Baseball Lamp

Take the wooden lamp and cut the plug from the wire.

Leave enough wire to reattach the plug after the lamp is assembled.

You can discard the vertical wooden support and the inner metal cylinder.

This should leave you with a round wooden base and the electrical part of the light element to use.

On the butt of the batt, drill a 5/8″ hole.

This hole will be used for support of the structure.

Locate a 5/8″ hollow steel or pvc rod to be used in step 3.

Cut the 5/8″ diameter rod to roughly 12″.

This measurement does not need to be exact as it will be inside the bat and not visible.

Drill a hole in the wooden base just slightly under 5/8″ for the rod to fit into.

The rod will be pressed into the hole in the base and housed inside the bat to create a vertical support.

Let the previous part sit aside for a little while and we will focus on the helmet now.

Remove the foam in the inside of the helmet as best you can.

This can be done using a knife, but not all needs to be removed.

The foam is removed to make the lamp safer as it could pose a fire hazard otherwise.

Drill two 1/8″ holes in the back of the helmet at the desired locations.

You can choose to the variety in bat lengths and helmet sizes.

These two holes will be used to attach the helmet to the bat as a light shade.

Now lets finish up the work on the bat.

In the wide part of the bat, cut a rectangular notch into the side of the bat using a metal bandsaw or hacksaw.

This will be where the light fixture goes in the end.

Depending on the lightbulb used, this can be cut to different dimensions.

My rectangle is cut to be 2″ and the width of the bat.

Locate this about 2″ below the top of the bat the the light will be housed in the shade.

Having cut the notch in the front half of the bat, you can now figure out placement for the helmet.

Take your helmet which has the two holes drilled in the back.

Line up where you wish to have the “shade” and mark the two holes off the helmet onto the bat.

My top hole is about half an inch from the top of the bat.

Place the two screws through the holes and tighten them down using the nuts.

This can be done using your fingers.

If tighten too much the helmet will crack.

You can now put the bat on the base for future use.

The physical structure is done and now it is time for the light fixture itself.

Run the wire through the 150 degree pvc pipe connector.

This will help angle the bulb into the helmet shade.

Use liquid super glue to bond the pvc connector and bulb port.

This will need to sit a couple hours for the glue to dry.

My glue had dried in about 3 hours.

String the wire through the bat and hollow steel rod.

Place the light fixture where you wish pointing out of the notch.

Tap the fixture in place and use super glue to fully secure.

This will also take about 3 hours and the tape should be left on until dry.

As that glue is drying the base can also be glued. That is between the wooden base and the butt of the bat.

Allow to dry before handling the lamp further.

The final touches are added here!

Using the cut end of the wire, strip the plastic off and discard.

Lace the wire together having matched the containing plastic for grooved and nongrooved.

Use electrical tape to cover the exposed wire.

Screw in a light bulb and plug your lamp in.

Turn it on and there you go, a unique lamp to enjoy.