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Upcycled light shade

Dave-1
Community Megastar

Upcycled light shade

I was lucky enough to see on one of the local Facbook pages someone giving away some old school glass tube styled chandeliers. There was no way I could hang the lights in a standard ceiling height as the length without the hanging chain was around 700mm but I had ideas! So as usual the ideas hang out for ages and then it was time...

 

I made two different styled but the same type of lampshades, held up with the ceiling light batton fixture so no Electrican required. Best bit I still have 1/3rd of the glass tubes still to be used!

 

I also reused some finger arms from inside dismantled computer hardrives :smile: They sparkle so why not...

Materials

Reclaimed lampshades

Recovered chandeliers

3 boxes 50mm Paperclips

Hard drive reader arms.

Hard drive spindle lock nuts

Epoxy Enamel Black spray paint.

2 of Chlorine buckets of gravel, traded for the ewaste...

Tools

Long nose pliers

Scissors

Stanley knife

Steps

Step 1

I had a look around for some fancy new lights for my newly renovated foyer and hall 

Front door and entrance foyer update 

Bookcase retrofit 

that would fit the bill. The closest I came to something that glittered and looked classy was a $130 lampshade and a $110 lampshade. So I decided that was my upper limit if my rebuilt lampshades did not work out then I had a plan B.

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Plan B lights if my ideas didnt work out... Thankfully I didnt need to go to Plan B :smile: (tho they are nice)

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I went looking for old lampshades, didnt care how they looked as I wanted the metal frame. I was lucky to get 4 of them as I asked one of the Salvation Army members if they had any broken lamp shades and explained why I wanted them :smile: Bargin price for stuff they couldnt sell :laugh: Was stoked!

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Cutting out all the old shade, discovered rust on some of the metal, was going to sand them anyway.

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Measured them all, and culled some from this post :smile: Its handy to have the measurements in your pocket if needed. And photos dont weigh anything :smile:

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The main distances I was after was height, width and looking back at the project, the distance from the center ring to the ceiling... Yeah that one is important... You will see why..

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Note the center ring support, its not level with the bottom rim, more a table lampshade then a ceiling lampshade. But maybe not...

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Note how the metal frame has the peak, great for a ceiling lampshade.

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My pick up off the side of the road from one of my local Facebook groups that I was lucky to grab first :smile:

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Bunnings aisle cruising, looking for bits to hang the rings, glass tubes. Pretty much anything that would support the glass tubes.

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Ideas for my snooker table overhead light...

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Plan C option, I actually have 2 of these tho larger versions of this from Ikea in my Libary and they are really nice.

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More snooker table light ideas...

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Could potentially cut a hole in the middle and hang the glass as a forest...

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I always take two pics, one of the item, one of the price. It makes it easier to cost the poject.

Step 2

Time to see if the idea would actually work, I used 50mm large paper clips as my interlocks, whether they are closed, partialy opened or straight they seem to fit standard spacing.

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Three hangers and it sits well, I was cheering at his point.

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Time to sand back the rust and spraypaint the metal rings.

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Autumn weather is coooold, had to leave the rings outside overnight for the paint to dry.

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Had this on my shelf, leftover from an old project so reused it :smile:

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Dusty as and fiddly to pull apart, worth it but the dust was intense and sticky with age.

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All parts ready to go, I was concerned about overall weight of the lampshade. But thought wait and see.

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repitition was the name of the game, It took around 2hrs + to put the lot together

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Testing to make sure it fits half way through, I was stitching the tubes on and thought it might be wise to check...

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Second half being installed.

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Much nicer!

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Very happy with the effect :smile:

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Ceiling light plus bookcase lights on.

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Cant get better then that!

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The paperclips really are not noticible when you look at the lamp.

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I was surprised at how it turned out, maybe a little 70's ish but with a twist :smile:

 

Step 3

One of my work mates likes to dismantle ewaste and I happend to see boxes of it :smile: So traded some gravel for some sparkly bits... Yes he though I was crazy :laugh:

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Hardrive platter readers, A hardrive has several shiny spindals insid eit and these arms/fingers ride just over the top of the platter. They aqre shinny!

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Sorting out same same from his pile of stuff.

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Differnt model, different arms

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Locking nuts, potential future quite chimes but sharp windchime...

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Time to dismantle the second light

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Tools and parts reay to go.

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Why do I start late in the night... Clock on the right is the right time...

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Bottom ring done.

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Pretty happy :smile: 

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After a bit of midification, remember when I said the distance from the center ring to ceiling was important... Yeah this is where it bit back lol My work around was to bend each arm in towards the center which dropped the top rings height enough that the screw fitting could be done up. Its snug at the moment so really I should bend it a little more.

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Feeling very happy that its done...

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Not 100% sold on the ewaste parts but will let it go for awhile and see if they grow on me.

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Oh yeah, they can stay...

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:laugh: lol second life at least 

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The 50mm paperclips really dissapear into the light so you cant see them.

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Need to switch out a frosted bulb for a clear bulb. Sadly so many "interesting" bulbs are edison screw (ES) and I have bayonette fittings (BC)

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Frosted bulb still

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The overall look and feel... :laugh:

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Switched over to a clear bulb :laugh: Oh yeah!

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Switched to a clear bulb and it was worth switching over, there is more definition in the chandeliers :smile:

EricL
Bunnings Team Member
Bunnings Team Member

Re: Upcycled light shade

Hi @Dave-1 

 

I was totally under the impression when I first saw it that you must have spent a fortune on chandeliers. That is truly an amazing D.I.Y assembly.

 

Eric

 

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Dave-1
Community Megastar

Re: Upcycled light shade

Morning @EricL 

:laugh: Now that is a compliment and that is a good one! :laugh: Thank you so much and now Im chuckling away to myself :smile:

 

Dave

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