How to Make a Heng Lamp 2026

Making a Heng lamp is an incredible project, since it has a pretty good and unique design, which you will love to have in your home.

At its core, it's just an LED lamp with a simple micro switch to turn it on and off, we had all the parts on hand and a laser cutter to make the more complicated parts.

The bottom magnet is pulled towards the top magnet and that turns on the micro switch.

Video:

Click to see the Video.

The materials used:

• 6mm poplar plywood
• 3mm poplar plywood
• 0.73mm polypropylene
• And the most important thing is the flexible maple veneer sheet

For electronics we use:

• 12V LED strip
• 12V wall block power supply
• 5A microswitch
• Finally some Lead Shot to weigh down the base of the lamp.

All drawings for the laser cut parts are included in the svg file which was made with inkscape, if you are having trouble opening it in your CAD package why not try downloading it and saving it in a different format.

• Download
• See Online.

Steps on how to make a Heng lamp

Step 1: Floating Corks

Heng's official design has wooden balls suspended in the middle of the frame, unfortunately they cannot be laser cut, so rather than waiting for the balls to reach the post, we compromised on wooden corks that could be produced immediately. While we were busy testing the feasibility of the design, we forgot to take photos of the internal construction. The 3D rendering shows the way the layers were stacked to give us room for the magnets and a knot at the end of the rope, all inside the cork.

Once the cork was glued, it was covered with the flexible maple veneer to give it a clean finish and hide the laser cut layers. Two plugs were made, one was suspended from the top of the oval and the other was connected to the microswitch at the base as described in the next step.

Step 2: Oval Frame

The main body of the lamp is a large oval shape with a recess for an LED strip. Using a laser cutter, the best way to make this shape is to build it using several layers of material. The two outer sides were cut from a 6mm layer, the next step creates another gap in which the polypropylene will sit; Finally, the two inner layers were also cut from a 6mm layer and are where the LEDs are located.

All the layers were glued and pinned in place, there is a gap at the bottom of the oval where it will sit on the base. The LEDs come with their own adhesive strip, but we apply another layer of carpet tape which is much stronger. The LED strip was glued around the oval ensuring they were evenly spaced on both sides. The wires were soldered to the strip at the bottom end of the ring.

The oval ring was faced on the outside with the flexible maple veneer, this was a single 30mm wide strip which ensured that the grain of the veneer was aligned horizontally so that it flexed in the correct direction. Many clamps were used to hold the veneer in place while the glue dried.

Step 3: Base Sections

The base was made from thirteen stacked disks, which gave a hollow cavity suitable for housing the electronics.

The top two layers of the base had a groove cut into them to hold the rest of the oval in place. The three sections that make up these layers were aligned leaving them within the frame from which they were cut. There is a hole right in the center of these layers where the rope is passed through. There should also be a hole for the LED wiring to be passed through the side of the base, this was drilled into the side of our base but the drawing has been modified to accommodate this.

The design of the lamp seemed to be relatively heavy, so we decided to weigh the base of the lamp to ensure that it does not fall. Two 6mm rings form a cavity that can be filled with a lead shot. The rings were capped with 3mm discs, which keeps the weight as low as possible.

The oval rings were glued to the base and the base was covered with the maple veneer.

Step 4: Wiring the LEDs

The wiring of the lamp is quite simple, the power supply is connected to the LEDs and the positive rail is switched through the normally open contact of the micro switch. The metal lever is bent into a hook shape and the bottom cork string is passed through the base and tied to it. The switch was mounted on a small piece of wood and the entire arrangement was glued to the base. Cable ties were used to provide some strain relief on the power cord in case someone accidentally trips over the cord.

Now, when the rope is pulled, it activates the switch and turns on the lights. There is definitely a better way to make this cabinet instead of gluing it all closed, perhaps using something like this captive nut arrangement.

The polypropylene light diffuser was pressed into place, fitting between the outer layers of wood and resting in the recess. Polypropylene can be laser cut, but because we only needed straight strips, we opted to do this with a craft knife.

Other Designs:

So that's our DIY version of the Heng lamp, at 4 hoursto see the original and make our own copy, if you make your own, we'd love to see the photos and maybe you could share any improvements you make too.

Remember that you can make your own Heng lamp using the measurements you like.

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