Making lamps
I really like to make lamps, but I struggle to finish them because all roads point me towards wanting to pour concrete for the base or stand. I like some wood finishes, but metal or concrete bases appeal the most. I'm not going to go cast a metal base, or get a solid chunk of brass and CNC my way to it, but I can pour concrete. I think.
I found blindly stumbled upon colorcord and am excited to order some parts from them, especially the cloth wrapped cord. I also want a high quality switch, whether a rotary dimmer switch or a nice feeling toggle switch. Imaging flipping a light on with this knurled brass switch:
I've found STLs for nice lamp shades, which when printed thin do not look like PLA but instead like a paper defying physics.
It's always the base that kills me, though. But with colorcord parts I think I can 3d print out the various connectors and molds for the base.
It's common that people create a blank and pour silicon around that, rather than create the mold directly in PLA but I've read enough posts from people who skip the silicon for simple shapes. For this lamp, I just want a fully rectangular base with minimal decoration. I'm going to print each side of the mold separate, but have them connect together. When the concrete is done curing, hopefully I'll be able to detach each side of the mold easily and remove the individual parts. This wouldn't work with rounded and complex shapes that well, so I'll eventually have to do the silicon blank mold.
