Can I use wood beads to make a chandelier?
Question:I want to make a beaded light fixture - Something like a chandelier. Can I make it with wood beads if I use a 60 watt bulb? Is there a type of bulb I can use that won't burn the beads?
Answers:
Any bulb that doesn't get hot enough to burn your hand when you touch it (after it's been on for a while) should be OK.
No bulb is going to get hot enough to burn the wood unless there is direct contact. UV bulb might make a little smoke.
God Bless
Certainly if the bulbs don't come in direct contact with any material there is less to worry about. A Chandelier should be an "open" type light fixture in any case.
Consider a bargain light fixture, sealed, using a plastic globe. Very often the heat from a bulb causes the plastic to yellow. In rare cases it may even warp.
Will the bulbs be open/visible?
60 W is acceptable/standard in many light fixtures. Recommendations are tagged to a fixture for very specific reasons. You might try the candle flame shaped bulbs, sold in various wattages. I recently began changing all my bulbs from incandescent to coil type Fluoresents.
Steven Wolf
Yes, absolutely, so long as the wood does not come in contact with the bulb. I had a wood light fixture and one made with wire and paper.
In any case, your bulb will screw into a socket. the socket can touch the wood. attach your beads at both ends, if you can, so they do not come in contact with the bulb.
Compact fluorescent bulbs are much cooler to the touch than incandescent; halogens are much hotter. Use compact fluorescent bulbs to save electricity and keep the heat down. An 14 watt compact fluorescent bulb gives off as much light as a 60 watt bulb.
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