Floor lamp base - cord exit
We have an old floor lamp that’s always been a bit tippy and I finally got around to wondering what’s going on.
The cord exits through the center of the base, where it passes through a plastic nut that keeps it off the raw metal edge of the central rod holding the lamp together.
The ruler has 1/16 inch divisions, so the cord requires a bit over half an inch of clearance.
Floor lamp foot with bumper
Here’s what one of the five molded-in feet look like, with a white rubber bumper that I just added to improve the ground clearance…
Notice that the foot is barely 1/4 inch tall, so the lamp has always been resting on the cord and two other randomly chosen feet. No wonder the thing was tippy.
The new rubber feet make it a lot less tippy, but there’s not a lot of clearance under there. When one of those things falls off, I’ll think of something better.
The lamp was nominally UL approved, of course…
#1 by smellsofbikes on 26-October-2010 - 13:21
We’ve a torch lamp, big round heavy base, that doesn’t even bother with feet: the base has *always* rested on the cord on one side, since it was new. Likewise UL-approved. Gah. Luckily it’s in a place that doesn’t get bothered, but some day I should add feet.
#2 by Ed on 26-October-2010 - 16:53
that doesn’t even bother with feet
Makes you wonder if they omitted the feet to shave a few cents off the production cost.
After getting all the approvals, of course. Perhaps feet don’t factor into the rating?