy making:)