Adam Savage's Bookshelf Lighting Solution!

While both the cave and the Tested studio's walls are lined IKEA Billy Bookcases, Adam's approach to lighting them are completely different. Instead of installing glass doors to light up the shelves at Tested, Adam builds custom planks that can span all five bookcases and shine light to the objects within. Unfortunately, we run into an unexpected issue with the LED lighting strips purchased for the project...
Adam's Billy Bookcase speedbuild: • Adam Savage Revamps Ou...
IKEA Billy Bookcase: www.ikea.com/us/en/p/billy-bo...
Shot by Adam Savage and edited by Norman Chan
Music by Jinglepunks
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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman
Thanks for watching!
#adamsavage #onedaybuilds

[@tested]

Adam's Billy Bookcase speedbuild: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnfVnqykeM2jb68 IKEA Billy Bookcase: www.ikea.com/us/en/p/billy-bookcase-black-brown-40263848/

[@kaboom-zf2bl]

those waves are the 60Hz hum of the power ... a small capacitor for each line to filter that out will work fine ... you also get it bad with florescent lights

[@kaboom-zf2bl]

btw the front camera is a 60hcamera thats why you see the hum ... still small 10PicoF capacitor for each line and it wont even see the hum as the capacitor levels out the spikes and the hum appears to vanish ... (you are actually changing it's resonant frequency so it waves at a different frequency)

[@kaboom-zf2bl]

@@62-66 the other option is make a fast pulse circuit and adjust the pulse to a point you dont see it ... that would generally use a trim pot ... a basic tunable resistor .. either way will work as resonance needs a matched set of Resistance and capacitance to work well ... change one you change its frequency and Yeah Im OLD school ... im part of the lost generation post hippie pre yuppie ... 62 to 66 .. we dont fit either palce but can handle both no problem

[@62-66]

@@kaboom-zf2bl The old school is what are need, you the ones who provide experience. It is very important

[@kaboom-zf2bl]

@@62-66 lol now just to get my head around cad software ... my day we did it by hand LOL

[@Johnnymarzo]

An Adam Savage garage sale would be an international event

[@freighter1097]

How so?

[@jimreineri6166]

Hah. He would not be able to let go of anything. Leaving nothing for sale.

[@hellomyfriend7932]

I pretty much assume that the cave will turn into a museum when Adam is gone.

[@jd-zr3vk]

@@hellomyfriend7932I agree I imagine there will tours of 10 people and there will be exhibitions

[@DigitalGus75]

It would be a Southerbys auction

[@calumryan6328]

Rear facing camera has the added benefit of looking 10000000 times better as well

[@robertford5938]

Yes! Please, Adam and team, please make him keep to this!

[@buzz.b]

I posted a comment saying this, before stumbling upon this one. I'm glad it's not just me who thinks this. It makes me think of all those times when Adam is filming in his cave how many times I've checked to see what the video resolution in KZbin is at because the quality looks poor. It lacks detail and I find sometimes I'm having to squint to see things clearly on my phone.

[@jdl3408]

Whoever did the audio over the timelapse segments is a hero. Great work.

[@ozpin8329]

13:30 The fact that Adam has a custom drill attachment specifically for shaking cans of spraypaint is amazing to me.

[@robertdoughty]

I think this is only the second time I've seen the paint shaker. There was a video about it some time ago because the vibrations broke the first one and Adam rebuilt it.

[@ManekiNico]

Well, that explains why I’ve never had good results with rattle cans. Gotta get me one of those.

[@boarder6246]

I was wondering if it had been featured before!

[@charlespatt]

Yes, he did a video on that one. There are a few other diy versions out there. I tried his method with minimal success but I didn't really try much yet, just two tries. A recip saw attachment I've seen seems like a good way to go.

[@iwancanobiRC]

Blasting routing dust everywhere whilst there is a festool vacuum literally a few feet away on the floor is a very Adam Savage thing to do. 😂 Love watching you work, vicariously building through you!

[@JustinThomas-hz6tz]

After twenty years if doing of it’s safe to say I’m not going to tire of watching Adam Savage build things and talk to a camera. Grateful for his generosity. Kudos to the editor on this one.

[@michaellascarides]

Looks great! One small suggestion: A darker matte colour on the back wall of the shelving units would make the objects pop on the foreground. Billys have a slightly gloss finish and the predominant visual right now of the whole thing is the near-whitish gradient of the reflection off of each shelf's back wall. Lining the back of the units with something light-scattering and non-reflective (e.g. black felt) would really make that collection sing. Sure you have something appropriate lying around, Adam. ;)

[@felixbelanger2659]

It probably looks much better in person then? Good idea though, maybe black 4.0 would be the best solution :P

[@danielmills7972]

Moments where the front camera captures at 59.9 fps, but the lights are running at 30htz (or some just off harmonic). Glad to see the rear camera resolved it.

[@johnlarro6872]

Oh the issues left over from Never The Same Color...

[@krisshaped]

The quality of the rear camera was so much better also. Looked brilliant. The LED lighting sure does add a wonderful impact. You might find that if you can get the LED’s into some sort of aluminium profile they will run slightly cooler and also last longer because of that. They also might light the items of the shelf’s better if they are pointed down 45 degrees. Instead of pointing straight towards the top of the rear part of the shelf’s.

[@CookieTube]

I dunno about the 45° though. That might create very ugly hotspots and reflections. LED (strips) are notorious for that if you shine them directly onto objects. If you add a diffuser it might help. But even with a diffuser, I would not put them at 45°. Indirect lighting (aka reflecting on the top, back and sides, is always much much better for stuff like this.

[@wavedash-]

Purpose-built aluminum channels for LED strips also accommodate diffusers, which could help more of the light go directly to the stuff on the shelves instead of the back panel.

[@joeyverliesharen]

@@CookieTube Yes, indirect lighting is better, but the black cabinet isn't gonna reflect a whole lot of light. I agree with @wavedash- that a 45° aliminium channel with a diffuser would be the best option. Downside to that is that it would probably require Adam to build new strips of wood to accomodate the thickness of the profile.

[@felixbelanger2659]

Yeah I totally would've cut a 30 degree chamfer

[@cocoxcocoa]

As a woodworker, it always fascinates me to see how non woodworker makers handle woodworking tasks.

[@Tommy_007]

What's your verdict in this case?

[@cocoxcocoa]

@Tommy_007 there's nothing wrong with the way he did it, it's just not the way I would have done it.

[@dusty3913]

There’s no questioning Adams’s brilliance, but he makes me feel good about my own woodworking techniques.

[@markireson9537]

'It won't be this dark forever.' Unintentional quotes to live by.

[@mostman]

The editing of Adam’s whistling into the song was absolutely sublime.

[@DJMmaker]

With the lip that hangs down, I would have recommended cutting at an angle so the light is tilted down onto the items on the shelves, rather than just straight back. I have a keyhole assembly type shelving unit for my photography gear. It is the type with a metal frame, and the horizontal pieces have an 7-shaped notch in them that pokes inward, to create a ledge on all four sides for a panel of wood to rest on. That is angled like a number 7, where the shelf sits on top, the angled bit continues down and back to be perfectly vertical. If you run an LED strip along that angled surface on the front of the shelving unit, the light from the LEDs shines back into the unit and angles down onto the contents of the shelf. It wasn't intended for that purpose but it works great for it!

[@DanJRice]

This is brilliant Adam. I've been putting off lighting my Lego cases because I didn't want the hassle of a separate strip for each shelf. I love this solution! I always learn the best tricks from you.

[@simonhoney2050]

Adam's physical transition from lockdown apocalypse gunsmith Doc Brown to post-covid James Gunn is a fun aside to the channel's main arc.

[@sjgoff]

That vice-arm deal that goes into holes in the bench is genius!

[@duzted]

I was infatuated with that the entire time

[@Warshipmodelsunderway]

Those are called holdfasts, and they have been used on workbenches for thousands of years. They are invaluable in woodworking.

[@VAXHeadroom]

@@Warshipmodelsunderway The fact that his bench has the RIGHT size holes *in the holes for the stops* for a holdfast is genius on the part of the bench designer.

[@w1987g]

That music transition at 10:45 was so freaking smooth I had to go back and hear it again

[@Smeadaria]

Whoever picked the classical/whistling music for the timelapse, kudos, that was awesome! The sound engineering of tested’s videos is always top notch.

[@bubbasplants189]

Hi Adam, the rolling shutter effect is caused by the PWM control of the LEDs. It turns them on and off rapidly to control the brightness. You may want to look into a different power supply or led driver or you can try to adjust your shutter speed of the camera.

[@CookieTube]

Different power supply wouldn't help. Different led driver might (one which controls the LEDs via amps, and not via PWM), but those are very hard to find. And if found, will be expensive. Also, common led strips like that usually always work with PWM anyways. Much 'cheaper' would be to find a LED strip with led drivers which work at +60Hz, like the ones used for theater and film lighting.

[@adventurepromo]

Adjusting the shutter speed will solve this problem.

[@Fragalishus]

@@adventurepromo And more specifically, record at 1/30s for a 60hz system (US), or 1/25 for 50hz. And the same settings will also help recording TV screens.

[@OWSNubbles]

​@@CookieTubelovely, I was hoping to find this info in the comments. Thank you!

[@its_zack9038]

Adam listening to you build while I build is so therapeutic and helps me focus while I build.

[@tomrockholm-timeless_morph6691]

I love watching Adam, not only do I learn about making but every video I learn a new word like Contiguous from this one. Never heard that word before and now it’s forever in my vocabulary. Thanks Adam!

[@nicolevanderpool1252]

Decluttering of the Tested office is coming along brilliantly 😊

[@Metaljacket420]

"That should. Yes." Should be the Savage family motto

[@ericthompson3982]

It's cool how the frame rate of the camera shows the oscillation of the drill.

[@fritzsmith7794]

I love this stuff, as a maker I always want to jump to the end of the video to see what the build is actually going to work/fit like so I will understand the cuts and how it will go together. Like a dry erase board cross section of what will be the desired end result. I also back my LEDs onto a strip of metal if working with wood. And why haven't I clicked subscribe yet!! Done.

[@DAS-Machina]

BTW A mullion is vertical and a munition is horizontal. An easy way to remember is a small "l" is a vertical line and a small "t" has a horizontal line crossing it"

[@DanRyanCarter]

Just discovered that the closed captions labels many of the machine sounds as [Music] and I think that's fantastic

[@daveinyk1]

My brother died from cancer a few years back, he was an aircraft engineer for 30 years, but also a huge fan of Myth Busters and more recently/relevantly, a fan of Jamie and the Tested KZbin channel. He installed Warp and Hyper Drive switches on the dash of 747 jet liners and signed off on the maintenance for a pile of bush planes as O. Kenobi. He had a terrific sense of humour. In the hospital, he insisted on having me bring his TV and several hard drives and then hook them up. On these drives he had every episode of Monty Python, Faulty Towers, Space 1999 and Red Dwarf. Myself and his doctor think these TV shows as well as episodes of Tested help him kept his sense of humour in tact during what was a terrible time for all of us. Having the job of clearing out his 'stuff' was difficult and I tried to keep everything that would remind me of him and things that made him who he was. Some of those 'things' bring me to writing this email. I would like to ask if I could donate a shoe box of 'stuff' that would fit into the ethos of the Tested work shop and what the staff and Jamie might appreciate. These include some Space1999 promotional figures and an R2D2 that he and my dad built together in the late 70's or early 80's. If you would like to have this stuff it would save me trying to get rid of it and I'm sure it would have made Steven very happy that's some of the trinkets (I assure you, not just a box of junk) he collected, ended up in the Tested shop. I will pay the postage (I will need the mailing address) and in return only ask if Jamie and the staff could thank my brother posthumously. Thanks in advance, David Radcliffe...for Steve Radcliffe, AME 1963-2018

[@plainnpretty]

The lights made a big difference looks great. I like your paint shaker . Thanks Adam

[@JWWag]

The little interlude with the strings and whistleing was a fun touch. Quite enjoyable.

[@monsvillerailways5736]

Great work Adam. Good lighting makes such a big difference. I just made a hanging light over one of my model railway layouts from an offcut of plywood and LED strips. As they were 12v LED's I wired them into an old crappy 12v train controller as a dimmer control. Using 100% bits I had spare was the best result. 👍 Happy modelling Mon

[@jtbrunick]

Adam, don’t take this the wrong way, but I truly am appreciative that your shop looks like a working shop and not a set for a show. Always amazing content. Thank you.

[@ianlacey]

Love everything you do Adam, but gota say it is great to see you building and I hope there is more to come :)

[@ericapelz260]

I need that bench in my life. Those benchdog holes with the plugs are amazing.

[@masonlamb8680]

growing up as a kid watching MythBusters was a fascination that i had being a little tinkerer, and now that I continue to watch the things you put here on youtube, it always seems to spark my interests to make more things! so thank you!

[@sch1191]

You are welcome to walk me through every step of the process, sir.

[@donevans1884]

Brilliant video Adam , love the new look shelves , great video as always .

[@brandonacree4605]

"I'm sorry it's so dark, it won't be dark forever." I really needed to hear that today, thanks Adam :)

[@anthonypinkston4197]

love the music on the quite parts

[@XelaSnikliw-fg8wu]

Hello Adam, I'm Alex! Im 44. I've watched you ever since your show first premiered! I've always appreciated how enthusiastic and tenacious you are! All while radiating positive feel good vibes in multi spectrum! Even when I'm bummed, you have this amazing ability to help me distract myself from my woes! Your spoken thoughts about being kind and supportive, allowing others their unadulterated moments of glory and staying positive. You help me keep myself going! Thank you!

[@nicholastotoro7721]

The life size Totoro watches all of it... 😂

[@TheRealTMar]

Looking awesome! I just got rid of the billy's in my kitchen and replaced them with an IVAR system I customised online. Once assembled, I painted them TARDIS blue! Just some brandless wood paint just has the exact colour as Doctor Who's police box in the episodes since 2005!

[@TinaGloria2012]

I love elegant and simple solutions like this. I really wish I had not only the know-how (which honestly this isn't that complex to figure out), but the means to do things like this with my own cabinets and stuff. That way like my cabinets and stuff have better lighting.

[@brandongaines1731]

I totally thought that that was Adam whistling, and I thought, "How did they find the song that he was whistling?" - and then I realized that the whistling was part of the music 😂

[@aikipunk]

I'm so glad to see that he picked up and used the screw he dropped.

[@kimbearlysue]

I've been watching Adam for waaaaaay to long. I look at the project and say "Wait you need to ..." and 3 seconds later Adam does it. 😊

[@MrDingDong2]

Great video! Just a friendly tip, Adam: You might consider using your rear facing camera regularly, as opposed to the front facing one. On a 4k TV there's a HUGE difference in picture quality!

[@gabrielcamacho6247]

Great work!! Another note, the rolling shutter it is a mismatch on the frecuency of the camera and the led lights. That's why the other camera doesn't have that effect. It is like trying to film a TV tube. Keep up the great work!!!!

[@fulltang1]

Always nice to see someone wearing actual PPE when painting on KZbin

[@dragonbowlsupper]

Yes thank you I've been needing lighting ideas for my nerd room!!

[@mistral2706]

Nice shelving Adam. Good job

[@srwapo]

I did the same thing by dropping like $20 at Ikea for some strips and taking ten minutes to screw them onto my case. Shows off my record collection nicely.

[@SteveBrecht]

Another idea for some people is to just use outside 1 inch corner molding from the hardware store, the kind of wood trim that goes on an outside corner. Put the lights on the inside face, either pointing down or pointing towards the back wall. Glue / screw / tape to the underside of the shelf and done. Stuff is cheap cheap and you can cut to length with a small saw. Also comes primed for painting to match whatever cabinet you're putting it in.

[@dutchguy1975]

Adam Savage style, overengineerd! Love it, I would probably used the strips with a simple light difuser to blend the hot spots of the lightstrip. But I love the way you think, wish I could be so inventive :)

[@RacoonBoyBR]

For years i watched Mythbusters and i tought that was my dream job.. and a tought that always came to my mind was that i should send them a letter asking for a job.. no matter how simple it was.. and for free... i didn't need to get paid for this.. Today i see the inside of Adam home (i think it's his home), and i identify with his antics (in a good way.. i'm sorry if i'm using this word wrong, i'm not a native english speaker) like never before.. i could see myself looking at the camera and make those same faces.. and trying to make the room look good.. i don't know.. but it was great! I hope that in another universe there's a version of myself that met Adam (and who knows have worked for him)..

[@variouscheeses]

Just to note the correct terminology, it's LED flickering that's causing the lighting effect at the end. Rolling shutter is a different phenomenon that one sees when a subject is moving quickly across the frame or a camera is panned more quickly than the sensor can read out.

[@danielarmstrong3963]

Honestly it looks really good

[@NLGeebee]

In our livingroom, we have a 80/40/80/40/80 setup of black Billies. That’s in cm :) The 80’s have doors with glass in the top half, the 40’s don’t. I have cut strips of L-shaped black plastic profile and put them at the front of the shelves. The LED strips are on the inside of the profile, facing backwards. I drilled holes in the sides of the Billies (8mm or 1 cm, I forgot) for the strips to go through. The Billies are screwed together anyway. I have not used a diffuser. Because of the power consumption, I have used 2 separate strips: one for two shelves and one for three. The strips are standard ones with a remote to control the lights. And are turned on and off with a separate power remote.

[@patrickdiehl6813]

That's exactly what I need to make for my shelf of tasted beers. Thanks Adam!

[@SciPunk215]

It looks AWESOME !

[@Ravenholm337]

This is exactly the type of project I've been wanting to do

[@Oscar_s_World]

Impressive, most impressive 👏

[@Dragonited]

that looks great. Have been wanting to do something to light up my bookshelves myself. I'm also pondering on how to do it combined with a double walled back with some sort of air channels behind it with small slitts at the top of each shelf that with a few silent computer fans with dust filters on them to create a positive air preasure in the shelves that keep dust from setteling on everything. Speaking of dust, you need to hook up your table saw with your dust collector. Those strips you used look like they are painted MDF. The glue in MDF, when worked on, is not very good to breathe in, and the very small dust particles are not very healthy either.

[@jugglerj0e]

I LOVE that Totoro! ❤❤❤

[@jjohns17]

Love this! Also, we have the same Klein Bottle selection!

[@62-66]

An excellent engineering solution. Backlights. Drill to stir paint super )))

[@brandonfrancey5592]

I gotta be honest, I think if I was working in Adam's workspace, the lack of space and amount of "stuff" would just drive me insane. What killed me was "Lets pull out the table saw." where Adam has to clear off the saw and then moves the stuff onto the mill because there is no where to put it.

[@Spifferiferfied]

I'd love to hear more about how use used to light the bookcases, I have some Billys with doors I've been looking to add lighting to.

[@GermanSausagesAreTheWurst]

I never heard the word "mullion" before, but I'm glad I looked it up.

[@IsabellaCatherine19XX]

Nice lighting! Also, nice shoes!

[@SenZubEanS]

Rear Cam footage SOOO MUCH clearer!

[@rickytoddbotelho9555]

Beautiful job ❤😂

[@ast_rsk]

Awesome! Love these kinds of satisfying results. Now you just need to build a mirror rig so you can monitor your phone while using the rear camera :)

[@Qopzeep]

Whoever did the editing on this one: excellent work. The classical music with Adam's whistling was 🤌

[@joshcullum88]

Hi Adam, that effect with the lights can be stopped by running the frame right of your camera at either 24/60 FPS. Or any other frame rate that comes under NTSC you can google NTSC frame rates. Hope this helps

[@brianng8350]

The video is bit chaotic- I guess that is the mind of Adam Savage. But by the end, great results. 😂😂😂

[@rodgerbright3764]

Mr savage rocking some cool ass pants with the fly yellow kicks. Stylish today!

[@danielberg7644]

Virtual ocean waves are calming.

[@djdennishouseton]

Love the Tom sachs

[@gloggare]

that turend out frikkin awesome

[@alexbuilds706]

Wow right place at the right time.. lol I need lighting solutions as well.. Will check this out!

[@TotalVikingPower]

Put the leds on a champer, so the lights points more down

[@nathkrupa3463]

Great video sir

[@reddcube]

Rolling shutter effect is because of PWM controlling the LED brightness. Definitely not a huge issue, it can be fixed by changing the settings or a different controller.

[@juanalbertoperezfuentes5307]

Muy entretenido el vídeo y muy buena idea para ponerla en efecto 👌👌

[@pazu8728]

I love that Totoro!

[@Melbournewelder]

Thank you.

[@admantius]

Looks awesome! I'm a live theater lighting electrician in a regional production house and we're constantly doing installs like this on set pieces and props. Love the solution of adding a full piece of wood to the front so you can just use one LED tape strip instead of having to solder a bunch of connection points! I'm curious about the type of LEDs and driver you're using that allows you to connect them concurrently? All of the tapes I've come across have a max run length, which is dependent on voltage and the density of the LEDs on the tape. Or did you do multiple runs back to the power supply that you just didn't highlight in the video? The rolling gate can often be fixed with an LED driver that lets you change the Hz that the LEDs are flickering at, as well. These can get to be a bit expensive, but might be something to look into~ Thirdly, a small critique and/or suggestion: all LED tapes have a Beam Angle, which is the width of the light emitting from the source. When your tape is mounted so that it's pointing straight back at the back of the shelf like you have it, almost half of the light emitted is being projected up into the shelf above it. This has the added problem of the light intensity dropping off down towards the lower shelf (where the things you're actually trying to light are) and leaving a 'hot spot' at the top section. This is particularly obvious on the taller shelf section in your video, second from the top. To fix this, you can either construct an angled piece of wood that points the tape down towards the items you're displaying, or purchase some angled aluminum channeling that's specifically made to mount LED tape (this has the added benefit of a diffusion lense that evens out the light quality from such small light sources). You're a smart dude, so I hope you know what I mean by 'consider your geometry' when choosing what angle of channeling or wood to use to best compliment the Beam Angle of your LED tape compared to the items you want to light. Long time fan! Always puts a smile on my face to see someone so clearly fascinated by so many broad subjects, and just as interested as I am in getting your hands dirty in the name of sussing things out how things work, while also being so delighted by the artistry and craft it requires. Hope your new space is treating you well, and look forward to seeing the videos you film in it!

[@coffeebot3000]

I'm just fascinated with that massive clamp you were hammering into the table. I've never seen something like that.

[@EnigmaEagle]

They did a video about it at some point, can't remember when though 😝 i thought the system was geniusly simple and functional

[@unknowncomic4107]

I did nearly the same thing on my shelving but since I have large over-sized books I ran into the problem that the wood strip overhang that is concealing the lighting would make it difficult to put my large books on the shelves so I used strips of rare earth magnets and made the wood concealing strips removeable. My led lights are fastened to the edge of the underside of the shelf.

[@62-66]

Adam great idea. I would like to see what happens after installing the light)))

[@dwarftoken]

It looks awesome. I think you should have installed something to diffuse the light. Maybe a strip of foggy plastic or acrylic.

[@32bitnews]

amazing!

[@GxldStXrDxst]

U r great really, that was 1 of the best things to find u here ⭐

[@NewbombedTurk]

Adam’s finally wearing a pair of Tom Sachs Nikes that I’ve actually been able to get my hands on for once.

[@GretchArmstrong]

Another source for LED lighting ideas is to take a close look at cosmetic store fixtures. Big box retailers and Ulta particularly. There is an LED strip under each tray or shelf. The strips are held by either a channel they slide into (which also is part of the diffusion) or clip to metal brackets that make contact with a powered backwall system. Source: I lead teams that install these at big box retailers.

[@johnnymnemonic69]

That looks good

[@dancedj2k2]

I was surprised you took the long way to get there, if you knew someone to help along the way. I just added usb light and use the flex strips and put them inside the bookcase. Then used something in black

[@miza000]

Looks good! I wonder, if the notches were to be cut with an angle, so the light would shine in a downwards angle. Would that make for a better lit shelf?