Simple Light Panel
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I got an LED panel for my workbench and decided to give it a wooden touch. The base was an old wooden cabinet door that left me with almost no woodworking (sorry).
The door consisted of a double frame with two panels. The panels sat in a rebate and were nailed and glued. However, the glue must have vanished into thin air, I only found some traces after tapping out the panels. The inside of the door must have been delicious for the woodworms, the outside is fairly untouched. Both sides were varnished with an alcohol based, er, varnish, that crumbled away under my scraper. There was a step all around the door, that I planed off, because the outside corner was in real bad shape.
Unfortunately, I made a mistake when measuring the length of the long sides, I forgot to add the width of the short sides. So I could not make tenon joints. Two corners are originally tenoned, the other ones are just stub joints, screwed and glued. This is, when I decided to give it a shabby look, dark and with rough corners.
After some fine tuning, the LED panel fit in quite well. I used a variation of turn buttons to secure the panel.
Now I have stained the wood dark again and started pore filling with shellack and pumice. The finish will be an oil polish. It will take forever to dry, but the lamp will also work with a soft surface. Right now, the frame is quite dark. If I don’t like it, I will plane down to fresh wood. On the sides, where I had planed off the step, the grain looks quite nice.
There isn’t much more to say. I made a few pictures, so you finally know, what I am talking about.
I am not sure yet, how to mount the lamp. It could go on a wall, but facing down, or I suspend it on wires from the ceiling. I could also hinge it to a wall and adjust the angle with a wire.
Dieter
PS: The last photo shows two pieces of the frame as it was originally.
PPS: The light was off, when I took the fotos, it only seems so bright, because the wood is so dark.-
This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by
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This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by
Perhaps you can see some ondulations on the upper inside corner of the frame, in the third picture. This is, where the lock was. Today, I fit in a piece of wood to fill that. The hole was too big, even for a shabby look. And I actually think, I will refine the frame, take off the dark stain and make it “nice”.
Attached two pictures of the filled in hole. The filling piece is a bit proud of the surface and will be planed down when the glue is completely dry. I used hide glue because it is easier to remove excess and the colour matches the wood a bit better than PVA. On the inside of the frame, I need to fill a lot. It will be sawdust from the remaining frame, mixed with hide glue.
The third picture shows, how yummy the wood must have been for woodworms. This is not the original outside, there was a step of at least 1/4″, covering half the width.
Last picture shows the grain of the wood. I like it, and so I will most probably remove the current finish and plane down to fresh wood (or woodworms), then try a shellack polish.
Dieter
If this got your interest, keep looking. The next post will be the final one, with pictures etc. I have planed the frame down to fresh wood and finished filling the gaps at the lock recess. I used sawdust with hide glue as a filler, works fine and can be planed too. And it blends in fairly well with the fresh surface.
Dieter
I call this project finished now. The principle works and I needed a good light source quickly. So I left the wood as it is, inserted the lamp, connected and secured the cables and mounted the thing to the wall above my workbench. Two hooks on the wall go into o-rings on the long sides of the frame. A third hook in the center, 30 cm higher, connects to another o-ring at the front center of the frame, with a string. Quick and dirty, I have ideas for a nicer look, but that is a different story, I will make a new frame or veneer the old one, then make less obvious holders for the wall.
But this is very good light for the workbench, a bit shabby, but better than anything else, I ever had. I also changed the LED-driver to one that is controlled by a push button, so I can even dim the light.
The first image is with the room light on, the second one only the light panel.
The last foto shows the button-in-a-block, which was actually real woodworking. I had to cut a recess, about 12 x 8 mm wide and 20 mm deep, and the slot for the cables.This is temporary only, so the power cable on the wall doesn’t bother me.
Well, I think, this was quite a bad introduction to a good idea. Perhaps, someone gets inspired to make it better. By the way, if you know a little about LEDs, you can even make the panel by yourself and save more money. You only need to provide some chunk of metal (an aluminium frame for example) to get the heat off the LEDs.
Dieter
PS: The wiring looks a bit wild, but it is safe.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by
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This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by
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This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by
As ugly as it is, this is very good light for working! Once my workbench is finished, making a new frame or improving this one, will be one of the very first projects.
If anyone is interested, let me know here, and I will upload fotos, when it is really finished.
Dieter
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This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by
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