If you go through my instructables page, you'll notice I published a lot of lamp projects over the years. That's because I absolutely love lamps. I think good lighting makes a huge difference, and it's the first thing I notice in a room. Light can be calming and soft, which is appropriate in living rooms or bed rooms, or super bright to help you focus in study rooms or a workshop.

Before buying my laser cutter, I used to try making all sort of lamps. They were nice, but they were never perfect in my eyes. I imagined one thing, and made something a bit different. I was happy with my projects, but there was always a small bit of disappointment as well. This all ended when I got a laser cutter. Now I model my creations, and the results are identical to my imagination. I love it. So if you're reading this and never used a laser cutter before, don't stop reading! If I were you I'd search for maker spaces are me to find access to a laser cutter for my next project.

In this instructable we'll be making a laser cut desk lamp designed to radiate warm, soft light.

In this instructable

I'll show you how I design for laser cutting, including a few tricks.
You'll find free files to my design.
I'll walk you through the simple assembly steps.

I hope you follow along and enjoy this project, and if you have any questions or comments, I'll be happy to reply to all of them!

Supplies

For this project you'll need:

3mm thick plywood - about 320mm by 410mm in total (12.6" by 16.2").
5.7mm thick plywood - about 310mm by 170mm in total (12.2" by 6.7"). If you need DXF's for 6mm plywood, let me know (my 6mm plywood turned out to be 5.7mm...)
Wood glue.
A lamp socket with a wire and a switch (like this one). I used E27 which is pretty standard.
A nice light bulb. I used 'Edison' bulbs (ordered from this link).
A small bit of metal wire (optional).

** Note that the links above are affiliate links, which means I may get some $$ for referring you to those products, at no additional cost to you. These products were tried-and-tested and 100% of the income goes to projects I share for free :) Feel free to use any alternative products **

Step 1: Design - Create Shape

Every design starts with an idea or inspiration. You can find inspiration online by using google images or pinterest, but be careful - once you search for ideas, it'll be very hard for you to find an original thought. This design was inspired by many laser cut lamps I saw over time.

To design my projects, I start by looking around the house, looking at objects and thinking 'I want my lamp to be bigger than this' or 'smaller than that'. Then, I measure their sizes and begin modeling my design.

This design is a simple one - it has what we call cylindrical symmetry. This means that it has a major axis around which everything looks symmetric. Cylindrical objects are very easy to model, and I'll walk you through the process of modeling such designs. You can use whatever CAD software you like (Fusion 360 is a great choice).

Start by creating a sketch. Define the axis of symmetry of your project by creating a line (see first image).
Now draw what ever shape you want to be revolving this axis of symmetry. I wanted to make a set of parallelograms, so I drew one.
Add volume to the shape you made by extruding (see second image). I set the thickness to 3mm, which suited my design.
Now use the 'circular pattern' function to create a set of copies of the shape you made. You'll have to decide how many copies of your part you want - I used 40 which was just dense enough for my design (see GIF). TIP - I rotated the parallelogram by 45 degrees before making a circular pattern. This rotation looks pretty, but more importantly - it controls how much light is coming off the lamp. I wanted a soft light, and a 45 degrees did the job.

Now that the main part of the lamp is designed, we'll need to make some interlocking parts to hold it in place. That's also pretty easy.

Hide all of the previously created parts, expect for the original one.
Create a new sketch on the same plane as the first sketch, and draw two rectangles - one near the top of the model and one near the bottom. Make sure they overlap with the part you made, so the parts will eventually interlock (see 4th image).
Use the 'revolve' function to give the drawing volume (set the revolve axis at the same axis of symmetry as before (see 5th image).
The previous step created two discs. If you want a ring rather than a disk, create a rectangle that does not align with the axis of symmetry.
If you want a more complex geometry you can always draw on the disks you made and remove some of the material. I did that to make slots for the legs at the bottom and to add to remove some material from the bottom so more light comes through.

Step 2: Design - Make Joints

The final part of the design process is to make the parts interlock, and for that we'll use boolean operations.

Boolean operations mean we'll subtract or combine different parts. In our case we'll subtract the side faces from the top and bottom parts, and vice versa, so they both have slots in them.

Create a copy of the top and bottom parts.
Use the subtract operation (boolean) to subtract the side faces from the top and bottom parts (of one of the copies of these). You'll want to make sure you 'keep tools', meaning the you subtract the side faces from the top and bottom parts and also keep the side faces intact.
Use the subtract operation (boolean) to subtract the top and bottom faces from the side faces (make sure you're subtracting the copies of the top and bottom parts, the ones without the slots).

At this point the side faces you made should have two slots of the same width as the top and bottom parts, and the top and bottom parts should look jagged with slots having the width of the side faces (see 1st & 2nd images).

To finish my design, I added some extra holes to the bottom part and added legs to the design.

Step 3: Cut

Before cutting the plywood, I diluted a water-based paint and gave my poplar a darker tone. I love cutting poplar wood because it's so easy to work with, but the color looks a bit cheap in my opinion.

The DXF files are attached below.

Cut 40 copies of the part I called 'face' out of 3mm plywood.
Cut one copy of the 'bottom' and one copy of the 'top' out of 5.7mm plywood.
Cut 3 copies of the legs out of 5.7mm plywood.

I used my xTool D1 diode laser (10W), and the settings were: 7mm/sec @ 80% power (2 passes) for the 3mm poplar plywood, and 5mm/sec @ 90% power (2 passes) for the 5.7mm poplar plywood. If you're using a different laser or a different kind of wood you'll need to modify these values.

Since this is a pretty gentle assembly, I decided to set a low kerf value, so the parts are a bit loose. For my laser, setting a kerf of 0.09mm makes for a tight fit, so I set the kerf for 0.07mm instead.

Step 4: Assemble the Lamp

Since the model has twists in it, I prefer making sure everything sits correctly before gluing the parts.

Pick the top and bottom parts, and insert the first side face without adding glue (first image).
Add a few more side faces without any glue around the entire perimeter of the top and bottom parts. Make sure they're spaced correctly. I like counting steps from the first side face so that I make sure everything is aligned correctly (second image).
Lay the partly-assembled lamp on a flat surface, and begin adding more and more side faces. This time, apply some wood glue to each part before putting it into place.
Lastly, apply some glue to the legs and insert them into their slots (4th image)

Step 5: Add a Lamp Socket

Take apart the lamp socket, so that you can thread it through the hole in the bottom part.
Insert the lamp socket, and re-assemble it (first image, sorry it a bit blurry! I noticed that too late).
The bottom part of the lamp has small holes in it. Those are meant to be used for securing the lamp socket wire. Thread a thin metal wire and twist it around the lamp socket wire (second image)

Step 6: Screw a Light Bulb and Enjoy

The assembly is all done! screw in a light bulb and place the table lamp at your favorite spot.

I hope you enjoyed reading and that you make your own table lamp.

If you like my instructable and want to see more, you're welcome

to visit my instructables page and my website

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