I’ve had this Christmas tree led lamp project in mind for almost the whole year, and I almost run out of time to have it made before end of the year. Although the truth is that in my workshop it would have been difficult for me to think about how to make this lamp before I prepared the table jigsaw, which is the tool I use in this first part to cut the Christmas tree shape and the wooden circles for the base.
Don’t miss the video summary in English on “How to make a led lamp in the shape of a tree“. With links to all articles on this making.
As we will see in the second part of the making of this led lamp (<- There you can find all the parts on how to make this lamp), I used a silicone mold in the shape of a Christmas tree to make the lampshade of the lamp. This silicone mold comes with a rigid plastic ring that I used to draw the shape of the tree on a wooden board.
With a pencil I drew what will be the inner edge of the tree, and putting the tip of the pencil in the hole of a washer and going all along the outer contour I drew a line parallel to the first one separated a little more than 1cm. The only care to be taken is not to deform or move the plastic ring while drawing the shape of the tree.
Since my jigsaw table does not allow for very tight curved cuts, even with a narrow jigsaw blade, I drilled some holes in the tight curves on the inside of the tree shape, trying to fit to the line. I used one of those wood drill bits that have a point at the tip. The problem is that this drill bit did not allow me to adjust easily the outside edges of the drill bit to the contour of the line. I think that a Forstner bit would have make it easier to adjust to the line and would have saved me a lot of the sanding I had to do once I hollowed out the inside of the tree shaped piece.
Now it is a matter of making all the necessary cuts with the table jigsaw to empty the entire interior of the tree shaped piece. I took advantage of having all those holes drilled and how easy it is to take away and put back the jigsaw cutting blade and put it through the inside of the drilled holes as needed. Then I cut the outer shape, which is much easier.
And I also cut a couple of wooden circles that will serve as a base for the led lamp. I cut the circles by hand, but I think a circle cutting jig would work well on this saw, so I’ll try to make one later. And now, before continuing, I have to move on to the less desirable work: sanding and sanding and sanding. As I said before, I did not adjust the drills to the line correctly, so I needed a lot of time to sand the curves I cut in the wood.
You can find here all the parts of this making about how to make a led lamp shaped like a Christmas tree.
