# Open Task Light: an open hardware desk lamp published as files, not a product > Open Task Light is an open source desk lamp published as a set of 3D models, electronics files, bills of materials and manufacturing files, with a gitbook guide and two routes to a build, from a hardware kit to sourcing and manufacturing every part yourself. The maintainers warn at the outset that it is a difficult hands-on build of more than twenty printed parts, and the horizontal arm is intentionally non-reversible. **stevenbennett/Open-Task-Light** — Components for making the Open Task Light - Repository: https://github.com/stevenbennett/Open-Task-Light - Website: https://www.youtube.com/@StevenBennettMakes - Stars: 1,092 · Forks: 62 - Language: Python - License: MIT - Published: 2026-10-19 · Updated: 2026-10-19 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/stevenbennett-open-task-light ## What the project publishes, and what it is not Open Task Light is described as an open-source desk lamp designed to be extended, repaired and remade, and the repository contains the 3D models, electronics files, bills of materials and manufacturing files used to build it. That sentence defines the scope precisely. This is not a product listing and not a rendering of a finished object. It is a set of files, plus the documentation needed to turn them into a lamp. The three words in the description carry the design intent, because extended, repaired and remade are the activities the project is inviting. An open hardware project that publishes a model file but not the manufacturing instructions cannot be remade by anyone, and one that publishes the model without a bill of materials cannot be repaired. The repository publishes both, which is what makes the difference between this and a designer uploading a shape. ## The warning at the top, and why the project puts it there Before you start section is the first thing in the README, and it is unusually direct. The Open Task Light is a challenging, hands-on project involving more than 20 printed parts, careful assembly and thoughtful tuning. The framing of the printer is the part worth quoting, that you should think of your printer less like a magic part replicator and more like a tool to understand and occasionally wrangle. Then the expectation is set plainly, to calibrate, inspect and sometimes reprint parts to get the right fit and strength, and the project closes on the tone of the warning itself, that if that kind of problem-solving sounds rewarding you will probably enjoy the build. This is a project warning you off if you were expecting a plug and play result, which is more useful to a reader than a features list would be, because the failure mode it prevents is a person giving up at part forty with a tolerance problem and blaming the files. ## Two routes to a build: the kit and the self-sourced version The Build an Open Task Light section offers a choice, and the choice is about how much of the fabrication you take on. The first is to build from a hardware kit, where you start with all the hardware you need, print the required parts and follow the assembly guide. The second is to source the parts yourself, using the bills of materials and preparation guides to source, manufacture and prepare your complete build. Both routes end at the same place, because both point at the same complete printing and assembly guide on the project's gitbook. The second route is the one that makes the project genuinely open, since a kit means the parts exist and you are assembling, while self-sourcing means you are making the pieces the kit would have contained. There is also a self-sourcing guide linked separately, and the project publishes the bills of materials that route depends on. ## What is in the repository, and the Open Task Light directory The Repository contents section is one line, and the top level of the repository backs it up. There is a directory literally named Open Task Light, an Archive/ directory, a LICENSE file, a README, and a .github/ directory. The primary language is recorded as Python, which is a detail worth a second look given that the project is 3D models and electronics files, and it suggests the repository carries some scripted part of the model or manufacturing pipeline rather than only static artefacts. The Archive directory is the kind of thing open hardware projects accumulate as designs are revised, and the fact that it is separated rather than deleted suggests the maintainers treat the earlier revisions as still useful references. The main directory holding the models, the electronics files, the bills of materials and the manufacturing files is the working set for the current design. ## The design constraint: the arm is deliberately non-reversible The Important design constraint section is the most interesting thing in the README and the reason to read the project rather than just the files. The horizontal arm is intentionally non-reversible, and this is a deliberate constraint related to the patent landscape surrounding this type of mechanism. The consequence is stated as a rule for contributors rather than as a limitation for users, that proposals to make the arm reversible will not be accepted into this project. That is a different kind of statement from a feature request being declined. A maintainer can usually be persuaded to add something they have no reason to avoid, so a hard refusal usually means there is a reason, and here the reason is named, the patent position around a reversible mechanism of this kind. For anyone who wanted to change the arm to fold the other way, the answer is in the README and it is no. ## What is still planned, and what is not The Project status section lists the planned additions, and the list is specific. Detailed assembly and preparation instructions for custom cables and processed parts such as the V-slot rails, the turntable bearing and the QT Py. And drawings and schematics for professionally manufactured components, including sheet-metal parts and PCBs. So the project is explicit about its current gaps. The processed parts, the V-slot rails and the turntable bearing, are the ones a home printer cannot make directly, and the instructions for them are the part of the documentation that a self-sourcing builder most needs. The second item is the bigger one, because drawings and schematics for professionally made parts are what a third party fabricator needs in order to quote you, and their absence is what currently limits the build to people willing to make sheet metal and PCBs themselves or to have them made from a description rather than a drawing. ## The community around it, and where the write-ups are The More on the project section links two write-ups, a Hackaday piece titled Sliding Into Perfection: The Open Task Light from the first of September 2026, and a build log by James Vaughan. Those are worth reading before the gitbook, because a long-form build log of someone else assembling the thing tells you what the failure points are in a way the official guide cannot. The Community section adds a YouTube channel, a Discord server, and a Patreon for the project, with the homepage pointing at the same channel under the name StevenBennettMakes. So this is a project with a person attached to it, which is the usual reason an open hardware project succeeds or does not, and it is also the reason the design constraint is stated so firmly, since the person who owns the patent question is the one who sets the rule. ## Upkeep, licence and what a contributor is agreeing to The last push to the repository was on 2026-10-13, the repository is not archived, and the licence is MIT with the LICENSE file at the root. The releases are dated bundles rather than semantic versions, with names of the form stl-2026-09-23-6c2bcd5 for the September 23, 2026 bundle, and earlier ones for September 16 and September 10, each with a short commit hash appended. That naming tells you the release artefact is a snapshot of the working tree rather than a library with a versioned API, so nothing in it can break your build the way a semver bump would, but also nothing in it is promised to be stable. For a contributor, the practical content of the MIT licence is that the files are yours to use and modify freely, including commercially, which is the point of publishing them, subject to the one constraint the maintainer has reserved the right to enforce by refusing changes to the mechanism. ## Conclusion Open Task Light suits a maker who wants a lamp they understand, can repair and can modify, and who is prepared for calibration, inspection and reprinting parts when a fit is wrong. It is the wrong choice if you want a working lamp tonight, because the project describes itself as a challenging hands-on build of more than twenty printed parts, and a poor fit if you need to change the mechanism, because the horizontal arm is deliberately non-reversible and proposals to change that will not be accepted. Before you start, read the build guide end to end, decide between the hardware kit and the self-sourcing route, and budget for a printer and for the iteration the warning describes rather than treating the files as a one-shot print. ## FAQ ### What is the Open Task Light project? It is an open-source desk lamp designed to be extended, repaired and remade. The repository contains the 3D models, electronics files, bills of materials and manufacturing files used to build it, along with a gitbook printing and assembly guide, and the licence is MIT. ### How do I build an Open Task Light? You choose a build. You can start from a hardware kit, print the required parts and follow the assembly guide, or you can source, manufacture and prepare every part yourself using the bills of materials and the preparation guides. Both routes then follow the same complete printing and assembly guide on the project's gitbook. ### Why is the horizontal arm of the Open Task Light not reversible? It is intentionally non-reversible, a deliberate constraint related to the patent landscape surrounding this type of mechanism. The README states that proposals to make the arm reversible will not be accepted into the project, so it is a design rule rather than an oversight. ### What is still missing from the Open Task Light documentation? Planned additions are detailed assembly and preparation instructions for custom cables and processed parts such as the V-slot rails, the turntable bearing and the QT Py, plus drawings and schematics for professionally manufactured components including sheet-metal parts and PCBs. ### How difficult is the Open Task Light build? The README warns that it is a challenging, hands-on project involving more than 20 printed parts, careful assembly and thoughtful tuning, and advises treating your printer less like a magic part replicator and more like a tool to understand and occasionally wrangle, expecting to calibrate, inspect and sometimes reprint parts to get the right fit and strength. ## Sources - [License: MIT](https://github.com/stevenbennett/Open-Task-Light/blob/main/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://www.youtube.com/@StevenBennettMakes) - [README](https://github.com/stevenbennett/Open-Task-Light/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/stevenbennett/Open-Task-Light/releases) - [stevenbennett/Open-Task-Light on GitHub](https://github.com/stevenbennett/Open-Task-Light) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/stevenbennett-open-task-light