Another Lighting Project - Shepherd's Hook

[jonathan]

Whenever I look at photos from the mid 20th century, concerning railroads, I see a particular type of generic lamppost that seems to pop up in both yards and depots.  I'm pretty sure it's called a Shepherd's Hook lamp, but I could be wrong.

Decided to try my hand at making some lamps for my loco servicing yard and my depot area.

Started with some 1/16" aluminum tubing.  Tried bending them a few different ways with bad results:


Finally put some 22 gage wire in the tube and bent it around one of those tube, bendy, springy things:

That's a bit better.  The wire in the tube prevents collapse.  I can pull it out after bending.

Bent 16 workable tubes in just a couple of minutes:


But what to use for a lampshade?  How about those little pill jackets that come in the Kadee coupler packs?


Because these lamps are small, I'm not too concerned about the detail, but these might just pass as lamps:


Prep for paint:


After a coat of flat black primer, I experimented with some metallic graphite paint.  It looks darker in person:


I'll use magnet wire and 0603 SMDs for the lamps.  Yes, they are tall, but they need to drop through the benchwork for wiring.

Regards,

Jonathan

[J3a-614]

Simple, easy, and cheap=ingenious!  And the modern LED's make this very doable with the plastic shade (very little heat compared to a bulb).  The tube-bending trick is adaptable to multiple scales, too.

The whole thing reminds me of the earlier days, when we had to scrounge for stuff that would pass for certain things in HO and other scales. . .

Great to see the old style touch is still around!

[utdave]

i Was going to make modern street lights sort of like yours  jonathan     use the out pole as one conductor and run one wire to a led.     also i thought of using those c-3 led christmas lights with the plastic covers smooth shape for the base cutting half of it out or just using a wheel of a box car .   cut tube long ways at lamp end and flatten a little to give shape of a reflector.    and of coarse led lights to light it .   i do really like yours and its a budget cutter which makes it better .    Dave

[Doneldon]

jonathan-

Nice work and a great example of how MRs use various objects on their pikes.

                                                                                                          -- D

[jbrock27]

Very nice!

The "tube, bendy, springy thing"-what is it for real?  Is it a tubing bender for bending copper (plumbing) tubing?

[jonathan]

Thanks, folks.

The tube bendy thing is a set of four springs I picked up at a Hobby Lobby for about $3-- K&S tube bender? Unfortunately, the instructions are not clear, and I couldn't figure out how to use it properly.  I could have done the same thing bending the tubes around a screwdriver shaft. I think you are supposed to insert the tubes in the springs and bend.  Well, that didn't work out at all.  

This morning, I inserted an smd with leads, that I  made a while ago:


Up close... Pay no attention to how rough the lampshade looks.  It's hardly noticeable from 18" away:


I painted the inside silver.  Here's a size perspective against my fingers:


Finally, a light test with 9V battery and 1K ohm resistor.  Think I can get away with a smaller resistor, if my math is right.  Like to get it just a bit brighter:


Regards,

Jonathan

[Doneldon]

jonathan-

Exactly. You slide your copper tubing inside of the springs and then make the necessary bend. The springs, which are quite stiff, keep the tubing from flattening when it is bent. You don't usually need them for gentle curves but they are without an alternative if you must make tighter bends. I have 1/2" and a 3/4" springs which I don't need routinely but which are irreplaceable for some plumbing projects.
                                                                                                                                                                                    -- D

[jbrock27]

Thank you for answering my question Jonathan.

[jonathan]

Progress:

Before I go planting homemade lights on the main part of the layout, I placed 11 lampposts on my loco staging yard, which also has a transfer/shipping industry, among other stuff.  This is a good place to check my work. 7 of 11 lamps are wired and working at this point:









I think for the depot and coal mine, I'll use a different color for the lampposts.

Regards,

Jonathan

[jbrock27]

Looks great!

[uscgtanker]

very good work with those only one little problem. The base for lamp post would be concrete block. Oh that's easy enough use a piece of foam and drill or burn out the hole dia for  the pools and then paint concrete gray. And for your depot adding sign boards, clocks, decoration, platform # and other smaller details will make it more excellent.

[jonathan]

Yep.  I'm considering bases for the lampposts on the mainline.  The concrete block is a good idea.  I was looking for some kind of round base, but why not concrete?  Good call.  Details are getting there.

OK, this first block of lights are now complete.  This may, or may not, be surprising to some, but I wired these lights to the accessory output of a standard power pack.  So it's AC.  The LEDs pick up just half the wave of the AC current, or just 9 of the 18 volts.  I didn't need a rectifier.  Each LED got its own 560 ohm resistor.  Since I'm electrically challenged, I am amazed that it works, considering LEDs like DC current.  I suspected this might work as my passenger cars have LED lighting and work on DC and DCC.

Anyway here are some final shots. My locos have been in storage for the winter.  One has developed a case of cobwebs.  Didn't see it until I looked at the pictures.

Regards,

Jonathan

The subjects are Spectrum Heavy Mountains and Consolidations--all heavily modified.  The only light used for the photographs were the lampposts I just installed.

[GG1onFordsDTandI]

Yep.  I'm considering bases for the lampposts on the mainline.  The concrete block is a good idea.  I was looking for some kind of round base, but why not concrete?  Good call.  Details are getting there.

OK, this first block of lights are now complete.  This may, or may not, be surprising to some, but I wired these lights to the accessory output of a standard power pack.  So it's AC.  The LEDs pick up just half the wave of the AC current, or just 9 of the 18 volts.  I didn't need a rectifier.  Each LED got its own 560 ohm resistor.  Since I'm electrically challenged, I am amazed that it works, considering LEDs like DC current.  I suspected this might work as my passenger cars have LED lighting and work on DC and DCC.

Usually you will see a concrete or cast metal base, but that isn't always the case, especially many decades ago. It may be buried, or embedded in rock, or even in below ground concrete.
Just mix it up on your next batch

LEDs...They are Light Emitting Diodes. Diode being the key word . Strung right they form a rectifier . 

[Irbricksceo]

Very nice, I may have to steal you ideas at some point!

Just so you know, with LED's which, as GG1 said, are diodes, It is not really picking up 9 volts. With an AC current in america, the current is swapping polarity 60 times a second meaning it is closer to (in dc terms) 18, 0 , -18, 0, 18 ect, however being a diode, it is picking up only the positive (in terms of dc) side so  it follows a patern closer to 18-0-0-0-18, ect. Because it happens so fast, the net DC voltage is enough to make it work. I dont know how well LED's hold up but I do not think they take damage, as I have used four LED's as a poor mans rectifier before.

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Jonathan,

Unbelievably good modeling and photography all around.  Great job.

Do you have the specs on your surface mount LEDs?

One thing you have to be concerned about is the PRV, or "Peak Reverse Voltage"  specification. 

If your power supply exceeds that, you could burn out some of your LEDs prematurely. 

Vpeak = Square Root (2) x Vrms = 1.414 x 18Vrms Accessories Output ~= 26V

So, if your LED PRV is less than 26 Volts, you will have to re-design your lamp circuit. 

If you don't have the specs, let us know the part number and make, or what your parts source is.

We'll figure it out.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik