Lodge
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18W Goldeye / 52W R&C LED front door lighting
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At bare minimum use something like this https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/3-350820-2/A27824-ND/288054 It might not be the right size but they have lots to chose from at digikey I just guessed its 0.25 of an inch tabs and 14 to 16 AWG wire, and you can also find them at big box hardware stores as well, or you can use heat shrink tubing and shrink it around them, and this also wouldn't be a bad idea over the wire nuts so they don't fall off accidentally. Depending on the size of the base you might be able to find something like a test cap in the plumbing section of a hardware store or a round lid from a plastic container and then just glue on a sheet of that thin craft foam from a dollar store (i thinks it's called Wonderfoam) on the bottom so it doesn't scratch the table top and this also gives it a bit of friction so it doesn't slide around, and it looks better then a yogurt container lid looks.. |
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sol
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You could do away with the current base, transplant the ballast, cap and ignitor in one of these enclosures and make a hole in the cover for the existing gooseneck. Just make sure you get a metal one (obviously). It is heavy enough on its own to support your lamp, the added weight of the ballast will only make it sturdier. There is plenty of space on the surface to put a switch. Shop around, here in Canada you see it is listed at 33 dollars on Home Depot but the local electrical supplier sells it for 6 dollars. If the grey doesn't match the other parts of the lamp, it's nothing a quick spray of paint cannot fix. |
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HomeBrewLamps
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Alright, yeah i will try to get that squared away soon, honestly i like both of your ideas kindof stuck between which one i wanna act on, Also, I've built a new lamp too, this one is a MH room light, i will try to sneak the camera and take pics soon  |
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~Owen
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Lodge
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| Neither of us will be offended either way you go, it's your light.. We both just don't want you to be electrocuted from an exposed live wire...
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sol
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If you go the box route, you will need some protection on the bottom to avoid scratching table tops as Lodge mentioned. One thing to consider : you are using a magnetic ballast. You will need to bolt it firmly in the box (you will need to drill holes for this). You can use the holes that go through the stack of plates. If for whatever reason you decide to just put the ballast in the box without bolting, it will still work but the enclosure will amplify the ballast vibrations making the setup equivalent to sound rated D or worse (is there a sound rating Z ?  ) I've tried and it gets very annoying very fast. |
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HomeBrewLamps
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| I have access to junkyards which have a lot of box-like items like these , (this is also where i got the guts for the lamp) i could go that route, im thinking it would look cooler too (i like my stuff looking utilitarian) but also covering the bottom is a lot simpler I'm not sure, I think i'll cover the bottom with the method lodge mentioned for now until I have time to scavenge for more components, then i'll try to put that box together, The current base of the lamp is okay, but I've noticed that the goose neck kindof leans no matter how much i torque down on the bolt holding it in place, the plastic is just too bendable so i think the box would serve a whole lot better, plus with the box i could take the thing outside which would be nice in certain instances.
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~Owen
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suzukir122
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| Well now... seems like some else had the idea of making a desk lamp much cooler, although my idea isn't quite the same, or as cool as this.
I made high power factor trigger start desk lamps, by installing HPF trigger start ballasts into F15 fluorescent desk lamps which were normally
manual-start. I too, have that problem of not having a switch installed into either one of those lamps, but I simply installed a three pronged
plug into all of them, grounded each desk lamp and plugged them into six outlet power strips. (Two separate power strips to try to avoid overload.)
Not quite as cool as your idea but definitely still cool. 7 lamps altogether.
I too, do not like the idea of having boring CFL lamps lighting my place, so my kitchen and living room are all lit with rapid start fluorescent,
and my bedroom is lit by 3 small 20w metal halide track lights, and one 25w PAR38 self-ballasted metal halide from Philips.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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Mercurylamps
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240V 50Hz
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sol
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| I'm liking this idea more and more. Keep us posted, I'm always curious to see the results.
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suzukir122
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| I agree with Sol.
Matter fact... a video of this in action would be great.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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HomeBrewLamps
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| I will try to catch a vid of it during warmup for you guys eventually, i need to get my hands on a camera though.
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~Owen
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HomeBrewLamps
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~Owen
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HomeBrewLamps
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heres my newest lamp, it is a 175W MH room lamp, I used the box from an old 400W highbay i found out in the junkyard, and mounted the 175W ballast and cap in there, i also was lucky enough to have the bolt that usually would connect the lamp post to an ordinary bas fit in where the old socket on the box used to be, used an old toroid as a spacer (the yellow dough nut looking thing) and I used an assembly for a heat lamp as the top, it looks a lot like one of those utility lamps.... now all i need to do is get a bulb that is made for open fixtures...  also due to lack of creativity the title is now what you had previously clicked on.... any suggestions for a title would be nice lol. |
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« Last Edit: June 19, 2017, 07:31:05 PM by ow346 »
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~Owen
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sol
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| Now, you're giving me ideas...
The stem, is it ordinary black iron pipe ? How did you mount the heat lamp reflector on this ? And finally, how sturdy is it ? (shouldn't be too bad given the weight of the ballast).
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Lodge
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18W Goldeye / 52W R&C LED front door lighting
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| it's kinda got that steampunk look only with less brass and valves..
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