Saturday, September 9, 2017

Insert for repairing a pole lamp

We have a nice Tiffany-style pole lamp, but the bottom of the pole started to break, so it wobbled on the base. (Simple metal fatigue; it is probably 30 years old or more. I decided to make an insert for the base screw to fit into. The inside of the tube is an odd shape, smaller in diameter at the mouth, making it hard to use a single piece of pipe or something without it wobbling. My solution is a piece of PVC pipe wedged and glued in place up the tube, and a 3D printed piece that fits snugly in the mouth, slides 2.5 inches up the PVC pipe for stability, and captures the nut securely. Oh yeah, with a hole through the center for the cord to go through. Not a glamorous project, just a fix-it job that needs a custom part one that no one sells.

I printed it in PLA with 60% infill for strength, which made the upper tube essentially solid. The nut slides into a hole that is a hex shape on four sides.




The part with the captured nut and the base nipple. Why orange? 'Cuz that's what was in the printer.



Inserted snugly into the PVC - I needed to sand down the little PLA bumps to get it to fit.



Going into the pole. Actually I wedged some split dowels around the PVC to center it and stabilize it in the pole. I inserted Liquid Nails glue as I assembled it.



All assembled. I'll let the glue dry until tomorrow. When I put the base on we'll see how well it holds up.

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