Brightening Things Up

[Dan Crabtree]

I have always wanted to do a lamp and have gotten use to working with tubing lately so I finally got around to it. Its not quite done yet, I need to secure the bulb and decide how i am going to finish it.

The hardest part was fishing the cord through the tube. Some of my friends an I hooked a vacuum to the bottom and sucked a shoestring into the tube. It went around the loop and out the other side. We then tied the cord onto shoestring and pulled it through.

This method was the only thing we could get to work after about 30 minutes of trial and error. Let me know what ya think.

Edited December 26, 2008 by Dan Crabtree
grammar

[MRobb]

That's a fine looking lamp there Dan! Post another pic when you have it finished. Thanks for posting!

[dablacksmith]

great idea with the shoestring! i like the lamp ! nice work.

[highlander]

hehe ive used a vacuum many many many times to fish through conduit that i cant shove a fish tape in. use a small diameter string like a fishing line and tie a light foam ball or cotton ball or whatever is the proper size for the pipe. go to the other side and turn on the vacuum! if you need heavier duty string, use the fishing line to pull your heavier string into the pipe.

[markb]

Dan

Also you can use soap to lube the wire and string for those tight pulls.

The lamp looks great!!

Start of a series?

[highlander]

Vaseline works as pulling lube as well. you DON'T want to use something that will eat at the jacket on the wire or the conduit/tubing. don't use motor oil!!! if you will be pulling a lot of wire(lots of lamps or a long windy run in a lamp) go to the store and buy wire-aide, clear glide or some other wire pulling lube specifically designed for the purpose.

[John Martin]

Looks great, keep up the work.

[Frosty]

Nice lamp.

Well done.

Frosty

[Dan Crabtree]

We tried the lube trick that didn't work, neither did just pushing a string or wire thru. Those are two great methods and much more practical but for such a tight bend it needed the vacuum. Did not know they made lube specifically for this wow, learn something every day.

Start of a series.... maybe. I imagine my next lamp will be similar in style but a floor lamp not a table lamp. Thanks for all the compliments. Happy hammerin

[frogvalley]

Nice lamp. Try running a piece of stranded or solid but flexible, bare copper or stainless wire in the pipe BEFORE you bend it. After bending and welding, use it to pull the proper wire through.

Lubricants for wire are much like astro-glide and the like, nothing fancy about them and they are water soluble. I don't recommend vaseline as it can damage the insulation on the wire upon long term exposure.

I've built dozens of custom lamps and chandeliers, some with intricate bends. 1/8" black iron pipe mostly, very tight. One reason that wire won't go easily through is not so much the bend, but penetration of a weld bead into the tube, or the weld that runs the length of the pipe. It creates a speed bump/road block. Deal with the pipe weld by sighting the weld and bending it so that it stays out of the way at tight spots.

Ask me how I now and I'll tell ya about cutting pipe out of a lamp that I could not fish wire through.

[Dan Crabtree]

Frogvalley how do you usually bend your pipe? I like the idea of running the wire through before bending the pipe. I sand pack my pipes before bending and was going to do that on a lamp, this piece originally was going to be a fountain and then after the pipe was bent I decided to go with a lamp instead. Will dish soap deterirate the coating? Because that is what I tried to lube it with before I tried using a vacuum.