Book Light

When I first saw this project, I thought it was really cool.  I needed a reading light, so I thought this would be the perfect thing for me.  So I got the stuff together.

First thing to do was pick the book that I wanted to use.  I thought A Light in the Attic would be a perfect book because of the title.  Also, I was guessing that there were a zillion copies out there, so I could find it used for cheap.  So I ordered a copy off half.ebay.com.  It was a nice enough book, but maybe a little thin.  But I figured I could make it work.

On my first attempt at this project, I tried building the lamp the same way that I read in the guide.  Where you remove the pages of the book completely and replace it with a wooden frame wrapped in cloth.  Maybe I wasn't using the right materials, and I didn't have the best tools.  But I wasn't happy with how it was looking.  So before committing my electronics and more time to it, I decided to scrap it and start over.

The second time I went with just hollowing out the actual pages of the book.  That way there would be no mistaking that this was indeed a book.

I knew that I was going to be using 1/8" think acrylic for the face of the lamp.  So I measured out the top 1/8" worth of pages.  The rest I glued together using a mix of water and Elmer's glue (standard white glue)  I brushed this on the edges of the pages.  I used wax paper between the glued pages and the rest of the book to keep the rest from getting stuck together. Then used a stack of books to press everything together and let it dry.

After gluing pages together

Now that I had my first section of pages glued and dried, it was time to start hollowing it out.  I measured a rectangle that was a half an inch to the inside of the edge of the pages.  Got out my hobby knife and started going to work.  It took a while but I worked my way through all of the pages three or four at a time.

Before cutting out pages

Midway through the bottom section of pages

Next I glued the top 1/8" of pages together and to the already hollowed out section (except I left the very top page free).  After letting that mess dry, it was time to start cutting again.  This time I measured a rectangle that was smaller than the pages by a quarter inch on each side.  Once I had made it through all those pages I was left with a hollow book with a nice quarter inch lip where I could fit the acrylic.

Now it was time for the electronics.  I had a spare 12v A/C adapter, so I ordered a power connector that it could fit into.  I drilled a hole in the spine of the book at the base and installed the connector with hot glue.  Now I could get power into my book.

Next I cut a small notch on the right hand side of the book to place a magnetic reed switch.  This switch had two connections.  One for normally open and the other for normally closed.  I needed normally closed so that when the book was open the light would come on.  And you could turn the light off by simply closing the book.  I installed a tiny magnet from my fridge into the inside cover of the book to line up with the switch.

So now I had a working switch and power.  Time to install the lights.  I had ordered a cheap, one meter strip of soft white LEDs off of ebay.  This was enough to run around the inside edge of the book as well as place a few more on the inside of the back cover.  I wanted to use every bit of the strip I could, to make the book light as bright as possible.  So I split the strip in a few places and soldered wires to keep the connection going to all the lights.  Plenty of hot glue to hold everything together and and the electronics were complete.

Electronics installed

Next step was to glue down the acrylic.  I used a piece of lighting acrylic that I purchased at Tapp Plastics.  There is a store in my area, so I was able to go and get a piece custom cut exactly to the size I needed.   With the plastic in place I only had one page left to glue down.  I first cut a rectangle out of it leaving a half inch on each side.  Then used contact cement to glue it to the pages and the acrylic.  Now I had a nice clean edge between paper and acrylic and the reed switch was hidden from view.  I got a little extra contact cement on the acrylic, but with a pencil eraser and a large amount of elbow grease, I was able to remove it cleanly.

Finished book light with no power

Finished book light powered on

If I were to do this project again I would use a thicker book to allow more diffusion of the light before it hits the acrylic, and just place all the LEDs flat in strips on the back cover and skip the ring around the edge.  But I am very happy with how the light turned out.  It works perfectly on my nightstand, and just looks like a book when it is not in use.  I am glad I used all the LEDs I had available, otherwise I don't think it would have been bright enough to read by.