tilt beam wood light – Fade to Future

Tilt Beam / Recharagble Light

Tilt Beam / Rechargable Wood Light

Tilt Beam is a solid block of white oak turned into a solar rechargeable light. A sunny day charges a super capacitor that never needs to be replaced…at least, probably not in your lifetime. Tilting the block over turns an LED light on. Tilt it back up to turn it off. A charge provides around 30 minutes of light.

Tilt Beam / Recharagble Light — Tilt the block of wood over and the light turns on.

Tilt Beam / Recharagble Light Being Assembled — I sawed a thin piece off the top of the wood, then lasercut a perfect rectangle for the solar panels. This allowed me to sloppily chisel out a hole in the center of a solid block of white oak for the circuitry.

Tilt Beam / Recharagble Light Circuit Diagram — A mercury tilt switch detects the angle of the light and turns it on. A .9-5V boost converter provides a steady 5V current off the super capacitor which can be drained to .9V.

Tilt Beam / Recharagble Light Circuitry — Hot glue is used over all exposed metal to protect the circuits.

Tilt Beam / Recharagble Light Gluing — Clamp and glue the top on making sure to align the wood grain. The open cavities get filled with resin to form a solid block. The resin bled to the surface through the pores in the wood to make it even stronger. Sand and finish with wood butter.

Tilt Beam Public Art - about sheet — Tilt Beam as public art