Mario Tube Light

I sourced almost all the parts from Lowe’s. Home Depot or a good hardware store will have these parts, too. I would’ve preferred to use a local Ace or True Value, but there wasn’t one within 10 miles of my house, but a Lowe’s was under 3 miles.

I got Mario from Amazon. It was a keychain that I modified for use as a pull. I had to buy a cheap ornamental pull from Lowe’s for parts to connect Mario to the pull chain switch. The switch is a simple pull chain two position switch for use in ceiling fan repairs. The light fixture is a ceramic socket from the lamp repair rack as well and the power cord. Very simple writing job using wire nuts.

I think the pipe pieces are pretty self explanatory. I didn’t glue any of them together. The ceramic light fixture is glued in with the epoxy. I’m not certain of the fire retardant properties of the epoxy, if there is any, so I wouldn’t leave the light on while gone. Just sayin’.

I drilled a hole for the switch and another for the power cord to exit on the back side. I would suggest starting with a small bit and drill successfully larger holes. Put the pieces you are drilling in a vice if possible. Trust me.

Oh, the bulb is one of those cool “Edison” style antique looking bulbs. It has a nice sepia yellow glow and is not bright.

On the Internet, I’ve seen the green tube and light mounted on a board. Personally, I thought it detracted from the look because it was just a painted board. I may think of a cool way to mount the two pieces that would be in the style of Mario Bros, but for now I just have them free.VThe light is very stable like it is.