Crumbling lamp base

How could I fix this lamp base?

Plastic is crumbling and the cement (?) Under it is also starting to crack.  But otherwise seems stable.

It scratches the floor.  Otherwise works great.  Love this lamp.

First idea.

Take pizza 🍕 cardboard and glue it somehow to the cement stuff.  But it's a bit small.

I think you're on to it with the cardboard.  Just cut out a bigger circle from a box and glue it on.  If you want a different feel for the bottom, glue some black felt onto the cardboard.

Good to know.

I'm going to try the cardboard.  

Cut a round of plywood slightly recessed from the edge and screw it into the bottom securely. Add simple rubber bumbers, plastic feet, wheels or simply glue a piece of fabric or felt to the bottom (that would mean recess the screws). Cut a hole in the center in case you ever need to retire the lamp.

It looks like the pipe in the middle is what holds the base on. It's probably pipe thread, ⅜" I suspect. If I have that right, you could get rid of the current base, and use a floor flange to attach to a base that you make. Since the plug at the end of the cord won't pass through the pipe, you'd have to find where it attaches, remove it, and reattach afterward. Or cut it off and splice it back on with wire nuts. A tall floor lamp provides a lot of leverage that could break your pipe off. The base could be designed so that the pipe fits tightly through the base, and screws through the flange last. Then the thickness of the base would help support the pipe. If I'm wrong about the ⅜" size, I don't know if you could find an ⅛" or ¼" flange, but you could use a bushing to adapt go the size of your pipe.

⅜" Flange from lowes.com

Could you unscrew the nut and flip over the weight? Then put some plywood on the bottom to stop it scratching up your floor.

To take off the base or weight, I would have to rewire some of the lamp.  I could take the plug off, then the base could come off.

The cardboard is holding things together well enough for now.  Not a forever solution, but I suspect it will last a year or three.  Definitely need to brainstorm a more permanent solution.  But that is probably going to need some electrical effort.  Not hard, but more time and effort than I can give it just now..

My first thought was that often one can find scraps of carpeting - it would last longer than cardboard, but still not a permanent solution. I'm thinking something firm and low pile. Similarly, a scrap of flooring (I'd say linoleum, but most of it's plastic these days) but it would be more prone to curling than the carpeting in my opinion.

r ranson wrote:How could I fix this lamp base?

Plastic is crumbling and the cement (?) Under it is also starting to crack.  But otherwise seems stable.

It scratches the floor.  Otherwise works great.  Love this lamp.

You could turn it upside down and put a small flange around it the fill it with fiberglass and resin with black dye making sure the flange is non stick. That aught to make the base solid. One approach.
Or you could carefully remove the concrete and plastic and re pour the concrete and add some nuts in your bottom form that you could screw in some rubber feet after. Grease some bolts to hold the space during the pour. Remove them a day after the pour and put the new ones with rubber on a week after or just set them in there from the start-- they might not adjust as easily that way though.
I'm sure there are easier ways, but, those two should work fine, but might not work for every person.

Good luck, I hope you find a solution that works well for you.

I bought some tent weights for an event last weekend.  They are a similar size and shape.  But unfortunately, I need all four for the tent.

Now I know what they look like, I'm going to keep an eye out for them at yard sales.  Or maybe something else that can be transformed into a lamp base and I can add weight to later.  Since I have to rewire the lamp to change the base anyway, I can go all out and redesign the whole lamp.  I'm going to spend the next year or so observing how I use the lamp and what needs I have.  Easy to move one handed, can fit in my loom, not easy to knock over, directed white/natural light.  

What if I could redesign the light to be solar powered?  I use it for no more than two hours every so often.  I could plug it into a solar panel and the weight on the bottom could be a battery?  That way I wouldn't be restricted by the cord.  Some rewiring but possible?  Something to think about.


I have electronics from the 1920s that use cardboard for insulation and it holds up quite well.  Don't know how well this patch will hold up.  Not confident that the cement won't crumble and break apart from the cardboard I glued it to.  

r ranson wrote:What if I could redesign the light to be solar powered?  I use it for no more than two hours every so often.  I could plug it into a solar panel and the weight on the bottom could be a battery?  That way I wouldn't be restricted by the cord.  Some rewiring but possible?

Right, then you'd almost want it to be more of a wood box.  In fact, if that's something you think you might want to pursue, then you could build the base that way now and then fill it with rocks or sand for the time being.

I like lamps, and will grab lamps, chandeliers etc. from the dump if they catch my eye. So I would watch out for a lamp with a nice base from the dump, reuse store, yard sale, and then switch bases if one fits. Rewiring lamps is  not hard, I have even make lamps out of birch tree logs, the key to making a base is to have enough elevation to run the cord under it. You can use all types of things as the feet. Old wooden thread spools are a favorite for me, because I sew. Again, wander dumps and yard sales and keep you imagination working.

The cardboard circle repair is still working great!  I use this lamp frequently, often moving it about.  So far, no more crumble or scratched floor.

If you want to replace the concrete base, here's my writeup of how I did it: https://raywoodcockslatest.wordpress.com/2021/05/04/lamp-base/

I've removed those kind of bases altogether and mounted the pole directly to the wall using 2 or 3 spring-loaded "broom clamps" like the one pictured here, works well and saves space to boot!

I bought one from someone and when i went to take outa car to house, the   plastic brittle, cememt started crumbling and the plastic covering started falling off. Also notice the pole which im thinking was steady in base is all loose. What to do ??

Aileen Posth wrote:I bought one from someone and when i went to take outa car to house, the   plastic brittle, cememt started crumbling and the plastic covering started falling off. Also notice the pole which im thinking was steady in base is all loose. What to do ??

Yes, if it's like the one my friend has, once the plastic cracks and the cement crumbles, the post is going to wobble. There are lots of good ideas in this post, so you need to think about how you will use the lamp in order to decide which of the fixes would most appeal to you. Do you plan on moving it around - then light weight is good.
Will it stay in a single spot near a wall - then brackets on the wall and loose the base might work.
Will it stay still but be in the middle of the room, look for something you can repurpose as a new base and make it unique and better than new!

This is an opportunity to use creativity to fix a problem and keep much of the lamp out of the landfill. If you find parts and want some help putting it together, post pictures (there's a link to how to post pictures in my signature). If you haven't visited the SKIP forum, go and have a look, as I'm pretty sure there will be a badge bit that fixing this lamp will cover.

r ranson wrote:First idea.

Take pizza 🍕 cardboard and glue it somehow to the cement stuff.  But it's a bit small.

A few years later, it is holding up nicely!