Comments on: DIY Industrial Light Fixture

By: Christie

Christie

Good evening! I have a couple questions for you! Did you spray paint the pipe that you used? It looks a little darker than what I was able to find. Secondly, What wattage/lumens of lightt bulbs did you end up using in your bathroom? Any other tips you have we would love to hear! Please feel free to email me. Thank you for sharing your beautiful design!

By: Hope

Hope

Hi! I just bought the parts for this project. The price has went up a little since this post :). What light bulbs and specs did you buy? I want bright lighting for my bathroom, but think the edison bulbs will be too warm. Please let me know your thoughts.

By: Seamus

Seamus

Thanks very much for the post. A bit annoying we can’t get the handy parts that are in the US.
Seamus
Ireland

By: Steve Thompson

Steve Thompson

In reply to Mark. Yes Mark that would be the case, wire will stretch over time. The sockets could be secured with any type of glue or even clear silicone. The wire could actually come loose after a while and short out on the inside of the pipe. The second method looks like the best choice to me. There would be no tension on the wire to the sockets. Please everyone be careful when making these fixture, while they are very nice the method in which they are put together can be an issue.

By: Steve Thompson

Steve Thompson

The light fixture is very nice, the only suggestion I would have is the version with the indoor/outdoor sockets should not be held in by tension. As a previous member of the IBEW for over 10 years I can tell you that this will put unnecessary strain on the wire. Wire will stretch over time and the socket will be come loose. Also to wire could be pulled out of the socket which could touch the inside of the pipe. My recommendation would be to silicone them in place with clear silicone to avoid the strain on the wire. There are some other options that would work also. I would be happy to email with any one that has any questions about the method I am talking about.

By: Mark

Mark

In reply to Rw.

RW,

Thank you for the feedback. Your points are well thought out and helpful. My description of the wiring was not as thorough as it might have been, and after receiving feedback from you and others I have decided to remove any reference to the wiring in the post and steer readers to an electrician familiar with local codes. I would hate to see you bail, the wiring is pretty straightforward and hopefully a local electrician can knock it out for you.

This was my first post and I think I got a little over helpful because materials were so difficult to find to assist me. I had done a fair amount of wiring in the past and thought that describing the wiring would be helpful. In actuality though, discretion is the better part of valor when it comes to things like wiring. There is good reason that other bloggers shy away from this discussion.

The fixture plans are sound and easy to build but I agree that any wiring effort should be left to local experts.

It is our mission to provide fun, safe and interesting DIY projects for our readers. Your feedback helps make sure that we achieve that mission.

Thanks Again,

Mark

By: Rw

So I was pretty excited about this until I went to build it. I got the first one almost done then decided to bail for safety reasons. I understand from your comments this is just a helpful post showing what you did and not a detailed blueprint, but there we several problems I see with the design that could cause someone to get killed.
First, and most importantly you make no mention of grounding. You have a metal fixture with AV current running inside of them. A bad wire connection or a cut on a wire (both of which are fairly likely.. See below) and you have created an electrocution hazard for anyone touching the fixture.
Second, the wires from the black outdoor light kit aren’t long enough to reach far enough through the pipe to be able to easily make up you wire connections with wire nuts. You mentioned something about it being in the pipe in One of your comments, but I don’t really understand that as there isnt enough room. If you manage to make the connection it’s going to be dangerously close to the pipe and like I said above, no grounding.
Third if you are running wiring through metal like this you should use some kind of plastic bushing where it crosses edges to prevent fraying on the sharp edges of the pipe.
Fourth, any of the above hazards are only made more likely by not attaching the fixture to the elbow. I see you recommended this but also said you didn’t do it, just counted on tension. That same tension is pulling on each end of the wire connection you made, and eventually someone is going to replace a bulb or wear and tear over time is going to pull loose a wire and there is no grounding.
I don’t say these things to attack you. I’m not an electrician and one could very well follow up my post and tell me I’m crazy, but as a diy person myself, I think we must always think about our own safety, the safety of others in the house, and the safety of those who might be in the house after you, having no idea the light fixture is a safety hazard.
I love the look of the light, but without a more solid design from an electrician who knows the electrical codes, I think most people should stick to purchasing a light that was designed to be safe.

By: Mark

Mark

In reply to SheilaB.

Sheila,
It’s ok if you cannot find the black and white wires. The key is that you use ar least #14 wire. The point here is that they are two different colors so you can tell which to connect to the different color wires in your wall. Most are black and white coming out of the wall. But the color really doesn’t matter. One color ( usually black) is what they call the hot side, the other color ( usually white) is the neutral. As long as you choose colors that allow you to distinguish which of your lighting wires match up with which of these wires you will be ok.

I will check the link. But if you ask for four inch galvanized hex head screws at the hardware store they will know how to help you.

Hope this helps,

Mark

By: SheilaB

SheilaB

Hi. I’m super excited about trying this project but I found that this link:◾Four Hex Screws 4″ long – also silver, will paint later – doesn’t work. And Home Depot no longer carries the white/black wiring (◾10 ft each of black and white #14 wire and 20 wire nuts that will fit up to 3 #14 wires). What can I use in its place?

Thanks,
Sheila

By: Kristian Gripp

Kristian Gripp

What do you do with the ground wire ? Is it needed?

By: Mark

Mark

In reply to Patty.

Let me first also apologize for any confusion caused by this post. It was my first attempt at a tutorial and have learned that I need to be much more specific about each step. People were very excited about how it came out so we decided to put a small post out there to help people build their own. Many times when you make things you don’t do them with the intent of sharing. We just needed a light fixture. When that happens, things that seem intuitive maybe are not.

I have updated the post to include detailed photos and descriptions of how I made it work with the inexpensive sockets from Home Depot. They do not fit inside of the pipe but sit flush when the wires are pulled tightly. It is not ideal but they do stay in place nicely. You can make it more stable by gluing the socket in with epoxy if you like. Also I have added instructions for using a lamp kit, which I was unaware of at the time of the post. This will provide a much sturdier connection for the socket but has a significantly higher cost associated with it and a different look.

As Jeanette mentioned we do this part time, and myself considerably less than that. It was our hope to share an idea that worked well for us, I am learning how to make those instructions more effective and also am now plugged in to be able to answer comments myself. Both of us are dedicating considerably more time to the blog now and I am building things with an eye toward providing instruction. In the interest of being more precise, I could not find anywhere in the post where we referred to Galvanized Iron, if that caused confusion I am sorry as well but I can’t identify where we made mention of that.

Cheers,
Mark

By: Jeanette

Jeanette

In reply to Patty. Jim, Let me first say that I'm sorry that you spent $100 on a DIY that doesn't work for you. We are editing the post to help clarify the parts list and exactly how we made this DIY work for us. We are not mechanical engineers, my husband and I also work full time in IT (we are both at work right now) and are part time DIYers. So I asked Mark, my husband, to clarify the design. I also replied to your email directly and my email did not make it to your inbox. Mark took pictures (separately, just for you and to show you exactly how he make this DIY work). It may not be perfect (because we are building our own light from spare parts) but it has and does work for us.