M16 lamp

HowToBeAHeroine's M16 Lamp is a great, quick bodge: take one Ikea lamp, stick it onto one toy electronic M16 (sprayed gold), add one Target lampshade. Be sure to watch to the end for a spectacular finale. Sure beats Philippe Starck's $1700 version.

M16 Lamp (Thanks, Dean!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Gadgets • guns • happy mutants • housewares • submitterator • video • youtube

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Mister44

Looks a little more like an M-4, but still pretty cool. I didn’t realize they still made real looking toy guns – unless that one is airsoft.
- MichaelZWilliamson
  
  Yes, exactly like an M4, except for the wrong stock, which is that of an M16. And the rest of it, which looks like an M16A3. Other than that, it does look like an M4, in that the M4 was developed from the M16.
  
  The real question is can we do it with a real one so everyone thinks the rifle is a lamp, until needed?
  - Mister44
    
    M-4s can come with a non-collapsible stock. It’s the carbine barrel length primarily that differentiates the two. (I know I am nit picking the M-4 is basically an M-16 – but what else do I have to do but point out minor bullshit on the internet?)
    - MichaelZWilliamson
      
      There are no M4s with non-collapsible stocks. You may have seen some civilian gun made to look a bit like an M4, with its stock replaced with a fixed stock to suit some state law. But that is not an M4.
      
      Hey, you asked for nitpicky.
      - Cory Doctorow
        
        Neither the M4, nor the M16, has an electrified barrel that makes crackly lightning and pew-pew noises when you pull the trigger. Neither is spraypainted gold at the manufacturer. Neither has a lightbulb affixed to its barrel (at least in stock configurations).
      - Mister44
        
        He wins the nitpicky battle.
Antonio Dolcetta

When I read the title I thought that this would be a lamp shaped like Messier Object 16
- http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
  
  One could certainly print a few shots of the Eagle Nebula on transparency to make a nice lampshade for this.
- http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan
  
  And I was wondering if it would shed light on the murky dealings of MI6 until I noticed the digit wasn’t a letter.
  - http://twitter.com/HowToBeAHeroine C.A.
    
    LOL! That made me smile. :)
- http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty
  
  Like Tom Noonan’s huge Mars landscape picture in Manhunter
Gtmac

Not exactly frah-gee-lay.
aynrandspenismighty

Wasn’t this in an episode of ‘I Dream of Jeanie’?
chgoliz

Why did I have to click on that link in front of the daughter who loves guns?

*sigh*

At least I’ve rewired enough lamps over the years that I know this is going to be a quick project to finish.
- Sparg
  
  Yes, lamps are fun to make, fun to use! But I hate the old sticky felt paper on the bottom of so many old ones.
- http://twitter.com/HowToBeAHeroine C.A.
  
  Yes! This is a very quick and easy project – no rewiring required. :) I did have to saw off about an inch off the top of the rifle to make it lay flush with the “pole” of the lamp however. And BTW: don’t be afraid to use spraypaint – the lights still show. xoxo
http://www.kmoser.com kmoser

Already been done (in gold no less). And it’s missing the accompanying pistol lamp.
musesum

It’s too soon after breakfast. I couldn’t get past the picture behind the lamp: the twin Angels of lower intestines.
- http://twitter.com/HowToBeAHeroine C.A.
  
  Haha. Here’s to unsolicited wedding gifts that one keeps around out of guilt. Cheers. ;)
PeterK

Why not make the trigger the lightswitch?
- http://twitter.com/HowToBeAHeroine C.A.
  
  And then miss out on all the aforementioned “pew-pew” noises?? Or did you mean have the noises AND the ability to turn it on and off? That would be epic. And out of my realm of expertise. ;)
http://twitter.com/criminalcrafts Miss Demeanor

I like lamp
- http://twitter.com/HowToBeAHeroine C.A.
  
  And I particularly like when people adopt Russian habit of dropping definite articles. xoxo
Rory Santino

I can’t help looking at the design and thinking that the firing selector switch (single, 3-shot burst, full auto) would work great for a three-way lamp. Also, a detachable magazine would be a nice “stash spot.” Finally, the accessory rail would be nice for attachments like a nightlight, holder for reading glasses, or grenade launcher…

Afraid it clashes with my current decor and would be immediate grounds for divorce, however.
- http://twitter.com/HowToBeAHeroine C.A.
  
  Ooh. Agreed. LOVE the suggestions. You sound like an evil genius.
$19428857

I cite the episode of I Dream of Jeannie where a wacky designer redecorates Major Nelson’s house and uses Thompson submachine gun lamps as prior art.
- penguinchris
  
  Sure, but the whole point of the post is that Philippe Starck sells a lamp like this for $1600, and this person in the video made one similar out of a cheap toy.
  
  So pointing out prior art is a little pointless, because the whole point is that this is a cheap version of prior art.
  
  That is pretty hilarious though, I don’t think I saw that episode :) This definitely comes from the 60′s pop-art aesthetic, no question there.
  - http://twitter.com/HowToBeAHeroine C.A.
    
    Thank you for pointing that out. A kiss on both cheeks.