Millie Gets Torched!
24 HOURS ‘TORCH MILLIE’
Having “sat on” the concept of putting an “Olympic torch” on Millie for some while, Kevin drops by at 9pm (ish) last Friday (11th May) saying – “We need to mount this onto Millie for the Torch day – and have got the Cherry Picker arriving at 06:00 Hrs on Sunday morning (13th ) to install it – What can you do!!” – Well; here’s the story.
Friday night, work on a concept, and draw / sketch
Given the size of the light units etc, this was going to be a very tight fit – & I had to work with tools etc already to hand.
No time for glue to set, & a single piece wasn’t going to work; so I settled on 2 pieces, press fitted with a rebate.
By 1 am we had a workable concept and scaled sketch.
If this was “Plan A”, what was plan B – coat hangers!
Saturday morning, search lumber stock for a suitable lump;
This is copper beech, salvaged from a farm near Trowbridge.
So it starts. First thing – set the bandsaw up and produce the basic blanks needed to turn down to shape and size. Also make a 20 degree wedge “jig” in preparation do bore out the light sockets (Time, 10,30am).
The base unit first needed hollowing out to receive the distribution box, then form the mounting collar, and lastly to turn a rebate into the top in order to provide a fix for the (upper) light unit. (Time 12.00).
Now onto the light unit; this needs turning from both ends, first to form the rebate to fit the base, then (from the other end), shape the 20 degree sloped cone on which to counter-sink the lights. (Time 3.15pm). very lucky to have a 40mm core bit to counter bore the light sockets!
Bit of a “jiggle” to get it inside the lamp, but it fitted! Next challenge – what to do with all the “extra” cable lengths from the LEDs; resolved with the assistance of some professional oversight.
After some fiddly stuff getting the wiring sorted it was time to fire up the lamp (time: 4.00pm)
Eureka !!
The last thing to do was provide fixing points (holes) on the base to enable the lamp to be fixed onto Millie’s outstretched hand, and finish with Van Dyke crystal stain.
All done by around 6 pm. After some “user trials” in the Culver Road area, at night, debating the inclusion of some “diffusion” or not, Millie was suitably kitted out on schedule
