homemade fixtures

[Pro-Scapes]

There is something VERY different between what you could call homemade and what some guys are doing to private label or design thier own.

Personally I would never make a fixture of wood. I wouldnt hessitate however to do something like what Greg does to illuminate some garden art.

It takes a great deal of financial investments and planning to create your own designs and have them manufactured to your specs.

Some guys can afford and justify this cost and some cant. As for coming up with something better than what a manufacture can supply is totally ones opinion. The quality I have seen from some privatly speced fixtures far exceeds what I have seen from any manufacture.

[JoeyD]

Originally Posted by Pro-Scapes

The quality I have seen from some privatly speced fixtures far exceeds what I have seen from any manufacture.

any examples?

[irrig8r]

Originally Posted by Pro-Scapes

There is something VERY different between what you could call homemade and what some guys are doing to private label or design thier own.

Personally I would never make a fixture of wood.

It seems counterintuitive to me, just because wood is combustible, and MR-16s can generate some heat. I also wouldn't be comfortable installing a "homemade" fixture in a soffit or anywhere else on a structure.

Originally Posted by Pro-Scapes

I wouldn't hesitate however to do something like what Gregg does to illuminate some garden art.

I've illuminated cast concrete and cast iron Japanese lanterns, cast iron owls and fish originally intended as lanterns for candles, etc. Never been a problem.

BTW, as Nightscaping approaches it's 50th anniversary, how long did it take Bill Locklin to get approval for those fixtures that were originally made up of orange juice cans and mayonnaise jars? Maybe the trick was using the transformers with Fustats that would fail before a system would "melt down", but wasn't he winding his own transformers to begin with? Homemade in his case ended up benefiting us all. American ingenuity at work. I wish he was here to tell us about all the trials and errors along the way.

[Pro-Scapes]

There is a difference in using concrete and Iron. Its not combustible.

Say you use wood or install a homeboy special fixture in wood that does not property expel heat. Over time... night after night that wood gets baked by the heat of that lamp. The wood dries. Begins to splinter. Maybe even the socket corrodes a bit adding to the heat.

Just not a scenario I would like to sleep on.

I dont want to get into examples Joey. You know I love the unique product and use it especially in trees and recessed ingrade applications. In fact I just put in some novas into some brick which turned out great as always.

I will always respect Locklin for what he did in pioneering low voltage. Im sure back then it was a much different scenario and the saftey standards were alot more lax.

[JoeyD]

No I know Billy. It was just a strong statement you made and in all my years I have never seen a privatley spec'd fixture or home built fixture that would far exceed the products I have seen made by manufacturers. The only contractor I know of that makes his own lights or has his own lights made is Mike G. and although they are very nice I wouldnt say they "far exceed" anything you can get from a manufacturer. So thats why I asked for an example, it was purely out of curisity to see why they are so much better.

as for the wood...there is wood out there that has the same heat tolerances as concrete., made correctly I could see why back in the late 80's early 90's when fixture options were limited why Nate would have done this. He had them on his old house I remember and they worked awesome. They had no lenses so the heat wasnt trapped and they were only used in areas where they would never get wet. We spoke of a job this morning that was done 15+ years ago by Nates old company and they have a bunch of those home made wood lights on it and they all still work. A guy was at the project yesterday servicing it.

I am not saying wood would be my first choice for a fixtrue but when speaking of "Homemade" lights how many options do you really have. I dont see many guys having brass or copper refineries int heir garages and I dont think anyone is still making well lights out of Coffee cans.......

[irrig8r]

Originally Posted by JoeyD

I dont see many guys having brass or copper refineries int heir garages and I dont think anyone is still making well lights out of Coffee cans.......

I'm sure you realize some manus still use copper pipe and plumbing fittings to produce fixtures Joey.

If I was in 8th grade metal shop again, knowing what I know now, I might be making fixture bodies instead of trowels and tool totes... :-)

[JoeyD]

I realize that. Although that would be cool from a home made (garage project) standpoint, as a manufacturer we would never consider that as an option for us as we prefer to make the cleanest, quality fixtures we can. Why a contracting professional would buy a fixture that was soldered togeather with products you could buy at the home depot plumbing department is beyond me.

At the same time if I step off my high horse, a fixture is only a housing for a lamp and if it works it works. I am a handy guy, I love making things and doing things myself in my own hobbies but sometimes, especially if you are selling to someone else, it is better to just stick with stuff made by the pros.

I would love to see some examples of home made light fixtures, I am not against it by any means. I am going to try and dig up some photos of those old wood lights Nate made.

[Pro-Scapes]

Some of the things we see from some manufactures could pass as homemade. I have seen numerous well lights out there that could easily pass in this catagory.

[punt66]

I put up a wood fixture on a shed. I will take pic of it tomarrow. This is an interesting thread. I would love to see some pics of homemade fixtures.