After making a prototype of the front of the sconce last weekend I decided it was a little too small. After trying to print a scale drawing I decided that I don’t really care for Sketchup. Even following the directions (page re-size off, model size=print size, etc) it still prints smaller than actual. And there is some kind of a bug that when I try to print now it puts Sketchup into a weird state where I can’t see the model anymore and I have to exit and re-start. Clearly, you get what you pay for.
I ordered a lamp and socket. I decided to use a compact florescent bulb because I’m concerned about heat. I found a 6500K color temperature (bright white) that should have the same brightness as a 75 watt bulb. You can see that the lamp — which isn’t all that big — dwarfs the stile I made.
So I scaled up, about 1/4″ in stile length, and I went from 1/2″ square stiles to 5/8″ square stiles. I adjusted the rails, and also made it slightly deeper (front-to-back). This gives me a lot more clearance between the rebate for the glass and the mortises, and allows me to go from a 1/16″ shoulder on the tenons all the way up to a generous 1/8″.
I want to print out a full size version before I make this to ensure I get the scale and dimensions right. Which means re-modeling it in SolidWorks, which is simple enough. Since I can use that to make the patterns for the stained glass too it’s worth the little bit of extra effort to re-do the model.