Lathe LED light

[Dave J]

After being sick of getting burnt off the halogen light, I made up a light a few weeks back and thought someone might be interested.

I made a couple of bases out of steel and just welded them together from the inside to give a neat look. They are basically copied off the commercial available ones.It has the cotter pin design to stop it swinging freely just like them as well

The arms are just aluminium square tube I had laying around, and the end fittings I made up and welded together to suit with a hole down the centre for the wires.

All the joints are friction with spring washers used to help out, and I put a switch in the base to turn it on and off.

The light my son gave to me and it's a LED multi voltage DC work light, I think I remember him saying it was 900 lumimum's, but would have to check with him latter on about that. The voltage can range from around 9v to 90v and only needs around 0.5 of a amp to run it. The best thing over the halogen is this one only gets just warm, not hot.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204272&stc=1&d=1333859558

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204273&stc=1&d=1333859558

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http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204282&stc=1&d=1333859558
Dave

[FRB Design]

I take two, great lamp.



Regards,



Frank.

[Dave J]

Thanks Frank, I was just about to post a picture of the old one. It's going on the mill and being converted over to LED along with the other one that is already on it.
I find the nice white light to be much better than the yellowy colour from the halogen ones.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204287&stc=1&d=1333860895


Dave

[RayG]

Hi Dave,

Nice professional looking job, looks better than a bought one, brilliant work (pun intended) :)

Regards
Ray

[Ueee]

Thats some nice work Dave!:2tsup:

For those with not so good eyes, you can also get led lit magnifying glass lamp thingies on an arm- not tried one but could be good. LED 5 Inch Magnifying Lamp 5 Diopter Magnifier light | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LED-5-Inch-Magnifying-Lamp-5-Diopter-Magnifier-light-/170818328527?pt=AU_Nail_Care) This ones a bit small but i'm sure you get my drift.

I have a few of the older style desk lamps, i think one can be seen in the show us your shed thread, on my bench. They are only about $20 from Bunnings, currently i use them with 18 or 22w CFL's, (cool white) so i cannot burn myself. they also come with a clamp base so they can be pit pretty well anywhere. The downside is of course at certain speeds things appear to be going backwards. I am a bit of an LED buff but the good technology is still pretty expensive, although it is coming down in price. I believe bunnings are replacing a large section of there cfl range with the osram LED's which should bring the price down.

The lamp on the HM50 is pretty useless, i always find myself straining to see with it. Another thing on the to do list....

Ewan

[steran50]

HI:),
WOW Dave thats a great Job the Lamp looks really Good :2tsup:.

[Dave J]

The LED's are expensive, my son said that one costs $150, not cheap but when you look at the life span and the prices of the Halogen globe (around $15 each) and the much better light, it's well worth it in the long run.

Dave

[Dave J]

I forgot to say, ebay has some good prices on LED lights like mine, some are around half that price.

Dave

[Michael G]

I bought some LED video lights from Amazon
Amazon.com: NEEWER® 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel Digital Camera / Camcorder Video Light, LED Light for Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Panasonic,SONY, Samsung and Olympus Digital SLR Cameras: Camera & Photo (http://www.amazon.com/NEEWER%C2%AE-Dimmable-Digital-Camcorder-Panasonic/dp/B004TJ6JH6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333871128&sr=8-1)
which I'm using on the mill. According to the box 2080 lumen
The are most excellent!
One day when I want a long milling job I'll machine up some Al housings for them to replace the plastic.

Michael

[Stustoys]

Hi Dave,
How am I going to copy it without some better pictures of the joints(mostly how the wire gets through)

Great job.

This is the guy I bought my LED lights from jagtradingonlinehttp://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif (there maybe cheaper, havent looked for a long time)

Stuart

[Bryan]

Fantastic, Dave. Looks like a machine light, unlike my cast-off desk lamp.

[simonl]

Once again another piece of art! Looks great.

I'm also laughing to myself because I have the very same (or similar) light on the back of my 4x4 to light up the campsite. Puts out a brilliant white light, can leave it on all night and uses bugger all juice from my second battery. I'm laughing because I know how bright it is, it must turn night into day over your lathe!

They are a bit expensive, I bought mine on ebay (where else) about 2 years ago but a quick search of LED Worklight shows them for about $60. Not sure if they are the same quality though.

How did you make the base?

Cheers,

Simon

[Ropetangler]

Your lights are brilliant Dave (pun intended), and it has had me wondering for some time why manufacturers have persisted with Q/H technology when we have had affordable leds for some time now. It wouldn't be too hard to adapt some of the cheaper head torches for machine lighting. The issues of hot lamps, high voltages and fragile globes would be behind us, and at an acceptable cost I would think. Even some of the led torches could be the basis of a good machine lamp, the LED Lenser 7 torches have very bright light, and a zoom lens which can move from a tightly focused beam to a wide beam which could be quite useful. Lights operating on D.C. would not have strobe effects as A.C. powered lights can, so situations where spinning cutters which appear stationary would not present (although if lights were dimmed by varying the lights duty cycle, this danger would reappear). We could reduce the led current, but the colour would likely change too, or we could use neutral density filters, or even an iris diaphragm, like on old camera lenses to reduce light output.
Anyway Dave, congratulations on yet another well thought out and well executed project,
Rob.:2tsup:

[krisfarm]

Hi Dave,
Nice job on the light, you will enjoy the difference in heat output of the LED's make. Your design is very similar to the pair of lights I made for my mill. I found that Deal Extreme have a great variety at good prices for LED's.
I have just changed over all my house down lights to LED's. One question, why did you use a spring washer? I find the nylock nuts supply sufficient clamping. With the addition of the spring washer your nylock nuts are not working fully, they need one and a half threads past the end of the nut.
Regards Bob

[Dave J]

Hi Simon, Stuart,
Here are a few more photos I took tonight. I do have some when I was cutting the triangles but cant find that memory card at the moment.

The base is made of 6 pieces, the base which is a piece of 10mm from memory, the 6 triangle pieces and the top cap. I just tacked them up from the inside which was a bit of a mission with the 350 amp mig gun nozzle LOL, then used the die grinder to knock the weld down a bit.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204358&stc=1&d=1333889540

For the wires to get though I drilled 10mm hole which allows enough room for the wires to get past the 6mm bolt.
This piece below was made out of 3 pieces and the 2 squares where machined and drill before cutting the angles on them. The wire only needed to be light because the LED doesn't draw much power.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204362&stc=1&d=1333890288

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204363&stc=1&d=1333890288

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204364&stc=1&d=1333890288

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204365&stc=1&d=1333890288

Dave

Edit
The reason the second swivel has a bend in it, is so the holed drilled for the wire faces down the tube. If it doesn't have the bend the wire will snag the tube if you move it, and you will also be able to see the wire. The base one is fine as it's strait up and in alignment.
Depending on where it's to be mounted, just change the angles to suit where it's going to be used.

[Dave J]

Hi Dave,
Nice job on the light, you will enjoy the difference in heat output of the LED's make. Your design is very similar to the pair of lights I made for my mill. I found that Deal Extreme have a great variety at good prices for LED's.
I have just changed over all my house down lights to LED's. One question, why did you use a spring washer? I find the nylock nuts supply sufficient clamping. With the addition of the spring washer your nylock nuts are not working fully, they need one and a half threads past the end of the nut.
Regards Bob

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the comment, I first tried without the spring washer and found it either had to be that tight you couldn't move it, or slightly loose and it would droop over a few hours.
I did want to add nylon washers but there just wasn't enough room, so the next best thing was spring washers which let me move the arm without any tools, but wont droop over time. The spring washers are good quality ones that don''t just flatten like the cheap ones do.

I know they are supposed to have a few threads past them but this is not an engineering job and the threads would only catch me. They are seated in the nylocks enough that if you turn the bolt the nut turns with it and takes a bit of pressure to undo them as they are.

The LED light is so much better and having the twin arms means I can now get it over my side where it's in line with my vision, instead of just being above.

Dave

[Dave J]

Thanks for all the comments, well worth the trouble for anyone thinking about them.

Dave

[Dave J]

Once again another piece of art! Looks great.

I'm also laughing to myself because I have the very same (or similar) light on the back of my 4x4 to light up the campsite. Puts out a brilliant white light, can leave it on all night and uses bugger all juice from my second battery. I'm laughing because I know how bright it is, it must turn night into day over your lathe!

They are a bit expensive, I bought mine on ebay (where else) about 2 years ago but a quick search of LED Worklight shows them for about $60. Not sure if they are the same quality though.

How did you make the base?

Cheers,

Simon


It is bright, I think if I turned all the shed lights off I could just work with this one.
Here is a drawing I just did of the triangle pieces. After making them they felt a bit heavy and there wasn't much room on the inside so I threw a 20mm end mill across the middle of them all. This is why the base is that shape so I could tack them in.
This was all made by just picking up stuff in the shed and just going off the top of my head.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204379&stc=1&d=1333893956

[simonl]

Thanks Dave,

Once I finish a few other things, I am going to revisit my worklight arrangements I have. We are starting to become spoilt for choice now with LED technology coming along.

Cheers,

Simon

[Blu_Rock]

Dave, that is a really professional looking unit you have made there! Another one for the list. BTW, what do you use the socket fitting for? (the one in front of the light mounting block)

[Bryan]

One question, why did you use a spring washer? I find the nylock nuts supply sufficient clamping. With the addition of the spring washer your nylock nuts are not working fully, they need one and a half threads past the end of the nut.
Regards Bob

I often use spring washers with something I don't want fully tight, but adjusted with some drag. They provide a cushion. I'm guessing that's what Dave's up to. I believe it's been established that spring washers are useless for keeping fasteners tight.

Edit: Too slow!

[Dave'H]

You made a very nice job of that.:2tsup:

Very well done:2tsup:

Dave'H

[RayG]

Hi Dave,

Any chance you could ask you son where he got the cree led worklight?

Closest I've found is this one, but yours has 6 leds, this one has 5 LED Work light (CREE - Black Housing) | Led lighting, specialists in marine and motorhome leds (http://www.ledsunlimited.com.au/led-work-light-cree-black-housing)

1650 lumens, that would be enough to light up the whole workshop :D

I know Harty does a bit with high end leds, he might know?

Regards
Ray

[Blu_Rock]

This LED worklight (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4-18w-LED-WorkLight-bulldozer-excavator-swather-12V24V-/320591341653?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4aa4bba855) via eBay is a bit less powerful at 1380 lumens but the price is right at $35 or make an offer.

[Ueee]

Another idea would be to use a T8 or 2, at around 2000 lumens each that will light up the whole lathe, not just one spot....
http://www.ledcentral.com.au/online-store/t8-led-tubes/flypage/20watt-t8-tube
I have purchased from these guys before and have been very happy. We put about 30 15w fittings into one of our shops, they are great.

Ewan

[Ueee]

This LED worklight (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4-18w-LED-WorkLight-bulldozer-excavator-swather-12V24V-/320591341653?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4aa4bba855) via eBay is a bit less powerful at 1380 lumens but the price is right at $35 or make an offer.

You seem to have spelled it wrong....its a wrok light....

[Dave J]

I have never looked for them and only built this light because it was given to me. At those prises it would be cheap enough for you guys to change over, after all a bulb is around $15 from H&F.
I still haven't asked my son so it maybe brighter, but he said they retail for $150 around here.

Dave

[Com_VC]

Dave: Does yours have a brand name/model number on it?

I am tempted in giving the $35 one a try from ebay, but am a bit worried it might be rubbish. Though he has sold 50 of them and the specs look good. His feedback is not too bad either.

What would be the best way to power one. I was thinking maybe a large plug pack or maybe a gutted computer power supply.

Thanks

[Dave J]

The brand of mine is revolution and bought through auto amp, not sure where they are as thats what my son just told me. He also said his boss bought some of the ones off ebay and fitted them to customers trucks, but they where coming back for warranty as they had stopped working and there was no way he could claim warranty off the seller. My son said with the revolution ones they have never had one back.

I also asked him about the lumimum's, and he said he was pretty sure they are 900.
As for the ones on ebay I don't know and can only go off what he told me. They do state they are 1380 lumimum's, but who nows really, someone would have to test them. From what my son has said about them, it seems it does come down to you get what you pay for.

Dave

[Dave J]

Thanks for all the comments,:2tsup:




Hi Dave,

Any chance you could ask you son where he got the cree led worklight?

Closest I've found is this one, but yours has 6 leds, this one has 5 LED Work light (CREE - Black Housing) | Led lighting, specialists in marine and motorhome leds (http://www.ledsunlimited.com.au/led-work-light-cree-black-housing)

1650 lumens, that would be enough to light up the whole workshop :D

I know Harty does a bit with high end leds, he might know?

Regards
Ray

Ray,
I don't know how many luminum's this one really is, but this one would light the whole shed. If it's face toward you (like I did when I first tried it) you see blotches for a while after woods, LOL We tried it out side and it turned night into day like Simon said.

I forgot to answer Com VC question about a power supply. I am just using a small 12v 500ma wall transformer I had laying around. I also have a 12v 1 amp one but it made no difference to the brightness, so I just put the 500ma one on it. This just goes to show how much less juice they take compared to a halogen one.
For the mill I have 2 single LED lights in aluminium housings that are just as bright as this one, so I will use the 1 amp one on them.

Dave

[Com_VC]

I am tempted to grab one to give it a try, cheap enough so wouldn't be a huge loss if something did go wrong.

Would probably have an easy life on a lathe/mill compared to an automotive enviroment which would have water, temperature and vibrations to contend too. Just a thought.

[Dave J]

Might be worth a try, like I said I am only going off what I was told and have never tried one.
The light is great, but I wouldn't not pay $150 for one, if I was buying one I would give the cheaper one a go as well.
The other 2 I have for the mill where some ridiculous price as well.

Dave

[Dave J]

My son told me today he saw the same size lights on ebay but with 1900 lumimum's (instead of 1200 like mine) for $49, they also had more LED's but cant remember how many.
I think they would be worth a go and would be really bright.

Dave

[harty69]

The lumen rating on the ebay type lights are generally at best a rough guide
my mountainbike light which i built so i know that it has a theoretical brightness of 3000 lumens but once you take losses from driver inefficiencies and lens loss you get about 2700 lumens and there is no way i would want to use that for a work light you will be blind
here is the light it has 12 cree xre R2 leds in it it draws 33W
207992
this is a photo taken using my 2010 nissan navara with the lights on high beem for reference
207993
this is the mountain bike light on full power (which i dont use very often exept to blind jayson) both these pictures where taken on the same manual camera settings so what you are seeing is the exact light difference between the 2
207994
so you dont want to go too bright i would say my 1000 lumen helmet light (not pictured) light would be perfect for a work light but thats known lumens not made up lumens that a lot of these ebay lights have they are usually less than what they rate them at
hope this helps

cheers
Harty

[Anorak Bob]

You got a taste for hard work Dave? I can't get over the fabricated base. Leaves the chintzy cast aluminium thing for dust. All in all, an outstanding execution. Well done.

BT

[Crossfeed]

Nice Job, I had thought of doing it for some time, most of my work lights are halogen converted desk lamps and even with 20W halogen lamps they get hot enough to burn oil.

I would take the lumen rating with a very big pinch of salt, The most efficient LED lights are on par with the most efficient fluorescent tubes at around 100 lumens per watt, with 4 W of ballast loss for a 37W tube (low loss ballast) 1380 lumens for a work light is very bright considering that a 50W MR16 Halogen lamp is somewhere around 450 lumens.

As for putting some fluorescent lights over a lathe, well worth doing I have 2 x 58W triphosphor tubes above my lathe which are around 5000 lumens each yet I still need the work light especially when boring.

BTW Harty, love the 3000 Lumen bike light.

[Dave J]

Harty, you might be right with to much like. The one I have seems perfect as far as brightness goes, not to much and not to little.

Mountain biking, you guys are pretty brave, LOL We have a track near us at mount sugerloaf and I have seen some of the track and there is no way I would go down it on a bike, well not a push bike at least. The bikes have come a long way over the years.

I remember converting a shocky style 20inch bike when I was young over to a pro link like a motor bike. It worked great but compared to some of the mountain bikes these days it was primitive.

Dave

[Ueee]

Hi,
nice light Harty:2tsup: when i was a first year i used to ride through Queanbeyan to work. For winter i made myself a light with a 50w halogen and two old "brick" mobile phone batteries. Everyone thought i was mad, but i think it was probably the brightest bike light in QBN at the time. However it pales into darkness compared to yours. Thinking of that light reminds me, does anyone remember the brumbies playing a final in the snow (rugby union)? I road to work in that...#### it was cold.

Ewan

[Dave J]

You got a taste for hard work Dave? I can't get over the fabricated base. Leaves the chintzy cast aluminium thing for dust. All in all, an outstanding execution. Well done.

BT


Thanks Bob,
I have been having a good run with my neck, so making the most of it. I liked the look of the aluminium bases so I just copied them. I just didn't like the single arm as it never reached properly.

That aluminium tube used to be a aerial when we had to have big aerials to get reception, LOL and all the steel was just scrap laying around, so the cost was zero to me as my son gave me the LED light.

Dave

Edit
I forgot to say it's only pretty on the outside, the die grinder did it's work on the inside.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachments/f65/204272d1333859558-lathe-led-light-picture-2610-large-.jpg

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachments/f65/204358d1333889540-lathe-led-light-picture-2636-large-.jpg

[Dave J]

Nice Job, I had thought of doing it for some time, most of my work lights are halogen converted desk lamps and even with 20W halogen lamps they get hot enough to burn oil.

I would take the lumen rating with a very big pinch of salt, The most efficient LED lights are on par with the most efficient fluorescent tubes at around 100 lumens per watt, with 4 W of ballast loss for a 37W tube (low loss ballast) 1380 lumens for a work light is very bright considering that a 50W MR16 Halogen lamp is somewhere around 450 lumens.

As for putting some fluorescent lights over a lathe, well worth doing I have 2 x 58W triphosphor tubes above my lathe which are around 5000 lumens each yet I still need the work light especially when boring.

BTW Harty, love the 3000 Lumen bike light.


I have twin fluros over the lathe and another twin right next to it, but I seem to shadow it on the lathe, and thats where this light takes over.
I still have the 24v 50w halogen on the mill and I hate it. Every time coolant gets splashed you think you have a fire with the smoke and I am sick of getting burnt off it.
I have another 2 for the mill and a square one to mount on the front of the head facing down, so that should cover it.

I would highly recommend the LED's over the halogen ones, they still do produce heat but not much.

Dave

[harty69]

Harty, you might be right with to much like. The one I have seems perfect as far as brightness goes, not to much and not to little.

Mountain biking, you guys are pretty brave, LOL We have a track near us at mount sugerloaf and I have seen some of the track and there is no way I would go down it on a bike, well not a push bike at least. The bikes have come a long way over the years.

I remember converting a shocky style 20inch bike when I was young over to a pro link like a motor bike. It worked great but compared to some of the mountain bikes these days it was primitive.

Dave

Hi dave

Brave or stupid not sure yet
here is my current steed like you say they have come a long way
207997

the led technology has improved greatly over the last 5 years their getting 160 lumens per watt from the cree xml

any way back on topic

i have a partly built led work light which is at 1000 lumens this might spur me to finish it

cheers
Harty

[Dave J]

Really nice bike :2tsup::2tsup:

When my son was 12 (8 years ago) he saved up his newspaper run money and bought a set of mechanical disk brakes from US ebay, so I made all the brackets to suit his specialized 20 inch BMX bike. I had just finished and he then bought a 8 inch set of hydraulic disk brakes, so I then made a set of brackets to suit them.

He took it to school on the bike ride and his teacher was a mountain biker and his words where "having them brakes on that bike is like having a gold tooth on a rat" LOL
The bike was completely stripped and painted with all new original stickers and looked the part, but I think his teacher was jealous as he only had mechanical disks. I will tell you one thing the bike would stop on a dime, LOL and he still has it.

Look forward to seeing your light.

Dave

[RayG]

Last time I was at the center of the universe, Harty demoed that bike light he built, and we compared it to my jet beam M1X ( a measly 700 lumens :) ) LED Flashlight (http://www.jet-beam.com/links/pro/m1x.aspx)

I reckon Harty's bike light qualifies as a lethal weapon, I'm sure I saw moths catching fire as they flew through the beam... :)

As a worklight, maybe not....

Regards
Ray

[Abratool]

Last time I was at the center of the universe, Harty demoed that bike light he built, and we compared it to my jet beam M1X ( a measly 700 lumens :) ) LED Flashlight (http://www.jet-beam.com/links/pro/m1x.aspx)

I reckon Harty's bike light qualifies as a lethal weapon, I'm sure I saw moths catching fire as they flew through the beam... :)

As a worklight, maybe not....

Regards
Ray
Looks like a fairly good light in any case.
I just reviewed the M1X details.
Approx, what do they cost? I have an LED mounted on a scope, & it was $100 but only good for short range.
regards
Bruce