Ikea led "machine light" - my take

[jcs0001]

Another small project completed a while back.  We happened to visit Ikea near Vancouver - we don't have one locally - and I picked up three of these lights.  Two black for the shop and one for my wife - she liked the gaudy version



I often use wood (in this case birch ply - I have lots of scraps) because it's easy to machine with my woodworking tools.  In this case it works as well or better than metal so that's what I used.



This one has 4 1/2 in. rare earth magnets imbedded into the base.


This one has 3 1/2 in. magnets imbedded into the base.  I drilled a slightly undersized hole and pressed them in with the vise - so far no problems with them coming out.  This light is for my small mill and grips the metal plate on the wall very well.  The taig mill does not have a lot of steel available so this was my option.


This was a very short project but the two lights work very well and are easily portable.  If there is no steel machinery within reach I can always use a small plate of steel to place them in other areas of the shop.

John.

[awemawson]

I have two of the same lights mounted either side of my Bridgeport quill. I mounted the goose necks onto brackets. Good light but the necks tend to be slightly too floppy. I have another mounted on the headstock of my lathe

[howsitwork?]

good idea that. Think I'll try the Leeds branch as it's a bit closer but if you'de only mentioned it before we went to Victoria last month we could have got a few!

What a wonderful place Canada is...

regards Ian

[jcs0001]

Andrew - I also find them a bit floppy particularly if used on the wall mount.  When mounted on the horizontal they work pretty well.

I figure that a "ghetto" fix would be to tape a piece of solid #12 copper wire to the flexible part or do the same with some Lok-line.  So far I haven't had to do that.  In order to make it "elegant" one could use black tape

Ian - glad to hear you enjoyed Canada.

John.

[jcs0001]

As mentioned by Andrew to neck on these lights can be a bit floppy.  The horizontal mount one is ok but the one mounted on the wall near my mill does flop a bit.

I obtained a short scrap of #10 house wire today and stripped off the outside insulation to give me one black insulated, one white insulated and one bare ground wire.  In the next little while I will tape one of these onto the flex part of the light and see how it works.  I don't think I can use shrink wrap but will keep that in mind.  Pictures once it is done.

John.

[jcs0001]

An update.  I've taped the bare ground wire (from the #10 wire I stripped the other day) to the flexible part of the light, drilling a small hole in the base to anchor it.  It seems to be a little less floppy now and I won't be moving it a lot once it is mounted next to my mill again.

Wire with outer casing:


Taped to the light:


I may add a bit more tape if it is required but I like the intermittent copper look.

John.

[howsitwork?]

Nice one John! 

Might have to try that adaption once sorted out, bit busy shifting / reorganizing currently.

Regards Ian