"Davie Poplar"
Manufactured Lamp
Autumn 2023
Project Overview
I manufactured a lamp that is shaped like a historic tree in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Processes: Casting, machining (mill, lathe), welding, sanding, tube-bending, spray painting, 3D printing
Processes: Casting, machining (mill, lathe), welding, sanding, tube-bending, spray painting, 3D printing
What Did I Do?
This project was a tribute to my love for nature and my home state of North Carolina. The lamp is modeled specifically after the Davie Poplar - a tree with a distinctive curve in its trunk. I referenced photos of it and produced to-scale drawings during the manufacturing process to make my lamp as accurate of a replica as possible.
Starting with the base, I CAD-modeled and 3D-printed a casting mold shaped like a tree stump. I did so by tracing the outline of an image, using Fusion360. The mold was then cast out of bronze. After casting, I used a machine mill with a fly-cutting tool to drill a precise hole in the cast with a tolerance of +/-0.005". Finally, I finished the base by sanding and applying a metal polish.
For the "trunk" of the lamp, I used 1/2" OD steel tubes, which I cut to size using a horizontal band saw and faced using a lathe. I then bent the tubes to specific angles, based on the to-scale drawings I made with images of the Davie Poplar. I repeated this process with 1/4" OD steel tubes for the "branches" of the lamp. After bending, I machined circular cutouts at the end of each "branch" tube, then TIG-welded each one to the "trunk" tube. Lastly, I spray painted the tubes gold.
To join the trunk and the base, I used a press fit with thermal expansion. I heated the base to a temperature of 300 F, which enlarged its hole by a pre-calculated amount of 0.007" inches. Then, I inserted the trunk into the hole. Once the base cooled, it resulted in a press fit with a safe overlap of 0.002".
Lighting came from battery-powered string lights, which I threaded through the trunk and base of the lamp. My overall project cost was around $50.
Starting with the base, I CAD-modeled and 3D-printed a casting mold shaped like a tree stump. I did so by tracing the outline of an image, using Fusion360. The mold was then cast out of bronze. After casting, I used a machine mill with a fly-cutting tool to drill a precise hole in the cast with a tolerance of +/-0.005". Finally, I finished the base by sanding and applying a metal polish.
For the "trunk" of the lamp, I used 1/2" OD steel tubes, which I cut to size using a horizontal band saw and faced using a lathe. I then bent the tubes to specific angles, based on the to-scale drawings I made with images of the Davie Poplar. I repeated this process with 1/4" OD steel tubes for the "branches" of the lamp. After bending, I machined circular cutouts at the end of each "branch" tube, then TIG-welded each one to the "trunk" tube. Lastly, I spray painted the tubes gold.
To join the trunk and the base, I used a press fit with thermal expansion. I heated the base to a temperature of 300 F, which enlarged its hole by a pre-calculated amount of 0.007" inches. Then, I inserted the trunk into the hole. Once the base cooled, it resulted in a press fit with a safe overlap of 0.002".
Lighting came from battery-powered string lights, which I threaded through the trunk and base of the lamp. My overall project cost was around $50.
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