The Nomad Reading Lamp

Let's just end this lampshade madness

Yes, of course you can't bend cedar, it likes to split (apparently most domestic softwoods aren't good candidates). So I pulled out a Birch slab from the compound shed. The Birch veneers bent nicely on the hot pipe. Really not sure where this lampshade ended up, but decided to just have some fun experimenting. If nothing else I've got a few ideas for the next one.

I pegged the parts together with bamboo skewers. Here's my jig for sizing the bamboo, a 7/64 hole drilled in some angle iron. The bamboo was still a hair oversize, I guess because the fibres compress a little, but a light pass on some sticky back sandpaper finished them off.

Spinning in Circles

Knocked up some loops for the lampshade frame.

This meant making some kind of circle form for the steam bend. I used the bandsaw circle cutting jig on fine woodworking, worked like a charm.

Not sure where we go from here. Way too many options. Mock up a few ideas. Staring. Thinking. Thinking some more. Scrap that idea. Another idea. Try that. hmmm. Maybe. No. Something else. Madness. Welcome to the rabbit hole.

The Framework

I think this will be some kind of lampshade frame. Maybe. Half Lap sweetness.

Loving my latest ghetto shooting board.

It's jig central around here. Knocked up a miter key box that can work on my sliding table. Also used the jig to glue up the miters before cutting the key kerf.

May as well throw some yellow cedar into the mix. Could come in useful. Cut some veneers from a one of Dan's chunks.

Straight off the Shelix baby.

Full Steam Ahead Kindof

The bending exploration continues. The clock goes round and round. I rigged up a steam box. Earlex make a quick and easy steam generator with hose and fittings. Not sure why I went with pine, other than it was cheap and easy. 3/4 ply is the way to go, the pine goes nuts with the heat & moisture.

This box is 8' long, maxing out the capability of the little steam generator, it takes about an hour to get up to the temperature needed, 212F, if it reaches it. Could add a second steam generator. or make a smaller box. The veritas metal backing strap would also be essential.

I still really like how much control there is over a bent lamination. No messing around with moisture content of the stock, kiln dried, air dried, no matter. But I can see a time a place for other methods...

going on a bender

Seem to be in an experimental phase. I rigged up a hot pipe bender, and played around with a few thin strips of wood.

Business Time

After playing with the bent lamination, it was time to get down to business.

A little zero clearance sled on the sliding table to cut the half laps for the lamp base, a case of sticking some mdf to the fence with double stick tape. Not sure I'd get anything done around the shop without double stick tape. Here's where you get it:
http://www.nhsmedia.com/doublesidedtapes.htm#IT591

After roughing out, the handy router plane steps in to fine tune the depth of the half laps.

Some creative routing, like riding a roller coaster.

 Shop made dowelling jig to help position parts.

Free-handing the doweling on the mortiser.

Joinery into the base.

Fine tuning a rather awkward stick.

Further Explorations.

I started doodling in my sketch book, and a computer drawing, and playing with some lines on a piece of 1/4" mdf. I'd like to come away with a reading lamp in the end, we'll just have to see what materialises.

Try cross cut this load without a sliding table, 2' X 8'. Cutting some chunks of 3/4" mdf for a bent lamination form.

Laminating the chunks of mdf together for a 1.5" form in my makeshift press. I've tried explaining to my glue-up buddy that it's not possible to read and glue stuff at the same time. Voracious bookworm.

Using the 1/4" mdf female pattern and a template guide on the plunge router to rout a 1/4" or so groove in the form. I used a 1" diameter straight bit, the same as my planned thickness of the stack of laminations, critical.

Once the two parts of the form were separated on the bandsaw, I cut as close to my line as I dared, then loaded the whiteside. The bearing of the whiteside rides on the surface routed from the template, and cleans things up to a perfect 90.

Finally decided which plank to sacrifice, prep some stock and start milling laminations.

The marks cut into the end of the stock helps keep the laminations in the same orientation as they were in the plank. I also make pencil lines across the face marking the grain direction to help when sending the laminations through the planer.

The two part form waiting for laminations.

I managed to hit the 1" target for total thickness of all the laminations, you want to be exact here, the inside and outside radius of these elaborate curves is vastly different. These laminations were 60" long, surpassing the 48" maloof rockers.

There it is, possibly some kind of lamp part.