Modular Multipurpose Lamp Post

Hat tip to SNL 1976 - Shimmer Floor Wax/Dessert Topping

Wife: Hey, Sawdust Willy's new Instructable is a bird feeder.

Husband: No, it's a housing for a security camera.

Wife: It's for the birds!

Husband: It's for security!

Spokesman: Hey, hey, hey... calm down you two. Sawdust Willy's new Instructable is both and even more. It's a bird feeder OR a bird house OR a lamp AND a security camera housing all in one.

Wife: The birds are so happy.

Husband: And look at the coverage from that camera.

Ha! I couldn't resist. Actually, the inspiration for the latest project is a follow-on to a project (first 4 pictures) I worked on with my oldest son when he was in middle school (about 15 years ago). I forget which class it was but they were studying recycling and the assignment was to make something from recycled material. I had noticed a bunch of wooden pallets stacked up behind our local Brookshire's grocery store and it got me thinking. I asked the manager if I could have them and he said sure. I was surprised to find that a couple of them were actually made from oak. So we used the wood from the pallets and made a bird feeder that looked like a miniature gazebo. It turned out really nice and we got an A! It was around Halloween so we filled it with candy when he took it to school (4th pic). Several years later I ended up converting it to a housing for a Ring camera that I placed at our front gate. We had a bad storm blow through and it ended up getting mostly destroyed so I needed to build another one. As always I never seem to be able to leave well enough alone... I figured I could do better. So while I've been shut in this past week due to a winter storm I fired up AutoCAD and got to work on the redesign. My design parameters were to build a sturdy gazebo shaped multipurpose convertable housing that could be configured as a birdhouse, bird feeder, lamp post, and a camera mount (last 4 pics). I also wanted most of the parts to be laser cut from 1/4 inch thick baltic birch plywood to make it easy to build. I included the DXF files that I used but you may need to modify some of the parts depending on the size of the bottle you use for the bird feeder and the diameter of your flag pole.

This project will be like a number of my other Instructable projects... concurrent design, build, and write up. My Instructables philosophy is usually to tell the story of the journey more so than just providing an instruction manual for building something. The intent is not so much for people to build a copy of what I built (which is fine if that's what you want to do) but instead to take inspiration from it and build on the idea... be creative... and make it their own. I also assume that most folks have at least an intermediate level of skill and knowledge of using tools and building things. That being said... I definitely want to provide enough information for someone to be successful building my projects. And if something is not clear then please ask. But again... my desire is to share the idea or the concept in the hope that it will inspire others to be creative.

Today is January 10, 2025. I have most of the design drawn up and I've ordered another packet of 12x12 plywood. I'm excited about my concept! Let's see how it goes...

MATERIALS

12 x 12 x 1/4 Inch Baltic Birch Plywood

1/2 Inch Hardwood Dowels

8-32 T Nuts

1 Inch 8-32 Screws

#8 Flat Washers

#8 Lock Washers

Wine Bottle

Super Glue

Wood Glue

Epoxy

Primer and Paint

Acrylic Vase

12 Volt LED Bulb

Remote Switch

16 Gauge Wire

Wire Nuts

Bulb Socket

Optional: Eye Bolt

Ring Camera

TOOLS

Laser Cutter

Sand Paper

Pull Saw

Screw Driver

Ruler

Clamps

Paint Brush

Wire Strippers

Drill

Miter Saw

Planer

Router Table

Disc Sander

Table Saw

You can get just about everything you need from your local hardware store and Amazon. I provided links for some of the more unique items. And while I laser cut the majority of the parts from quarter inch plywood project panels you could certainly make this from lumber and use regular tools. I'd recommend something rot and bug resistant like cedar, redwood, or cypress. All these these would look great especially if you finished them with a clear coat.

Update: It is mid July now and I've had the lamp post in use for several months. The top veneer of the plywood is peeling in a few places on the roof. I think if I had it to do all over again I might make everything out of solid cedar or at least the roof part since it gets beat on the hardest. Either that or maybe find some marine grade plywood... which might actually be your best option. If you do go with the project panels that I originally used then you'll need to pay extra attention to getting the wood properly sealed... especially the edges.

I used a couple packs of the plywood but it shouldn't take all of that. I changed my mind so many times when I was building this that I cut a LOT of parts that I never used because I ended up changing the design. It took 3 four foot dowel rods and I had some left over. The eye bolt is optional... I mounted my lamp on a metal flag pole so I didn't use it.

Also, I jumped around quite a bit working on various pieces as I was figuring out the design and how to build it. So there will be some inconsistencies in the pictures. The instructions are written as if I worked on one section until it was complete before I started the next step... but that's not the case. Hopefully everything is clear but if not then just post a question below and I'll help as best I can.

If you are going to laser cut the parts I have included DXF files for you to use. Each file will have a unique name followed by an underscore and a number. The number is how many copies you will need of that specific part.

Right off the bat we have a good example of my typical convoluted process that I always seem to follow. I start off with one idea in mind and then change directions along the way (sometimes 2 or 3 times) when I think I have a better idea. Here we start of with a base plate that has a 1/2 inch diameter hole in the middle. You insert a 6-1/2 inch long 1/2 inch diameter dowel in the hole and stack the rafter hubs on the dowel. Then you insert the 8 rafters in the appropriate slots, rubber band everything together, and then adjust it all until it looks right. The slot in the rafters fits into the slots on the larger hub (Hub A). The smaller hubs go on either side of the larger hub. Two above and one below. Mark the locations for the hubs on the dowel and take everything apart. At this point you are going to glue the hubs to the dowel and then the rafters to the slots in the hub. Do not glue the dowel or the rafters to the baseplate. Rubber band everything together until the glue sets. I used Titebond 3. When the glue sets cut the dowel off just below the bottom hub and then we need to cut a larger hole in the baseplate. What I should have done is cut a hole in the baseplate to accomodate the wine bottle used for the bird feeder. The DXF file that I included in this section reflects that. If you are using a larger diameter wine bottle then size the hole accordingly. Take off the rubber bands and remove the baseplate from the assembly for this process. Once the hole is cut then put together the T-Nut doublers and glue them in place. The doublers are made from the drain hole cutouts on the housing baseplate. The roof is going to be removeable and will attach to the top of the housing with screws. 8 screws is probably overkill... 4 should be fine and you may want to consider using only 2 when you have the bird feeder installed so that it's not too big of a pain to refill when it's empty. The T-Nut doubler assemblies are super glued in place as shown in the last two pics. Depending on the diameter of your T-Nuts you might have to drill out the doubler pieces to accomodate them.

Note on DXF File: Rafter base A has a half inch diameter hole in the center as well as a 3 inch diameter hole. You will want to ignore the 3 inch diameter hole at first and only cut the 1/2 inch hole. Then once the glue has set on all of the rafters you can remove the base plate from the assembly and cut the 3 inch hole (or whatever size you need to accomodate your wine bottle for the bird feeder).

The construction technique I settled on here was to build up the housing in layers using 1/4 thick sheets of plywood that were cut using my laser cutter. I wanted sort of a gazebo look to the structure which took me in the direction of using 1/2 inch diameter dowel rods for the upright support members. It actually worked out well and made for a fairly easy and fool proof assembly process. The DXF files for the parts are included below. One thing that I did learn was that you need to clamp the edges well to minimize any gaps between layers. I used 4 clamps but 8 would have been better. At first you don't want to glue the dowels in place... just use them for alignment. Then we'll paint the separate pieces and glue the assembly together once the paint has dried. I applied masking tape over the holes where the dowels will go during the painting process. These areas will get touched up after the unit is fully assembled.

The dowels for the main uprights are 11 inches long and the ones for the flag pole mount on the bottom are 5 inches long. Both sets of dowels are 1/2 inch diameter.

I drilled a 1/2 diameter hole in the camera mounting plates in picture 15 but I've updated the DXF files for those pieces to include it. This is the feedthrough for the lamp module power wire. Make sure you glue these two pieces back to back in order for the holes to be aligned.

Note on the DXF files: Housing Base C_2 also has a part for the bird feeder base included and Housing Top A_2 has a part for the bird house included. So hang on to these!

We had a very bitter cold front blow in that lasted about a week. Normally, I open a window to run my laser cutter vent tube outside but it was way too cold for that! So I got creative and used my cooktop vent fan instead. Worked like a charm. Once the shingles have been cut out the sides need to be beveled a little over 22 degrees. My disc sander adjustment is not very accurate but fortunately in this case it's not that big of a deal. The top pieces need to have the pointy end beveled to roughly 45 degrees as shown in the 4th picture. Start with the bottom row of shingles and tape everything together as shown in the 5th picture then flip it over and apply glue to all of the joints and also the bottom section of the rafter where the shingle is going to sit. I let the glue on the bottom row of shingles set overnight before proceeding with the rest of the shingles so that I had a solid stable base to work from. Then work your way up with the next three rows. Once the glue has set I flip the roof over and apply a glue fillet to all of the rafters and let that set up as well (last pic). Here's where a picture inconsistency shows up. I started on the shingle installation before I finished the housing. I'm using the housing here to hold the rafters while gluing on the shingles.

Since I'm not hanging my lamp post from an eyebolt it's really not necessary but I went ahead and filled in the top section of the roof with epoxy. If you are going to hang yours then I'd recommend doing so to provide a nice solid area to sink the bolt into. In the third pic you can see where you would drill the pilot hole for your eyebolt. I sanded that area smooth in preparation for paint. In the forth picture Is a piece that I had to make because I had already cut a large hole in the baseplate (and I should have cut a hole just large enough to accomodate my wine bottle). You shouldn't have to make this piece and I did not include a DXF file for it. But I painted that piece along with the baseplate (masking off the slots where the rafters will go). All glued up in in pic 6. Last pic the roof is painted black and then sprayed with a clear UV protection coating. The roof is going to really get beat on by the hot Texas sun.

Camera installation is super easy. Use the camera mounting plate as a guide to mark screw hole locations. Drill slightly undersized holes for the wood screws and install the mounting plate for the camera onto the mounting plate on the housing assembly. Pop the camera into the ball joint and tighten (pic 2). Last two shots I temporarily mounted the whole thing on the flag pole to verify I was getting good coverage from the camera. At first I had an extra flag pole section but the camera was too high so I took it out. Makes it easier to access the battery when it needs to be charged so it all worked out fine.

Ha, I went around the world a couple times with the design of this module. I had a couple of different ideas for the birdseed container before I landed on the wine bottle. I started off with recycling a plastic rice container, then I found an acrylic vase on Amazon that I thought would be perfect, and then decided a wine bottle was the best answer. Use the DXF files below and assemble the same way you did on the main housing. The dowels are 1/2 diameter and 4-1/4 inches long. I did a test run as you can see in the last several pictures. Worked great! Though I had to turn off the motion detect alert for the Ring camera with all the activity around the feeder.

Note on DXF file: Remember the largest base piece was already cut as a part of Housing Base C_2. You only need one so you have an extra.

The bird house module is constructed using a western red cedar 1 by 4 from Home Depot. I planed it down to 1/2 inch thickness. It is ripped into 3-1/8 wide pieces and then cut to 10-1/2 long sections. The edges are shaped with a 22.5 degree chamfer bit on the router table. Now I only did enough research on bird house dimensions to find out that it varies greatly depending on which species you are making the house for. So you'll need to figure out which birds you want to attract and plan your bird house accordingly. If you are targeting smaller birds maybe you could turn it into a double or triple decker house. Ha! One mistake I made was to drill a hole for a perch then realized that if I glued a dowel in there then it would interfere with installation into the main housing... so I plugged the hole. I made the walls long enough to go all the way to the top of the main housing. That way I didn't have to make a lid for the bird house. This layout provides ventilation and makes it easy to clean out the bird house once you remove the roof. Just like the bird feeder... you may want to consider disabling motion sensing on your Ring camera as the birds will constantly be setting it off.

Note on DXF file: The base for the bird house has already been cut as a part of Housing Top A_2. Just like the bird feeder you only need one base piece so you have an extra.

The assembly process for the lamp module is similar to the rest of the build. Glue up a stack of laser cut sections onto dowel rods, sand smooth, and paint. Simple and you get pretty darn good results. DXF files included below. The dowels are about an inch long and 1/2 inch in diameter for the Lamp A pieces and 1/2 inch long for the Lamp C pieces. Just make sure you don't stick a dowel in the through hole for the wire on the Lamp C piece.

I came up with the lamp idea towards the end of the build. I had originally purchased the acrylic vase to hold bird seed for the bird feeder module but decided a wine bottle would work better. I was trying to figure out something to use the vase for when I came across these really cool Edison style 12 volt LED bulbs on Amazon. I have a pipe fence around my property with a gate and gate opener. The gate opener has a big solar charged 12 volt lead acid battery that powers everything. The battery capacity is huge and the LED bulb only draws less than a half amp so I figured I could run a wire from the battery to the bulb in the lamp post. I wanted to be able to remotely control the light and I found a neat 12 volt switch that could be easily mounted in the lamp module I designed around the acrylic vase. The vase functions as a lamp globe to help protect the bulb, switch, and wiring from the weather. I decided that this was going to be a permanent installation so I used wire nuts to make all of the connections. If you decided you wanted to swap out the lamp module for other modules then you might consider adding some sort of a connector to make it easier to disconnect. Another option might be to get a smaller battery like the one I used in my Kayak Power/Tackle Box and maybe install it in the roof section... though you'd need to verify that whatever you chose would fit. Then get a solar battery charger to keep it topped off.

One note... I had to drill an access hole though the bottom of the assembly (pic 22) so that I could feed the power wire through from below. It matches one of the two unused holes in the bottom plate of the main housing. I've updated my DXF files to include it. Just another example of the design changing as I figure things out along the way.

A LED bulb conducts current in only one direction. If you hook it up and it doesn't come on then swap the wiring and it should work then. I tested mine first by screwing it in to the socket and hooking power (12 volts) to the leads to see how it worked. As a general rule of thumb for DC power... red is positive and black is negative. On the socket however black is positive and white is negative for this application (in the alternating current world black is hot and white is neutral). The remote switch is simple... the battery connects to the input side and the light socket connects to the output side. Once I completed the wiring I just set the lid/socket/bulb assembly on top. After that I placed the acrylic vase on top of all of it to hold it in place. You don't need to screw the lid down but you can if it bothers you.

The power lines are connected to the same terminal in the gate controller as the battery. I buried the power line to keep it out of the way after cutting it to the appropriate length. A quick check in the fourth from last picture and then after dark in the last two shots. I REALLY like it! Oh... one note: Take a look at picture 39. I installed a screw in the side of the flag pole and let it protrude past the bottom plate on the flag pole mount. Hopefully that will prevent everything from being blown off in a storm like the last one. Ha! Sometimes I do learn from prior mistakes!

Note on DXF file: Use one of the center cutouts from the Lamp A file for the socket mount that goes on top of the Lamp B piece.

It has been a couple months now and we are well into March. Getting close to wrapping up this project. Spending some time reading and rereading the Instructable looking for mistakes. It seems that a few always get by me prior to publishing but eventually I get them. I'm pleased with the result. It's something that I've had in my head for quite a while and it's very satisfying to see my new lamp post at the front gate when I drive up. I had to go back after the fact and update several of the DXF files based on the changes I made during the design and assembly process. If you happen to find a mistake let me know and I'll fix it. Apologies ahead of time if I messed something up! Once I've published an Instructable I do make a point of continuously reviewing and updating the content for accuracy. Now that the lamp is installed I think I'll give it some time before I finally publish this instructable. We are about to come into the stormy/rainy part of the year and that will be a good test to make sure the design is robust. Update: It's May now and we are into our phase of springtime bad weather. High wind, heavy rain, and some hail yesterday with more on the way. So far so good. Once we get futher into Summer and the sun has beaten on it a while I'll see how it does, make some final assessments, and publish the Instructable. Final Update: We're past the rainy part of the year and into the sunny and hot time. For the most part everything has survived however the roof is showing some signs of wear with the top veneer layer peeling in several places. I've got a few options... sand down the sections that are peeling and repaint them, try gluing down the veneer... or make the roof out of something that is more weatherproof like cedar. For the short term I'll touch up the existing roof and then make a new one out of cedar and see how that does. The plywood sheets that I used are really not rated for exterior use and I could have done more to seal the wood. Maybe apply a coat of epoxy first... and really pay attention to covering the edges. I've got a lot of other projects going on right now... when things slow down I'm going to make another lamp out of solid cedar. Now that I've got everything figured out it shouldn't take long. I'll add a gallery section to this Instructable and add some pictures when it's finished.

I've come up with a few ideas here... lamp, bird house, and bird feeder. What else? Hmmm.... maybe mount a bug zapper in it for the pool area? If you have another application in mind then please post it in the comments below. As always, comments and questions are welcome. And if you do build your own Multipurpose Modular Lamp Post then please post pictures. I'd love to see your work and it is a lot of fun for me being surprised when someone takes my concept in a different direction than I would have ever considered. And you certainly don't have to build all the modules. If you only want to have a bird house then just build the bird house. I decided that the lamp module worked out the best for our entry gate so I made that the permanent configuration but you know... I might build more of these for the backyard so that I can use the bird house and feeder modules. That's what I like about this design... you've got lots of options to play with. It's a great home outdoor project... front yard, back yard, garden area, pool area... wherever.

It also occurred to me that one fun idea would be to cut all of the parts and package everything in kit form along with instructions. It would be a neat present for someone who is maybe a young DIYer just getting into crafting things. The assembly process is very forgiving and it wouldn't take many tools to complete. Ha... we've got plenty of time until Christmas!

Good Luck!

Until the next Instructable...

SW