It's just a matter of following instructions to know which wire is hot and which is not. It was surprisingly easy. Here are the parts. I found these instructions on how to wire the socket. The entire socket operation took 5 minutes, and that included me scrounging around for the right screwdriver. The next step was to wire the plug, and it was a new one where you squeeze the prongs and simply insert the wire--making note of which side of your wire is + and -, of course. I couldn't figure out how to open the plug to wire it until I landed here.
Here's the base of my lamp, which I made in college using a router and MDF. My brother gave me a slightly dinged bell jar--which will be the dome--from when he was taking a chemistry class (he's now a professor). Frankly I'm surprised I've managed to keep them this long. I graduated in 1989. Good Lord I'm a pack rat! I plan on painting the base a nice industrial green.
Here they are together with the base painted. The socket isn't quite secure since I plan on painting the base before I finalize the wiring. The base will have something Tesla related on it--and therefore awesome. I don't have the dimmer plugged in yet, since I need to add an on and off switch to the lamp first (also easy--link here). The bulb is 100W, so the dimmer switch will be great. The light bulb is super cool. The top half of it is coated in chrome. A bit pricey ($9.88 at The Light Bulb Shop), but honestly, the coolest light bulb and really necessary for this piece. Unfortunately the fluorescent version isn't as large so I went with incandescent. (Husband said Boo! Hiss! when he saw the bulb. Hopefully I'll sell it at The Tesla Project since he won't allow non-fluorescents in our house.)
2 comments:
I remember that lamp!!
Yeah, it's been kicking around awhile. Remind me to show it to you after The Tesla Project (if it doesn't sell). I'm sure Keith will have it banished to the top of our closet since it's incandescent.
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