Man 3D prints a wirelessly powered desk lamp inspired by Tesla

Engineer, David Choi, was on a mission to 3D print something inspired by Nikola Tesla's wireless power transmission.  Using his MakerBot Replicator 5th Generation, he began by printing the base of the lamp, two indentations for coils, one spiralling out and the other surrounding it as a circle.  He aquired a vintage 25W Tesla light bulb and copper tubes, which were coiled into place.

The base of the lamp acts as the receiver.  It sits on a table with a 6.5MHz transmitter underneath that resonates a tunable antennae on the lamp.  There are four coils total and electricity is powered through magnetic coupling.

Though Choi failed physics in high school, he decided to pursue it on his own, leading him to major in it at Wesleyan University.  In his spare time he studied electronic design in his dorm room.  It was then, that he discovered the immense power of resonance.

 

All of his schematics are available, for free, online.

 

Here, Choi gives a brief tour of the lamp

 

Image Credit: http://3dprint.com/46711/tesla-desk-lamp/