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Learn to build a DIY industrial pipe light fixture, including important details often left out in other online guides.
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0:00
These days there are a lot of people out there explaining how to make light fixtures from threaded steel pipes
0:07
This video is going to go into some detail that you don't often get in other information
0:12
There are lots of videos, diagrams, photos, but all of the ones that I've seen have left out crucial information
0:19
So just a little background. First of all, making these fixtures is easy and inexpensive
0:26
and it allows you to exercise a lot of creativity. You can do some really interesting things
0:31
by putting these fittings together and outfitting them with an electric light socket
0:36
And you can make large fixtures or small fixtures. It doesn't really matter because it all comes down to the same use of fittings and wiring
0:47
And I'm going to show you some specific details here that will get you over a handful of technical hurdles
0:54
that you'll definitely run into if you try to make fixtures like these
0:59
So here's a small fixture that we're building right now. It's a lot simpler than the ones you've seen earlier in the video, but all of the details are the same
1:08
So first of all, we've got what's called a floor flange. And what you want to use is an inch and a half
1:17
Now that dimension refers to the size of the threaded opening. And it's called a floor flange because typically it's used for mounting a pipe onto a floor or a wall
1:29
for railings or handles or things like that. Now in this case, we want to use this size because it's just the right size to cover an electrical box
1:41
a standard electrical box. And not only that, but any pair of these holes
1:46
also just happens to line up perfectly with the threaded holes in the electrical box
1:51
So using a one and a half inch floor flange as your part that fastens to the ceiling
1:57
that's definitely the way to go. Now the problem is that inch and a half is good because of the outside diameter and the hole placement
2:07
but inch and a half pipe itself, if we put it in there, would be way too big
2:12
It would just look too heavy and bulky. Certainly on a fixture this small, it would look way too big
2:17
And even on a big fixture, it's just way too big looking
2:21
So second tip I want to give you is to alert you to the one inch pipe size
2:28
So this is one inch threaded steel pipe and you can get this sort of thing at any hardware store anywhere
2:36
Now one inch is good because it leaves us lots of room for wires
2:40
but it's not so large that it looks out of place. The challenge is to get the one inch pipe to fit with the floor flange
2:50
and that's where this bushing comes in. So this is inch and a half threads on the outside, one inch threads on the inside
2:58
and it allows the two to thread together in a kind of attractive way too
3:04
This is a sort of a retro look and it's okay to have sort of machiny bits like this
3:11
It just sort of looks interesting in that old steam powered kind of way
3:15
Now I should mention too that these parts here, the one inch parts that I've been telling you about
3:22
when you go to the store to buy these, something like this is what you get
3:27
It's threaded on the end and it's a certain length and this is called a nipple
3:31
even though it looks nothing like any nipple that I've ever heard of before
3:35
but that's what they call it and you get them in different lengths
3:40
Now this is what's called a close nipple. This is smaller than one inch, but I'm just showing it to you as an example
3:46
because the close nipple has threads across the whole way. Now these threads are tapered, so the more you screw them into a fitting, the tighter they get
3:55
but still there's no unthreaded portion here and that's the definition of a close nipple
4:01
You can get other nipples like this, a little bit longer. In anything except the close nipple, they're described by their diameter and their length
4:11
and this is about as long as you can get a ready-made nipple
4:16
If you go longer than this, you're going to have to buy pipe
4:20
and figure out some way of threading the ends, but you'll never run into that situation when you're making light fixtures
4:26
because you always use short nipples connecting with, say, an elbow. If you wanted to have a four-way light fixture, there are fittings such as this
4:38
And so the one-inch fittings cover the bulk of what you need for your fixture
4:44
Now I should mention one other thing, too. If you go to the store with your tape measure and you pick up something like this
4:50
and you say, oh, that looks like the one-inch nipple that Steve recommended and you measure it, it's going to measure more than one inch
4:57
One-inch steel pipe measures almost exactly one and five-sixteenths inches across and that's the way it is with pipe fittings like this
5:07
The name they call them is always bigger than the pipe itself
5:12
and that's because somewhere in the system of fittings that could go with this
5:16
the smallest fitting you'll get would have a one-inch inner diameter. So that's kind of the limiting factor in the system and that's why they call one-inch pipe one inch
5:25
Another place where the one inch isn't so hot, let's take a look here
5:30
So this is a one-inch elbow. It's a 90-degree elbow. And I could put it on a nipple like this for some sort of a fixture
5:43
So the wires would be coming through here, the wires would be going down here
5:47
and then I would have my light fixture. Because, of course, it's one thing to make this pipe structure
5:54
but that doesn't deliver electricity to a light bulb. The problem is that there aren't light sockets that will fit in a hole that is one inch
6:04
This is, like I said, a one-inch elbow. It's got a one-inch hole
6:08
one and five-sixteenths inches inside diameter, and that's just not big enough for a socket
6:15
A socket like this. So what do you have to do? Well, you need to make a transition
6:22
This is another bit of vital technical information that you're going to need to know when you go to the store
6:27
So this is a fitting that goes from one inch, you can see here
6:32
to a one and a quarter inch pipe size. Now, it just so happens that that one and a quarter inch pipe size
6:40
is exactly the right size to accept one of these light fixtures
6:45
These are very inexpensive. Once again, you can get it at any hardware store
6:49
These are called pigtail fixtures, and they're usually used as temporary light fixtures
6:54
in a construction or renovation situation. So this would just be hanging down from an electrical box. You'd screw in a light bulb
7:01
It's going to give you light until you get the place finished. But for our purposes, this is going to become a permanent fixture
7:07
because, as I said, it just wonderfully fits right inside this one and a quarter inch fitting
7:14
Now, it's not going to stay there. I mean, it fits nicely, but it would probably work out in time
7:19
So what we do is we squirt some silicone caulking all around the inside of the fitting
7:25
We don't put it on the socket, because if we put it on the socket and we put it in
7:29
there'd be a lot of squeeze out around the outside. But we just lay a bead on the inside, we put the socket in, kind of turn it a little bit
7:37
make sure that the socket itself is actually wetted with the silicone
7:41
and then just set it aside to dry. And that's how we get the end of the fixture to be electrified to accept a light bulb
7:51
Now, you can tighten these joints up fairly well by hand, but I would recommend you give it a little more attention
7:58
And the tool for that is a pipe wrench. Pipe wrenches are kind of interesting
8:03
You can open or close the jaws, but every pipe wrench has a jaw that swivels a little bit like this
8:12
And the reason for that is because if you want to grip a pipe
8:17
you adjust it so that it's kind of grabbing the pipe, but then when things start to turn, the pipe wrench is going to grab onto that
8:27
because this jaw bites in because it can swivel a little bit
8:31
So it can grip this way, but if I try to turn the pipe this way
8:36
it'll never grip that way because it's not drawing in the top jaw
8:41
So in practice, if I put it like this, and I turn it this way, it's going to grip just fine
8:53
and I'm going to be able to tighten that a little bit more
8:57
You don't have to be crazy tight with it because you're not trying to hold a liquid or a gas or anything
9:04
You just want it together so that it doesn't fall apart. You see how this fitting here is sort of a silver color and the rest of it's dark
9:11
This is a galvanized fitting, so it's the same size, same threads, everything
9:17
but the surface has been coated with molten zinc. So the zinc is actually bonded to this, and the purpose of the zinc is to stop corrosion
9:25
and it does a really good job too. The thing is, it's harder to paint galvanized fittings than it is just a black iron fitting
9:34
You need a special primer for that. So if your hardware store only carries, say, the galvanized type
9:41
you can still make a fixture out of that. You're just going to have to use a special primer before the paint so that it's going to stick
9:50
Regular, uncoated black iron fittings are easier to paint. In either case, you still need to go over this with a toothbrush and some rubbing alcohol
10:01
just to clean off all the oil because all of these fittings will have a residue of oil from the manufacturing
10:07
so you want to get that off. If you're using trim-clad rust paint, it actually doesn't even need a primer on plain steel
10:16
but it definitely needs a special primer on the galvanized. Well, thanks for joining me again
10:22
Tune in next time when I'll have another video about how to safely do the wiring inside of a fixture like this
10:29
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