Thread: lighting in the shop

Hi Matt, I have 3 Lights over my Wood Lathe. 1 is a 120W over the Head Stock, Another is also a 120W, about 18in. above the Lathe, Tail Stock end. It shows down the length of the Lathe, & is excellent for doing Bowls, Goblets, or anything that has to have a hole in it. The 3rd. is 1 of those 60W Double Arm Lights that you can move around, Desk Lamp Type. I will have nothing to do with Flouro of any type, which includes those whirley twisted ones. A lot of Turners are now using those LED thingo's, not my cup of tea. Incandescent light I find the best. Meant to say I bought mine at the Markets for a couple of $'s. Hope that helps.

I've got one similar to this 20 Inch 126W Cree LED Spot Offroad Driving 4WD Work Light BAR WD 72W 120W 180W | eBay above the lathe, a spotlight with a super bright LED on the tailstock for hollowing, and one of these LED Light Magnifying Lamp 5 Diopter Magnifyer Desk Stand Glass Lens Round Head | eBay now for detailed miniature work mounted at the other end. All in bright white.

oh damn mmmm didnt really think about those driving lights. do you know is there a 240v version or you just use a converter?

I just use a transformer from Ebay, but make sure you use one that suits the light, your Bunnies garden ones do not work (they make the lights flash)

I have a 1200mm single tube over the lathe. The flouro tube was replaced with a led tube and the difference is astounding. The incandescent bulb over the lathe was also replaced with a led bulb. That has made a big difference.

Jim

Originally Posted by mat_au

well i have a few fluros in the shop and have a desk lamp type thing for the lathe but cant seam to find a light that is bright enough. anyone got any suggestions?

Hi mat,
I have a couple of aquarium lights I pinched
from my partners set up, they give off a nice even
light and are very bright, just waiting now when she is
not looking i, ll grab her led ones!

Bunnies now have a 48 W Compact fluoro that is equivalent to a 240W flood for about $18.
It comes with either a bayonet or ES fitting.
You need to mount it somewhere that you can't see the bulb while you are working 'cos even a glimpse of it will give you a blind spot for a while.

Originally Posted by mat_au

well i have a few fluros in the shop and have a desk lamp type thing for the lathe but cant seam to find a light that is bright enough. anyone got any suggestions?

Have a look at LED replacement globes. I've got two clamp on style desk lights plus a flexible shaft lamp from Bunnies all with 5w GU10 style LED's in them. Complete lights inc LED globes were $20 replacement LED's approx $10 now. Perform well as work lights & no worries about breaking compact flouros. Play around with colour temp as there is a fairly good selection available.

The styles Cliff is talking about are great except for the risk of breakage. I have two "daylight" Paraflood styles in portable paraflood fittings I use for photography.

Hi Mat, Lot's of good ideas for you to think about. I would attack it differently, first you say you have fluoros in your shed, chances are they are cool whites replace them with " Daylight" balanced tubes, around $8. This should improve the overall quality of light in your shed quite considerably. Then I would start looking at specialist lighting for the lathe. If you photograph your work in the shed you may find the colours somewhat better with these tubes,a bonus maybe. Hardware stores (especially the larger ones) and lighting shops (naturally) sell these tubes. Jay

Hey Mat,
I did a defit on a shop a few years ago and scored a couple of their spot lights. I use one, but have a spare. You're only around the corner, so would be happy to supply a fellow timber nut with one. Its got the transformer, and throws a bugger load of light. Let me know if you want it. I should be around Saturday morning if you're interested.

Cheers

Gab

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

.....

The styles Cliff is talking about are great except for the risk of breakage.....

I have 19 breakable lights in my shed, to date I have broken exactly none of them.

Have a single fluro over each lathe and a few specific desk/task lights

Remember the old halogen spotlights builders use, now they now come with LED's all available on Ebay in various wattages .

Well, the more I learn, the more I realize I know almost nothing.... Lighting has changed. There are 2 types of lighting, general which allows you to see your way around the shop, and task lighting where you can see things close up. I now get some fancy flouro lamps from the big box store which are almost grow lights, and some times called therapy lights due to our grey misty winter weather here. The task lights I use are similar, and if you know any one who does fine hand quilting, or needle point work, their bulbs are great. These fancy ones don't flicker or strobe which drives any one crazy. One of the worst feelings I know in the shop is to take a finished piece out into the sun light to inspect it, and see all the scratches that you missed inside the shop. You didn't miss them because of enough light, or not having good glasses, you missed them because you don't have some thing that mimics, very closely, natural sun light. These are what I use:

http://www.bluemaxlighting.com/

Probably not available down there, or at least not by that brand name. I just got another LED lamp from a sewing store that cost way too much, but it has 3 spectrum settings, and variable brightness. I love it but it doesn't put out as much 'volume' of light as the blue max lamp does. They are doing a lot of interesting things with spectrums now in the LED lamps. Stella lighting is the other company. I need to get their link...

http://stellalighting.com/

The incandescent lamps don't have the right spectrum, and are too hot, and halogen lamps are way too hot.

robo hippy