So I made this light fitting.... One for the DIY people.

I hate tossing out nice bits of timber, so they just hang around forever. My DIY people have the same dilemma
I've always hated the flouro lights above the work table in my wife's studio, so I thought I would replace them with something made from some saved timber.
There are bits of cedar skirting and kauri flooring from an early 90s PPOR reno. There are bits of old pine from a wardrobe I demolished in a subsequent PPOR. There are bits of what could be old maple from a cot my grandfather made in the 50s that all my cousins and then my kids used. There are some cedar strips from a door I cut down at home and some nice, hard bits of red timber I found in the roof of our current PPOR. That light has a lot of history in it.
I ripped the bits down and assembled each side dry and then glued it all up. There are flouros inside on two switches so we can have warm light for dinners and parties, and brighter light when there are people working at the table. The length ended up at just under 2400mm. Boy, it's a heavy thing.
The base of the fitting is Perspex, so it's sort of like an inverted light box. There are some Perspex window slots in the sides, too.

 

Very cool.

 

I like the way you used the chains within the rsj's,there would be a lot of weight in that light and timber..

 

There is more weight than I thought there would be. At least if it falls, it will fall on the table. The chains loop over a length of SHS steel that spans the space between the RSJs.

 

If you just drill into the rsj and into the support and just tie it all into the beam it would be there forever..imho..

 

Very cool!
No doubt that would be $2000 in a boutique lighting shop

 

I drilled into the web of one of those RSJs once before. The web was about 15mm thick and that steel was very tough - took ages to drill through and it was pretty awkward up that ladder. The steel came out from the UK in the 1890s - must have been an especially hard batch. That light fitting will move, too. Everything in that room moves occasionally - some things less often than others, thank goodness.

 

Looks great!!

 

Yes it is a hard job even with several pre drill holes into steel from that era..
Low-background steel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

That explains it. Well, it would if I understood it completely. I'll make a screw on bracket sort of thing if I ever want to hang something else off those beams. They're so big I could hang practically anything from them.

 

@Depreciator as a QS, you missed out on all of those 'Structures and Materials' lectures @UTS or @KensoKindy.

The reason is that the hardness is affected by the carbon content of the steel nothing to do with subatomic particles in the ionosphere. As technology and industrial processes improved, the % of impurities decreased and the workability of the metal improved (after the early 1900's iirc). Consequently, 20th century steel is easier to drill and more malleable than Victorian steel.

If this serves as a reference: Linky

 

Use a couple of old G-clamps

 

@Depreciator , is there anything you can't do?

 

Computers. Not my thing. I have no affection for them and no affinity with them. I've accepted the fact that they are probably here to stay, though. I prefer tools that make sparks or dust,

 

Nice work!

 

Between the 2 of us then, we could probably rule the world.

 

Got mad skills