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August 21, 2006
As if nothing has happened...
So Lori and I recently returned from a trip home to sunny Minnesota where I recently participated in my first dumpster diving mission. It used to make me feel uncomfortable seeing crazy old coots and the homeless digging through dumpsters for god knows what. And to be honest, it still does. So that only partially made me balk before I decided to jump into a dumpster for what appeared to be some seriously old electronics junk. Now, for those who know me well, I tend to go through phases of interests. Today's interest du jour is electronics. Why? I have no idea. It just seemed like a cool, useful thing to have a basic working knowledge of that would allow me to take shit apart and build weird little contraptions (and be less, or moderatley less, likely to kill me), another foible those who know me may recognize.
Which brings me back to the dumpster. Electronics parts can be expensive, so why not see what sorts of things I can scrounge for a little project that was mulling around in my brain for a few weeks. In this case, I totally hit the jackpot, what I spied was indeed and ancient piece of electronics junk that, because of its size and its suspicious looking knobs, buttons, swtiches and the like would probably not make it through airport security, I quickly looted for parts.
After returning home I purchased the requisite bulbs (in this case special "display case" bulbs), a small wooden craft box from Michael's, a can of spray paint and a dimmer switch. The result? This kick-ass light. 
The overall design/build was pretty easy. A cord off a random power supply was purchased from a local junk store for $0.90, end lopped off and wires exposed. Positive end was wired to the sweet looking, nice sounding (albeit entirely superfluous) switch, which was wired to the dimmer switch. Then, all off the light sockets (purchased for a pittance from MN legend Ax-Man surplus supply) were wired parallel with all negative ends connected right to the negative end of the power supply. Details (sort of) can be seen here. Details aren't great, and part of the problem is that I described it wrong. Positive power source (seen at bottom center with orange cap) is wired to dimmer, dimmer to switch, swtich to lamps, lamps to negative power supply. Simple. Plug in and enjoy.
The original idea of this light was just an interesting ambient light source that looked really cool at low levels because the filaments are so long and cool looking that it's cool to just have on at really low levels where the filaments just glow a light, cool orange. This is really hard to photograph but here is the best example. The total bonus is that, when cranked up high, it actually provided really bright, beautiful light. Again, not great, but see here. Other interesting thing of note is these sweet feet I scrounged from the dumpster trip.
And now to field the inevitable question: "A wooden box for electronics? Won't it catch fire?"
Okay, here we go, I DON'T KNOW! Only time, extensive testing and a fire extinguished on hand will tell. I ran it at a very high, bright level the other day for a couple hours (a couple becuase I completely forgot about it, which was, after all, the reasoning behind the test) and the only adverse effect was that the light sockets were moderately warm to the touch. I though this was safe enough so sealed the box and that's that. I've been thinking about adding some holes to the bottom and a couple to the back to allow air to move through and cool a little bit. But a fire extinguisher will work too.
One last disclaimer before I go: This was not my invention. I just made some of my own design adjustments. I got the idea from a kick-ass site called Instructables. Check it out.
Posted by austin at August 21, 2006 4:53 PM
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Comments
Sadly we forgot to photograph the antique clock that did make the TSA suspicious. When we opened a bag the clock was wrapped in TSA packaging and a flyer saying they went thru the bag. The pictures don't do the light justice-it's really cool!
Posted by: Lorelei at August 21, 2006 6:06 PM
I will stop judging your homeless behavior. This is very cool, I am impressed.
Posted by: Jamie at August 22, 2006 9:30 AM
Can U say "UNABOMBER"
Posted by: momma at August 23, 2006 2:28 PM
Get a job.
Posted by: godfrey at August 23, 2006 4:07 PM
It is one of things I can never understand ... how people can think that way. It's so illogical that it can only be based upon moronity.
Posted by: 360dude1 at April 11, 2008 2:41 AM