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Kerosene Acorn Burner Sconce Lamp

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Mon, 10/05/2009 - 21:50 — Jake von Slatt

I was having a hard time this morning getting started working in the shop.  I get one day a week to work in the shop and as a result I often end up with a list of things I want to get done that is about three times longer then it should be, stress results.  Today I decided "screw it, I'm making a lamp."  I started with a couple of pieces of brass from an earlier, rejected, project that fit together to form a reflector and kerosene reservoir.

 

I filed down a collar for an "Acorn" style burner, drilled a hole for iot, and solder it to the top of the reservoir.

 

 I cut a piece of 22 gauge brass for the top of the reflector and then used the rollers to give it the right curve.

 

Once the pieces were cut I soldered them in place. I used a step drill to drill the hole in the top for the chimney.  I just eyeballed it, the beauty of these drills is that you can "shift" a hole right or left as you drill by applying sideways pressure.

 

I am not at all happy with the soldering job. When will I learn that you MUST take the time to file the brass pieces so they fit tightly and then use the absolute minimum amount of solder?  This is not like welding steel, you can't simply lay in a nice fillet and then grind it smooth.

 

I cleaned things up as nicely as possible with the Dremel and buffing wheel, it doesn't look too bad and the little Acorn burner from Lehman's throws an amazing amount of light!

 

I soldered a hanger on the back.  I think I could improve the construction of this lamp to make it easier to assemble and finish, I might just make a few more copies to sell on Esty - would anyone be interested?

 

 I really like the reflections of the flame.

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments

bowlerhatman - Mon, 10/05/2009 - 22:06.

Hey Jake, you may or may not be interested in this, but there's a Sydeny based company called A&E Metal Merchants, and they sell copper solder https://www.aemetal.com.au/Webstore/c-559-copper-solder.aspx , the site also has a page for brass solder, but there's never an entry for it (the solders match the colours). Just thought I'd let you know, I don't know if they ship to the states though.

Jake von Slatt - Mon, 10/05/2009 - 22:50.

 Ah! Thanks for the info! I think that that's what we call "hard soldering" which is similar to brazing - definitely worth a try!

bowlerhatman - Wed, 10/07/2009 - 00:44.

I emailed them to ask, and they said that it is indeed a brazing alloy, and not a solder at all. I wonder why they call it brass solder?

tatkinsh - Thu, 04/15/2010 - 21:58.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to were to learn how to braze metals. They offer welding classes at my union hall but, alas, no soldering or brazing.
--
TAtkinsH

digid - Wed, 10/07/2009 - 10:30.

A quick tip on keeping the solder were you want it. Keep the joint clean were you want the solder to flow. If you have an area were you do not want solder, take a carpenters pencil, the large flat ones, and draw on the metal with the lead. The carbon in the lead will keep the solder from flowing or sticking to the base metal. Works great, and is easy to clean up.

Digid

zahal - Tue, 10/06/2009 - 09:14.

Jake,

about how long in the shop does this take you? The whole day? 2 hours?

Jake von Slatt - Tue, 10/06/2009 - 10:16.

 Oh I futzed around with a bunch of different things, maybe half a day?

Wm - Tue, 10/06/2009 - 10:05.

What kind of solder do you use? What do you use to heat the metal? I'm a soldering novice looking to solder several pieces of brass for a steampunk flashlight design. Any suggestions?

Jake von Slatt - Tue, 10/06/2009 - 10:17.

 Just regular lead/tin solder and a small Lenk torch - I am by no means an expert at this!

Marrock - Tue, 10/06/2009 - 19:45.

So where's the "Add To Cart" button?

I need at least a couple of these.

AndyAtWorkshopshed - Wed, 10/07/2009 - 10:39.

I like your rollers, will save up for one of those or save up for the postage costs for the raw materials to make one.

To help with your silver soldering you can use a candle to soot up the areas that you don't want the solder to flow onto which will mean that it just runs on the fluxed areas.

Jake von Slatt - Wed, 10/07/2009 - 10:52.

Thanks! I'll give that a try! See below for another suggestion about using a carpenters pencil in the same way.
BTW: the rollers are from Harbor Freight: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=36698 only $150 and one of the few purchases from them I'm reasonably satisfied with.  Is Harbor Freight in the UK?

Harlequin - Wed, 10/07/2009 - 17:57.

That is very nice- will give a nice cosy glow come winter.

I have just been lucky enough to come across a couple of mechanical keyboards at the school where I work, and I was looking at yourkeyboard modification post, and it seems the video where you show your method for removing the key skirts has dissapeared. Any chance you could re-post it?

Thanks
~Rob

Harlequin - Thu, 10/08/2009 - 16:15.

Ok, I just looked at the post on a different computer, and the video was there, so I guess it was a plugin issue or something.

Anyway, I hate to keep bringing random off-topic questions, but I have another, and I can't think of anyone better to answer it.

The keyboard I am modifying, being old, has the old AT connector on it. Aside from using a clunky adaptor, is there any way of converting this to PS2? Is this an issue you had to address?

Thanks
~Rob

datatribe - Tue, 10/13/2009 - 20:10.

Jake, I saw your assembly for the reflector and had two thoughts to make putting it together easier. One would be to adopt a cardboard box assembly style where all the pieces for the rear reflector are cut from a single sheet of brass. There are tools on the web for designing 3d objects and unfolding them into paper cutouts that could be used as a template.

The other thought was to use some old school "stamping" and make a wood negative space form and hammer the brass to fit. I'm not as familiar with brass as I am with softer metal, so I don't know if this would work at all. I'm pretty sure the above approach would help you simplify assembly - hammering would probably be more work but solderless, at least as far as the reflector. I'm not sure if you would stress the brass too much with so much curvature, maybe a shallower design would work better for this approach?

Anyway, nice little lamp!

IRONHIDE - Mon, 11/02/2009 - 07:56.

I love this design and it should be great on a steampunk style restaurant..

soundmotor - Thu, 12/10/2009 - 08:20.

Re: solder, your raw parts look very good. I suspect there is another issue. Is your heat source on the opposite side from where you are soldering or on the same side? Are you using a high-watt iron or a torch? What kind of solder & do you use flux?

Project D - Fri, 03/26/2010 - 01:19.

I would buy one of these in a heartbeat, even if the soldering is less than up to your standard. That is an *awesome* lamp that I would be glad to have on my desk at night.