Ceiling lamp fittings

[RogerandOut]

Hello all,

A friend has asked me how to fit some quite heavy lamps (bought from an antiques shop, and with no instructions) from her ceiling.
The fittings are shown in the images below.

I'm not sure how to fit them. Presumably they should affix to a floor joist.
The metal rod in the centre of the 'cup' extends beyond the cup, so I presume it will go through the plaster ceiling.
Do I need to drill some exploratory holes in the ceiling to locate a suitable joist?
They are to go in a narrow ground floor hallway so would be best placed centrally – do joists run perpendicular to the length of the hall generally?
Anyone familiar with the type of fittings in the images and can advise which bit does what/attaches to what?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Adam_151]

Ideally fixed to a joist, at a push you could use toggle fixings, or slip a offcut of wood in if you need to. You can often see a joist through where the cables come through, no hard and fast rule about where they will be in your hallway, other than they are normally at 16"/400mm centres, so once you have found one, you can normally measure for the rest.

The support rod does not go through the ceiling, that bracket screws flast on the ceiling, and then the 'cup, is pushed up and secured once the connections are made, its possible that someone has tightened the grub screw with it in a lowered position though

 

[RogerandOut]

Thanks Adam, that's really helpful.

One question though:

The bracket that fits flat to the ceiling – is that the smaller one with the rounded top, or the larger more rectangular one? (In fact, why are there two?)

 

[TimboTwo]

Unscrew the bolt (indicated red) on the flat bracket and remove the wire.
Fit this bracket to yhe ceiling.
Put the other bracket into this bracket and do the bolt up. (Indicated blue).
Connect wires appropriately.

 

[ericmark]

I looked at fitting a heavy chandelier, under the 3.5 kg which any ceiling rose should support if complying with regulations, but if you have every tried holding up that weight while you make the connections and then connect the chandelier you will realise that is not easy.

So I used one of these they now seem to be in short supply, but there are other makes. It allowed me without supporting the weight of the lights, to wire it all up, and get good long screws into the beam.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I looked at fitting a heavy chandelier, under the 3.5 kg which any ceiling rose should support if complying with regulations, but if you have every tried holding up that weight while you make the connections and then connect the chandelier you will realise that is not easy.

So I used one of these View attachment 307857 they now seem to be in short supply, but there are other makes. It allowed me without supporting the weight of the lights, to wire it all up, and get good long screws into the beam.

They are no longer made. FleaBay is the only place you might find them.
But they aren’t the right support for the OP’s lights.