Swing Arm Lamps

[Scott Bernstein]

Here are some pictures of two lamps I made for my kids' rooms. They were inspired by a similar design I saw in Fine Woodworking last year. The one with the straight arm I made several months ago, in Oak. The newer one I made with cherry, including a bent lamination for the curved swing arm. The bent lamination was the first such laminationI've tried - came out pretty well! 1/8" thick strips of cherry, an MDF mold, and a whole lot of glue... I machined a tenon on one end of the lamination and a mortise in the base with my pantorouter. The hollow wooden hinge pins I made with my Router Boss with a Z-axis drive motor and chuck by Sherline, Inc.

The bases are screwed into wall studs and have a sliding dovetail to accept the lamp.


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[Prashun Patel]

Nice! Where did you source the actual light, switch, and cord? I am making one of these with my daughter this summer. Any tips appreciated.

[Scott Bernstein]

Thanks!

The cord, plug, light socket, lamp shade, and switches came from colorcord dot com. The electrical cord itself seems good quality; the hardware not so much, but it does work and they make it easy to do the connections, with good on-line instructions.

I had initially thought to use a glass lampshade. However, being above a child's bed I was worried about the possibility of glass breakage or someone hitting their head on it, so I went with the fabric shade.

Consider adding a dimming switch, rather than just a simple on-off.

[Bill Carey]

Nice work Scott - that bent lamination lamp is really nice - like it a lot. Very graceful. And thanks for the colorcord.com resource - some lamps are in my near future and I'll certainly be looking at that web site.