Manufacturing Project - Lamp

My project is to manufacture and build a desk lamp. The base of the lamp is made out of red oak, and the support stand is made out of two brass bars. The light bulb, light bulb fixture, lamp shade, and electric cord were all purchased parts. The brass was provided by Grand Valley, and I purchased the red oak from a wood supplier.

I followed my process plans for both brass bars very closely. The press fit which joined the two bars worked very nicely. I used a rawhide mallet to pound the two sections together, and the place where they are joined is not even noticeable. The two bars both ended up to be within the print specifications. Upon completion of sanding the bars, I used a metal polish which I had at home to apply a nice finish shine to the bars.

The wood also turned out to look very nice. My process plan called out that I mill the center hole to achieve the flat bottomed hole. However, in the lab at the time I was going to do this, an easier method was found. A lab assistant found an old 1" drill bit. Therefore, I was able to use the abrasive saw to cut off the point on the bit. I then ground some relief angle on the flat end, and used this bit to finish drilling the hole. It worked very nicely, however it is not recommended, since the drill bit is now unusable for any other application. One last item to note is that I had to apply two coats of varnish, because the first coat was excessively absorbed by the wood.