Light up your outside dining.
We wanted to light up our outside dining but couldn’t find anything online to buy, so we decided we could make something ourselves. After brainstorming the idea for a few days, we came up with an easy and inexpensive way to make light holders that would work on any table at any RV park we stayed at.
We were able to purchase everything at Lowe’s Home Improvement.
The total cost for this project was only $40.
If you don’t mind the screwdriver looking handle sticking up on your table you could simply drill a hole in the end and attach an S hook and be done. We wanted the handle to be under the table which required a little bit of modifications to the clamp.
1.
You need to remove the end piece by drilling out the rivet that is holding it in place. Make sure you center your bit and remove the whole rivet. Once you have the rivet drilled out you need to grab a hammer and knock the end of the clamp off of the bar.
Because the bar on the clamp is wider below the piece you are removing you will need to widen the hole on the piece you just removed.
2.
Using a drill bit I moved the bracket back and forth until I could get the size large enough to allow the bracket to slide down the bar of the clamp. This is the part of the project that took the longest.
3.
Slide the tightening handle to the bottom the the bar. Opposite the side where you just removed the end from.
I measure up 3-3/4 inches to find the spot where I wanted the top of the piece I had just removed to be mounted.
Line up the hole on the the removed bracket with the bar and mark a spot so that you can drill a hole to remount the bracket.
NOTE: If you don’t like the orange color this is a good time to paint over the orange brackets before mounting them to the bar.
4.
Slide the bracket down the bar and place the bolt through the bracket and bar. Place a washer on each side and then tighten the lock washer down to secure the bracket in place.
5.
Now all you have to do is clamp the S hook to the top. The hole you left behind from drilling the rivet out in step 1 is the perfect location to do this.
Make sure you have the S hook on the right side before you clamp it down.
Now all you have to do is attach your lights to the S hooks
and you are ready to light up your outdoor dining experience.
If you dry camp or don’t have access to power, consider buying battery operated lights.
By flipping the direction that the bracket tightens the clamp down you will hide the handle from sticking straight up off of your table.
It also gives you the ability to clamp this down on any type of table. Some metal tables have an indent at the bottom which would limit how much of the clap would make contact with the tables.
This way it allows the tightening part of the clamp to move to the base of the table and give you a secure way to attach the clamp to your table.
