DIY LED Home Lighting

Home lighting evolution had come a long way from Edison's first incandescent bulb to fluorescent lamps to today's LEDs. And LEDs have also come a long way from tiny indicator lights in electronic equipment and car dashboards. They're now in our flash lights, cars and now finding their way more and more into our homes.  There are LED light bulbs and LED tubes to replace fluorescent fixtures but they're still quite costly - definitely more expensive than regular incandescent and fluorescent lights. BUT LED strips that come in 16 feet and bulk in rolls of 50 to 150 ft length are now widely available online and ...

More significantly they've come down in price and much more user friendly.  Only tool I used here is a pair of scissors. Yes, they can be cut to length and more significantly, soldering is a thing of the past with the new breed of lighting kits. As late as a couple of years ago I had to solder cut joints.

Only negative, if I must come up with one, is that they are much too bright if viewed directly head on - too glaring for most folks to stare at directly.  However, they're perfect for upward indirect lighting, counter lighting and desk lamps.  What does LED have to do with woodworking? Some woodworkers are converting their shop lights, task lights for close up work are now mostly LEDs and, of course, they're perfect for custom desk lamps as I have done in earlier projects (check archived blog or open link below):  

http://easywoodworking-tolerba.blogspot.com/2015/10/led-desk-lamp-30.html

Advantages of strip LED lighting: (a) very low power consumption and so efficient that most of the energy is converted to light and very little to heat (it is actually cool to the touch; (b) bendable to fit contours and can be cut to length; (c) no glass bulb to shatter or break; (d) long hours of operation many times over the life of incandescent or fluorescent bulbs.

One of the fluorescent lamp fixtures above the display/book shelves in the library had a burned out capacitor. Capacitors can be replaced (done them in more than one occasion) but this time I decided to replace the entire fixtures with LED

I ordered two kits, each a roll of 16.4 feet with a low voltage 12 volt adapters, extra connecting clamp and a couple of plastic connectors.  Each kit was $15 but you can order the lights only for half that ($7.50).  

If you did not throw away old and obsolete electronic equipment that accumulated over the years, some of those adapters can be used, provided their output DC voltage is 12 V, which by the way is a common voltage.  9 volt output adapters will work too but the light output will be diminished a bit.

Instructions were very clear. Pictures speak for themselves. To cut, make sure to make them at one of many marked interval sections.

One end of the strip has a connecting clamp that will plug into the adapter.

Remove the paper backing to expose the adhesive.

A pair of scissors easily cut away the extra length.

The adapters are shown plugged into the power outlet.  These adapters can handle AC input of anywhere from 100 to 220 volt outlets.

With the strip light turned off

Indirect lighting, as the term suggests, provide soft diffused illumination.  In this case, the strip lights are hidden from eye level view.  Once turned on, soft but ample lighting will illuminate the entire room. 

Next project is to replace fluorescent fixtures by the ceiling in the living room area (on the off position). 

Fluorescent light fixtures are hidden from view but the bulbs and/or capacitors need to be replaced from time to time.

The excess strip, about 1-1/2 foot long, will be part of a future desk lamp project. Here I just used one the several old adapters from obsolete electronic devices. 

Below are some of the previous desk lamp projects. In 2015 I was able to buy a few samplers from a manufacturer that provided various short strips of varying light effects and brightness to give consumers ideas on what to expect from LED. I will be revising the lamp designs so it's time to make some revisions (Next blog later)

Special Tip in Construction

From the blog archive you will find, "Quick Projects with Fewest Tools", were pocket holes were used exclusively to join the parts of this stand but it was not quite finished.  For an explanation this blog finishes the project after two years.

Two years ago I did the above project with pocket hole joinery with the intention of adding a removable shelf half way down supported by the middle rails. I did not get around to doing it although later on another project I did construct a couple of middle shelves with center holes to accommodate non-draining pots for plants (see next two photos below).

The shelves were notched to fit perfectly with all the four corners where the legs extend downwards from top to bottom.

Creating the notches on the shelf to get around the four legs is typically done one particular way. Cut the shelf to its rectangular dimension and then with a two-cut operation at the table saw all four notches are created. The problem with that method is cutting the notches with the work piece vertically on its edge along the table saw. Most woodworkers are not comfortable doing that. There is another way.

Preparing the stock by joining a few scrap pieces of pine.

Cut the board to the dimension to fit accurately within one inside width.

One width of the board fits within two opposing legs as shown. Cut one piece that fits along the rail as shown and another one for the opposite side

Note the exposed rail in this photo. A piece cut to that dimension will cover it up and once glued (next photo) to the board, a perfect notch is created.

Micro Projects

Most hobbyist woodworkers are likely to be generalists, except for a few who specialize - as in turning bowls, making pens, toys, etc. The advantage of specializing, of course, is that one gets to build up a focused skill to near perfection overtime. A generalist, on the other hand, gets to "dabble" with fresh ideas all the time and gets to vary the size or scope of his/her projects. The generalist will go from heavy furniture - beds, tables and desks - to knife stands.

If I were to classify scopes of woodworking from the stand point of size and setting a specific genre for comparison, as in in-door planters, then I will classify them into Large, small and micro projects.

The above is a large project and although it has many separate individual parts, it has a huge center post that would take two persons to carry.

Individually each piece above would be considered a small project.

While large projects take patience, micro projects require one to do detail work, however simple the process is, because these are the ones that people would hold up close and look at with attention to the smallest detail.

The good news with micro projects is that, often, scrap wood will suffice. 

These two pieces shown (above and below) only seem complicated but you'd be surprised at how simply the arch, for example, was made. When I first thought of the project I had no idea at first as to how to make the arch.

Pieces of left over wood  from drawer faces in the previous project were the materials used here. 

I hardly show dimensions in my blog because I leave it to my readers to use the techniques to their specific needs or make modifications of their own and not be restricted by set measurements. 

1. Cut two identical squares

2. Bevel two opposing sides of the squares to 45 deg.

3. Cut a circle in each square

4. Split both squares exactly in half.

5. A shallow rabbet cut on the edges opposite the arch will form the "lips". Join and glue the four pieces with the arches down. Tip: I kept the cut off pieces when the bevels were made. I cut short pieces and glued them to the inside corners to strengthen the joinery.

Checking for fit before clamp-banding.

The glass vases (which were originally for Anniversary/Valentine, etc. cut flowers) are already attractive vessels for non-draining planters. The micro projects merely enhance their looks akin to settings supporting a gem stone on a piece of jewelry.

Above is an example of several micro projects done over a period of time. Bunched together  now as a cluster of hexagonal planters it has become a small project. As time allowed I made one or two of the hexagons at a time (check blog archive on "hexagonal planters") but sticking to a consistent dimension for a particular size non-draining pot. The compact cluster  of plants under a grow light fixture occupies a corner of a mere footprint 28 X 28 inches square.