The 6th Annual BLF / Old Lumens - Handmade - MtnDon's Entry (fini)

Wow your on a role mate most of us are just starting lol

Time to replace the rubber bands with dowels and glue…

The brown stuff is liquid “hide” glue. It has a long open or work time compared to more common yellow wood glues. That makes it easier to assemble the multiple pieces. The drawback is mainly that it is not waterproof, so no IP rating on this light, and that it is not quite as strong.

Multiple clamps with a rubber band temporary assist.

Some parts came in today’s post. The square piece of sheet copper I had lying about. I drilled a center 3/8” hole and 4 smaller ones for screws to secure this plate to the underside of the wood upper plate, inside the lantern.

The 2 copper discs were purchased from Bopper metal online; 18 gauge, 3 inch diameter. I drilled the 3/8” center holes.

The brass cylinder is a 1/8” IPS (internal pipe size) all threaded nipple. FYI, it has an OD of 3/8”. It and the three pieces above all came from grandbrass.com. They sell a wide assortment of parts used for electric household lamps. All sorts of bits and pieces for DIY building or repairing of lamps. The copper hoop is drilled and tapped to accept the1/8” IPS nipple. The two small cylindical copper items are 3/4” diamter x 3/4” long. One is drilled completely through and tapped 1/8” IPS while the other is drilled partways and tapped leaving a solid cap-like end.

The mcpcb is from mtnelectronics and has a Nichia 219C 3000K emitter.

A close up of the nipple, spacer and cap……

The mcpcb is glued to the copper cap using arctic alumina thermal adhesive.

Voila! The rubber band is to keep the shoji screen frames from falling out. There will be pins installed later to hold them. Illustrated is the copper heat sinking for the led.

The discs are spaced with 1/8” thick copper washers I found at my local True Value Hardware store. You may note that I have trimmed the length of the upper ends of the 4 corner stiles.

Next we can see the 4 x 4 ” copper plate on the underside of the upper plate. The cap is threaded onto the nipple. Then the 3/4” thick copper spacer is threaded on above the 4 x 4 plate. That spacer is hidden in the hole drilled through the center of the upper wood plate. Then on the outside the round discs are slid on with the 1/8” washer spacers, with the hoop screwed on top. The lantern can be held by the hoop as well as hung.

So from the mcpcb to the copper hoop there is, in effect, a solid copper path for heat distribution and dissapation., clamped together by the brass nipple threaded inside the copper parts.

Wow, that’s neat-o and nifty! :student:

I would have never thought of that, or anything like it. Nice work! How tightly do those copper parts interface with each other? Would it make any improvement if you put some Arctic Alumina between them?

Thanks.

The surfaces are quite smooth, but I was thinking of applying a tiny dab of AA between mating surfaces. Not that there will be a lot of heat; maximum current is 1.4 amps and likely it will be run at 50% of that most often.

If you mean the mount for the led and the heat sinking, it took me a lot of pondering the problem over months before I thought of the lamp parts. Then I got really lucky when I found that seller as most only have steel or brass parts with some having copper plated items. The ones I got are solid copper. FYI the threaded nipples come in many lengths as well as 3 or 4 foot long sections. There are also two other larger diameters.

I have another 4x4 piece of copper sheet that I may polish up and mount on the inside face of the bottom plate to see if it makes the illumination any nicer, warmer with the reflection.

That might be a good idea :+1:

Well, funny thing. I’m a licensed electrical contractor. I’ve installed lots of different ceiling fixtures (luminaire they’re called now). I’ve also seen lots of those lamp parts at Lowe’s. I’ve even used some of those all-threaded nipples before. But I still woulda never thought to put an LED into a lantern the way you did. :person_facepalming:

The really genius part was having a flat cap on the end of that nipple on the inside, and putting a MCPCB on it. That’s the part I’m sure I’d never think of doing. :crown: :+1:

I agree. In fact, it’s probably a great idea. :wink:

Man, that is looking so cool MD. Saying I admire your skills would be an under statement. :heart_eyes:

For sure. Those are some serious skills in order to keep everything that consistent and even looking.

MRsDNF, gchart, and all…. thank you very much for the kind words. :blush:

I just did a test stain on some of the pine cutoff pieces. I’m trying the black/ebony. I think it may look nice with the copper.

:+1:

The point of no return, as far as color choice….

Yes, it is black. Or ebony as the can label reads. :wink:

I have stained lots of other stuff black on that cardboard :smiley: Pardon the glare please

Yeah, I think that’s the right color choice. :crown: :+1:

I love how unique this build is. Great work :heart_eyes:

Missed a bit :smiley:

Good choice of lacquer color. :+1:

Wow, very impressed with your woodworking abilities. Beautiful looking lantern so far.

Nice work and write-up! Love the construction process!