Cutting Glass

[Harold in CR]

Anyone ever try to cut glass light bulbs without breaking them ?? I am a lousy glass cutter. I have saved several burned out light bulbs, and want to cut the glass about in the middle of the "bulge", at the widest part. I am building LED lighting, and, have several plastic fishing bobbers, that I can mount the LEDs into, after halving the bodders, then glue them onto the glass bulb, and use them in normal screw in sockets.

I have done 2 different types, so far, with acceptable results.

[Drunkskunk]

I bet what you need is a bottle cutter. I had one for a while. easy enough to use. Should be easy enough to build your own to fit a light bulb.

[kfong]

I saw a cool technique the other day, you score it like the above photo and use a magnifying glass to pinpoint the Sun's heat. The stress causes a clean break. Do a search on you tube.

[Whiplash]

Now that is clever!

[Gordo]

Anyone ever try to cut glass light bulbs without breaking them ?? I am a lousy glass cutter. I have saved several burned out light bulbs, and want to cut the glass about in the middle of the "bulge", at the widest part. I am building LED lighting, and, have several plastic fishing bobbers, that I can mount the LEDs into, after halving the bodders, then glue them onto the glass bulb, and use them in normal screw in sockets.

I have done 2 different types, so far, with acceptable results.

Harold,
The glass is so thin that once you cut it, it is extremely fragile. Maybe consider doing away with the glass altogether and use a piece of PVC from the bulb-screw to the bobber. If you cut yourself with the glass from a light bulb you get a nasty cut which has difficulty healing. Some toxic shit in the bulb.

[Harold in CR]

Thanks guys. I had a plastic "Stick Up" light that took a dump, so I managed to unscrew it from the fixture and screw it into a metal base from a bad light bulb. I cut the top off and glued it back on with 4 LED's stuck into it. Works OK, but, no side light to speak of.

I was thinking the glass part would allow some side light to occur. That toxic crap would be a problem, though. Good thought.

Wife is going to the city tomorrow, and knows where to get those plastic bulbs, cheap ??? We will see.

[John in CR]

EPA had some 1W LED emergency lights pretty cheap. They had a funky connection and only came on when the power was off, so they didn't sell. I love clearance stuff like that.

It comes with everything including a tiny NiMH battery and charges off of 110V AC. It has a good lens and reflector, so it would be a simple hack to attach one of those nicad D cells you have instead of the bulb's 120mah battery. Rig up a solar charger and you're good to go.

[Jay64]

At my buddy's house, there are a string of LED Christmas lights around the trim of the ceiling in a few rooms. Because the light source is spread around the room, it actually lights up brighter than if there was a 60w bulb in one part of the room. They only take 6w. I know this isn't what your were asking, but thought I would throw out an alternative. I seen um on ebay for $1.

[jonescg]

That is the most awesome idea ever, Jay! I never thought of that, but that's a really cool way of doing it! Is it a fairly natural light? Like good enough to sit around and read in?

[TylerDurden]

I also have been using LED xmas lights for various areas. They have lasted for years, but the light is only sufficient for navigating a dark hallway/stairway or the home-theater. Task-lighting requires more lumens.

FWIW, the local Menard's has 800lm LED lightbulbs for ~$15ea. Branded by Sunbeam. Very cool tone, near 4500*K. I use them for "trouble lights" in the shop. I used to break CFLs and Inkies a lot, so the LED bulbs are a good, durable replacement. They draw about the same power as a CFL, but much less fragile.

[Harold in CR]

Good info, Jay.

I have some hanging icicle lights that do a fair job inside the house.

Problem I have is, the walls are all wood paneling. I did put on a Polyurethane clear cost, so, it does reflect a little light around the room.

I will check on those LED xmas lights. I also sent an email to my wife, in San Jose, so she might look into that EPA Store lights that John in CR wrote about, also.

It's windy as hell here, so, I am going to start soldering up my Solar Cells, for panel #1, today.

Sunday, I covered my Small satellite receiver dish (Spare) with Mylar Coffee bag material. It does a decent job of directing the suns rays onto a bracket that is attached to the dish, for a Solar Cooker, water heater thingy, to experiment with.

We live high enough to have cloud interference, as in, drifting onto the farm, rather than floating up and over.

That will wet the reflective stuff, so, I want to try waxing the surface, so the condensation can run off, quickly, as beads, rather than small streams of water.

[Hillhater]

I find the LED "rope" lights to be very useful and durable.
They give off a lot of light if looped around a room or deck area, they are weatherproof, and can even be thrown under a car as an emergency work light.
$15 at the local hardware store.

[Harold in CR]

Thanks. I will do an Ebay to see what I can find.

[Jay64]

We did both the xmas lights and the rope lights around the edge of the rooms. Both work well. For me, it is enough light to read by, but I grew up in a house that had very poor 12v and kerosene lighting. Another thing that they did was to take one of those clear plastic tubes that contractors transport long florescent bulbs in and stuff it with the LED string. They are also planning on doing some type of artistic hanging ball with a string of lights. This concentrates the light in one spot, and still only uses 6watts. The best thing to do would be to have them strung up around the top edges of the rooms, and then have a concentrated set in an area that you want extra light in.