Vinyl Lamp: Progress

My main project will consist of making a retro futuristic tableside lamp by upcycling old vinyl records. I have a record player and vinyl collection in my living room in a dark corner and I want to bring some light to the corner in a way that would blend into my collection. I will be drilling holes into the vinyl and connecting them using long connecting screws and nuts. I will be using a color changing bulb so I can pick a color when I use the lamp that will fit the vibe I am trying to create. 

So far in my project I have reached a few milestones. The first is I got the lamp stand I will be using. I got an old stand from goodwill and it was in rough shape. It mostly worked but one of the wires connecting to the bulb holder was lose so I re-enforced it with some solder before putting it back into the stand. I also sanded down the old stand with various grit sandpaper and spray painted it. I used multiple layers of black to get a deep shade. I screwed the color changing bulb into the stand and the lamp worked! Below you can see some pictures of the lamp in various colors. Previously I mentioned a concern that the bulb may not be bright enough but thankfully it was very bright even when in less bright colors.

Once the stand was complete I moved on to the shade/vinyl part of the lamp. I went to lowes and bought long 1/4 in screws and nuts. The screws are still silver so I will be spray painting those black as well in the coming week. I will also be drilling the holes into the vinyls and hollowing out the centers to fit the light bulb with a dremel. Below you can see all the parts I have and will be using to create the lamp shade this coming week.

Overall the lamp stand process to a little longer than I initially expected but I still think I am on track to have everything completed in time. My next challenge will be measuring out the holes that I will be drilling, drilling those holes and hollowing out the center of the vinyls. I mentioned in my top 5 challenges in a previous post that I’m a little worried about the brittleness of the vinyls but my new strategy will to drill the first hole with a really small bit and then slowly increase the size until I reach the 1/4 inch hole I need for the long screws. With this in mind I think it will go smoothly.

I look forward to the coming week as everything will be coming together. Once I have the lamp shade put together I may add more to the lamp base depending on how much time I have left. If I cannot add anything before the final report I hope to at least do so before the expo. If you have any suggestion on what I could do to the lamp base to help it fit more into the retro-futurism aesthetic feel free to comment below.