How to Make 3D Printed Customizable Desk Lamp

I am making a moldable desk lamp that has a articulated arm to be able to change the design of the lamp. I used fusion to create multiple 3D models of the articulation, as well as the base and the wooden box. I used inkscape to laser cut the piece for the base and creality print to bring to life my 3d models.

This lamp was mianly conceptualized with my desk area in mind, but I made it adaptable to different environments due to it's articuated joints.

For this project you will need :

LED strip

Microcontroller

Power supply

LED Driver

Switch

Wires

Diffuser

Frame, 3d printed

Base

Fasteners

Tape

Phone control module

First, go to makercase.com and select the dimension you wish to have. For my model, you will make the case 10in by 10in, with a height of 2in. Make sure to have the box be closed, and the linkage be "finger". Export your file as an .SVG and open it into inkscape. You are now ready to send it to the laser cutter and put the pieces together with wood glue to finally have your base box.

I wanted a moldable lamp that had enough force to hold itself up, so I started by brainstorming different ideas (wires, looking at machines in the shop etc...). when I settled on this design I found on printables. This design however wouldn't transfer correctly to fusion, so I only used it as a model and went on to design the part myself.

This step took a big chunk of the time, but taught me a lot on the essence of engineering.

The 3d model for the stem had the right idea, but wasn't effective for my lamp project for multiple reasons : it didn't allow my LED strip to stick to it, didn't allow the strip to go through the joint, and wasn't modifiable on Fusion. I replicated it using simple geometrical shapes and started by testing its joint strength, seeing if it could hold itself up against gravity and effectively rotate around itself, this was model 1.

Now that I had designed a functional rotating joint, I went on and put a flat edge (extruded out of the stem of my joint) so that the LED couldn't stick to my joint. Every time I adjusted my model, I 3D printed it. This design didn't allow the joint to rotate since the gap through the top was just big enough for the LED to go through.

The joint needed more space for the LED to go through, so I thought of having the whole space above the LED extruded out to give the joint more freedom of movement (as seen in photo). My intention was to have the open (extrude) space leave room for the LED to move while the joint was rotating freely. With the filament and thickness of the 3D print, this design would expand when I tried tightening the top and bottom parts, making it weak and unable to lock into position. This design was a failure, but it contributed to finding a better solution and taught me one of the principles of engineering: trial and error.

After reviewing my different designs, I thought of going back to my second design (photo above) and doubling its size with the scale tool on Fusion, so that the hole at the joint level was big enough to allow at least a 45° freedom of rotation. This was a good compromise between solidity and freedom of rotation. The print had some issues at first because of the weight distribution, but with a clean surface and the proper supports the print ended up perfect.

The LED already came with a driver, but I needed to drill out a hole in the case to have the ground/power cord go through. I used a taper drill to find the perfect diameter to drill out. I had to drill one last hole on the top of the box for the LED strip to go through.

I had to plan out all the parts I needed on two different Creality files, one with the inside parts, which has supports, and another file with the screw-on outside parts and the base for the stem. Both prints took about 4 hours. The outside, screw-on parts, were successful in the first prints, but the size and shape of the middle "stem" parts failed multiple times, mainly due to the part moving around and not adhering properly to the printing surface. To fix this, I went through different stages of trial and error: First, I tried adding plate adhesion to secure the part better, which improved my print, but still was unsuccessful. Then I tried cleaning the surface of the 3d printer with cleaning alcohol, and then adding stick glue to the surface of the 3d printer to maximize adhesion. When this worked for a single middle part, I got ready to print my entire project on one file.

When I got the freshly printed parts for my project, I started gluing them together, with in mind to put the tallest middle part at the base and then going up from tallest to shortest (I printed 4 middle parts, you want to start with a 2 inch stem for the initial middle part, and then take of .2 in for every new middle part. ex: part 1 : 2in, part 2 : 1.8in, part 3 : 1.6in, part 4 : 1.4 in). This is for aesthetic and weight-distribution reasons. I then threaded the led's, glued them to the stem, and adjusted the tightness of each lock to hold the stem in place while allowing movement. I finally plugged the socket into the outlet and admired the lamp that I had designed and manufactured myself. I had issues with gluing since the radius of the middle parts was smaller than the radius of the hole in the connectors, so I had to use hot glue as the connectors but also as a filler for the gape of the sides.

This project came with lots of challenges, and at some points, I regretted choosing such a complicated project when I knew so little about 3d printing and fusion. But now I can confirm that I am very grateful to have struggled and worked hard to get this project completed. Engineering this lamp has taught me most of the essential skills for 3d designing in Fusion, from extruding, to scaling, to adding threads, and incorporating online references into your own designs by using simple geometric shapes. This project has also taught me a lot about trial and error and how to troubleshoot failed attempts until I achieve success. This trial and error is really what brought this project from an idea to a complete product, and I believe that all the steps I took to improve my design were essential to get a polished end result. Finally, this was the first project where I fully took control of an idea I had and turned it into a real product, which I believe does solve a problem we all have... lamps that shine too bright or too dark, and that frustingly give you little to no control over the shape and direction of that lamp.