Cherry wood floor lamp

Continuing my living room re-furnishing with a floor lamp. Sticking with my retro theming, I decided to make the legs using the same chevron shapes I cut out in my Jetsons wall clock. This is the first piece in the room which I built out of solid wood. I wanted to retain the soft, rounded edges of the table part of the lamp and that would be difficult with plywood.

 

One problem I encountered was attaching the light fixture to the 1/2" steel conduit. I was kind of surprised to discover that there are no connectors or adapters to fit one to the other. I ended up just epoxying them together which seems to work out fine.
Also of note in this video is a great method for cutting circles on a table saw. Ive used this technique many times and it always produces perfect circles. You could also rig up a similar sled to a band saw.
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Floor vent follow up

Posted by chun | 0 comments | 6:27 PM

A little about cheap router bits.In general, Ryobi bits work fine for light work, but I broke two of them while making the vent covers this week. It was a real test of their strength and explains why they are inexpensive.
I found an unmarked steel bit in my collection that had no trouble completing the project.
If you are going to do some heavy routing like this, you will definitely save time and money by buying a higher quality bit. My guess is that Ryobi bits arent designed to withstand the amount of heat I was generating my making those slots.
But for light routing, I have never had troubles with Ryobi bits.They work great for roundovers, edge routing, and the like.
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Mere MinutesGearing up for Christmas / Vent covers follow-up

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