I’m quite happy with this ‘new’ desk lamp I made for myself, upcycled from an ugly-ass ikea desk lamp that I’ve had since forever:
![](https://www.maxpierson.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/0504192048-800x400.jpg)
The CFL lamp that it came with in 1999 or whatever finally burned out. I painted the arm with my favorite primer orange. For the head, I cut a channel in a piece of oak I found on the street to house the LED strip, which I cut down from some leftover manufacturer samples. I shaped the head with a spokeshave. I used the original mains voltage wires to run the 24V supply for the LED. I like how skinny and minimal I was able to make it:
![](https://www.maxpierson.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/20210203_DSC01310_1-800x446.jpg)
I realized after using it for a bit that it needed some more grab on the tilt knob, it had a tendency to slowly wilt downward. So I added some washers to increase the amount of surface area:
![](https://www.maxpierson.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/20210203_DSC01311-800x533.jpg)
Unfortunately I don’t have the can of orange primer anymore, so the washers are still unpainted. One of these days I’ll get to it.
The switch has a dimmer built in, I made the knob cover out of the same oak with a spokeshave, finishing up with a scraping card, leaving it attached to the larger block so that I had something to clamp onto:
![](https://www.maxpierson.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/0504192203-400x800.jpg)
One detail I’m particularly happy with is this brass handle I machined for the end:
![](https://www.maxpierson.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IMG_20210203_204545-651x800.jpg)
There are a zillion of these cheap arm lamps out there, as a fun weekend project you can make them into something really cool.
Nice work Max!