make your own ikea dna lamp

seeing this hopf & wortmann dna lamp, available from next [via design*sponge and reluct], i had an "aha" moment. i remembered seeing a similar lamp hack at boingboing - the fractal chandelier from sean michael ragan. with a few adapters and energy saving bulbs from ikea, you can stamp your very own dna on this lamp. except, maybe, you can't get it in pretty pink.

sean explains, "this is a suspended light fixture 'grown' from 31 nested twin-lamp socket adapters. 32 7.5 watt bulbs draw a total of 240 watts. all the adapters and fixtures are rated for 660 watts, so this figure is well within the safety range. 15 watt bulbs would also be acceptable, and would generate more light. as it is, the fixture puts off very little heat. you can put your finger on the surface of one of these tiny bulbs for an indefinite period of time without experiencing any serious discomfort.

the chandelier is essentially a binary tree in 3-space. it is symmetrical, with each adapter, except the top one, being positioned at a 90-degree angle relative to the axis of its parent. after assembly, a drop of cyanoacrylate glue was applied to the junction of each pair of adapters to keep the structure from deforming if the chandelier is moved or jostled."

simply electrifying. for full instructions, click here.

(update! and so it seems there is a little hoo-ha going on about who first designed the dna lamp. michael silverberg from metropolis wrote to apartment therapy to clear the haze. as much a hacker as i am, i think it is important to know the origins of a design and give due credit. so, it's irving harper, people. link.)
tags: ikea, dna lamp, lighting, how-to, sean michael ragan

how to submit your ikea hack

after days sweating over an ikea hack, you deserve your moment of glory here.

just write me at ikeahacker[at]gmail[dot]com

in your mail, you should include the following info:
1. a short description of the hack
2. the link to the hack (if any)
3. attach photos or the link (videos are welcome too)
4. your name and site link (if you want to be credited)

the only rule is that the hack must involve at least an ikea item, however it is used. easy. peasy.

if you didn't hack it but came across an interesting one, you can also get in the game. i'll even credit you for your find.

update! upload your ikea hack instructables
you can also now submit your hack via instructables. just create an instructable on the ikea hacks group and it will be published on the projects page instantly. (please do not email me if you've uploaded it to the group to avoid duplicates.)

so turn your allen keys. i'll be waiting to hear from you.

one happy hacker,
jules

tags: ikea, how-to, hacks

a cool cuppa

when i saw this i almost scalded my lips with hot coffee. what brilliant use of ikea items. can you spot the cabinet door handles masquerading as coffee cup rails?

cgfan's coffee contraption is the "brewtus with two simple accessories added: cabinet door handles as cup rails and a timer, both courtesy of ikea. the timer works particularily well as a shot timer, as it has a strong magnet that keeps it parked securely enough right on top of the E-61 grouphead. a nice feature is that it works as both a countup or a countdown timer, the latter providing an alarm when it reaches 0. it also recalls the last countdown time used at the moment you silence the alarm, ready to go again for timing the next shot." read more here.

tags: brewster coffee machine, coffee cups, timer, ikea door handles, cgfan

ikea hack of the month - june

i survived a month of this blog. and we did alright with a pretty neat crop of hacks. thanks, everyone, who sent me their hacks. i really get a kick out of reading your mails.

and *drumroll* for the month of June, these are my favourites - vince's sliding door room divider, the benjamin stool with motif, the lack table audio cabinet and the ikea bag hack. which is yours? click the poll and let me know.



{The poll has ended}

a little more fabulous

hey, i just found some photos promoting the ikea everyday fabulous exhibition. i know, i know, it's a done deal but i couldn't pass over these clever new york city hacking ideas. i wonder, though, didn't anyone haul off the sofas?

see more here.

custom cabinet

this hack is a dated. but i've just stumbled across it and i am a sucker for awesome mood shots. love the different hues on the frosted doors - how did you do that? and david, where did you get that chic clock? anyways, he says that "the frame is from the ikea bathroom selection, the sliding doors are from the kitchen collection and the feet, plinth and lights are from various other collections. ... by combining furniture parts from different areas, she (his wife) was able to come up with a combination of units that fitted our measures. the total sum of shopping was around �500 and this included all kinds of ikea goodies like plants, carpets, baskets, swedish food and more boxes." read more here.

you may also be interested in these cabinet hacks:
> magiker shoe cabinet
> enetri display cabinet

can't stand it

i don't have audio speakers so i'm not sure whether these gaje speaker stands are as bad as this hacker makes them out to be. nonetheless, fluffy rants gives a nifty solution to the problem: "yeah, the gaje stands are kind of dumb... normally to mount a speaker on it, you either have to attach it using some velcro (which it comes with), or drill holes into the speakers themselves. my old rear surrounds I used the velcro on, but my fronts were too heavy/big for that and so I just had the other pair taking up space.

i'd planned on doing a modification like this for a while, and since my rear speakers developed a bit of a rattle a while ago (which i was unable to fix; i think the driver itself went bad) and i finally had enough of it and decided to buy a proper 5-channel matched setup, and the new speakers were definitely too big, since the rears are bigger/heavier than my old fronts.

so, this way I have some pretty nice stands (with cable routing) which can actually support decent speakers and have great isolation, but didn't cost much at all (basically $62 for all four, plus a bit of time for assembly)."

click here for fluffy rant's step-by-step pictures.

other audio visual hacks:
> a hip mobile music console
> the very clever audioasylum lack table music cabinet