Sheet Metal and Stained Glass Lamp
Sheet Metal and Stained Glass Lamp
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This is a potted plant lamp I made for my Design for Fabrication class. The lamp consists of two layers of sheet metal leaves: smaller brass leaves, and larger steel leaves. They were cut on the water jet and hand-bent to fit onto the lightbulb. There is a stained glass dome that diffuses the light. The light is reflected by the leaves and scattered.
The stained glass dome was designed by me and soldered directly onto the light bulb to ensure it would be the correct shape. The dome has 4 embedded bolts which the sheet metal leaves slide onto. Nuts thread onto the bolts and hold the entire design together. It sits in a planter pot to complete the illusion of it being a houseplant.
Design for Manufacturing Principles
Design for Manufacturing Principles
This design meets design for fabrication standards because the sheet metal is straightforward to assemble but looks complex and organic. There are only 2 pieces of sheet metal that take about 45 minutes total for water jetting setup and cutting together. All of the pieces are bendable by hand meaning no special tools are required and it assembles fast.
Prototyping my design with paper
CAD Renderings and Assembly
CAD Renderings and Assembly
The above exploded view shows the order of the parts and the way the M4 bolts on the stained glass dome go through both sheet metal layers. When the nuts are screwed on the whole piece is sandwiched together.
Construction and Final Product
Construction and Final Product
The key consideration in the design of the metal flower petals was to make the leaves easily fit onto the lightbulb holder. After talking to my professor, I realized that keeping the leaves in one piece would make the manufacturing process much smoother and easier. The inner tabs in this design are easily bent down using pliers.
The adjacent photo shows the process of bending the flaps down. I used a piece of steel to clamp along the bend line to ensure there was no unwanted deformation in the bending process.
Close up view of the leaves bent around the lightbulb holder
Reflections
Reflections
Overall, this process was rewarding and successful. I wanted to make something beautiful and useful that I would keep. I have accomplished these things in my final design. I worked with both brass and steel and learned about how to bend metal into organic shapes. I still have work to do on my sheet metal rendering of curves in CAD but I believe I was able to make my design requirements clear in my engineering drawings should this design be recreated.
Overall, this process was rewarding and successful. I wanted to make something beautiful and useful that I would keep. I have accomplished these things in my final design. I worked with both brass and steel and learned about how to bend metal into organic shapes. I still have work to do on my sheet metal rendering of curves in CAD but I believe I was able to make my design requirements clear in my engineering drawings should this design be recreated.
Engineering Drawings
Engineering Drawings
sheetmetaldrawings (1).pdfPage updated
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