Thread: Workshop Layout Any Ideas Suggestions

Okay - my LED lights came today, from China in 4 days, not bad for a monster package. The lights were extremely well packed, each coming within its own box, protective film, protective bag, and protective stuffing. Each light came with a single 1 meter connector that allows you to daisy chain them, as well as a shorter half meter cord minus wall plug to connect each light into the power source directly. The lights did not come with any instructions but if you needed instructions to put these things together then I doubt any instructions could have explained it.

I was almost blinded when I turned on the first light as a test. I only had time to connect them together and to plug them in. For the moment they were just arranged on the floor.

I am thinking that instead of two rows of three lights it would be better to have three rows of two lights.

I tried to take photos of before and after shots. Its hard to tell the difference, but when you are actually in the room its like night and day. The tops photo is just the existing light the second photo is with the LED running, the LED's are on the floor, so you do not get the full effect of light raining down on you. However I think you can see the lack of shadows and how the surfaces are all brighter in the second photo.

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You had fun playing with your new light sabre, didn't you?

Pete

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

I was almost blinded when I turned on the first light as a test. I only had time to connect them together and to plug them in. For the moment they were just arranged on the floor.

I am thinking that instead of two rows of three lights it would be better to have three rows of two lights.

can I suggest your decision is not about aesthetics?
It's about having the light where you need it most.
looking at your space, your bench and other places where you do detail work need ti be well lit, but the walls can be less well lit.
Also, your table saw and bandsaw will need to be better lit than the jointer/thicknesser combo. I don't know about you but when jointing, I'm using distant light to check squareness, not the light directly above where I'm working.

without seeing your space in the "flesh" I'm thinking whatever arrangement gives the best light over the bench and assembly area -- remembering that the storage areas can be relatively dark.

Originally Posted by ian

can I suggest your decision is not about aesthetics?

Where did I mention aesthetics? My desire to go to three rows of two lights is it would allow me to position more even light over the areas I need it the most. I think it might be worth while to even add a fourth row of lights in the future.

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the orange bars is what I mean by function over aesthetics.
You want to make sure the new lights are lighting up your work area, not the back of your head -- look at where the lights near the bench are positioned relative to where you would be standing while working at the bench.


and I think retaining the existing fluoros is pointless, but you will want at least one light on a separate switch

If you look at the lights I bought you can see that they are not your standard electric light design. They are modular, they have custom external plugs and cords. I had a look to see if I can dismantle the custom plug but it seems that the plug is glued together and cannot be dismantled to add a longer cable.

LED Tri-proof Light----LONYUNG LED LIGHTING CO.,LTD,Led Integrated Tube Light,LED Tri-proof Light,High Bay Light

Therefor the layout would not work not at this point.

I only have two 4 meter power cables that came with the lights and the end to end joining cables that allow you to daisy chain the lights together are only a 1 meter long, the cables simple cannot accommodate such a layout.

I cannot remove the existing fluoro as its not my house.

I would need to reorder a 7 new cables of assorted lengths to make such a layout work at this point.

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This is the closest I could do with my current cabling

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Playing with the layout of the lights this is another possibility?

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The lights I bought, different model same maker, have a 200 watt limit for lights that are joined together from a single point. That means for the 40 watt LEDs I got I am limited to 5 lights on a single input cable. I'm pretty sure you also have the same restriction but you will need to confirm that.

Pete

Hi,
If I've read the specification sheet correctly, this is your light pattern as per Post #158 at 50% intensity about 80 cm above floor level (=1.68 m below the lights) which approximates bench and machine height.

But I'd feel much more comfortable saying the above if BobL were to chime in. It's a very very long time since I did these sorts of calcs seriously.

Just a further thought, what is the possibility of adding a shelf above some of the tables or even a frame to hold a LED light, I did something similar to this (wall shelves) and fitted LED battens underneath for the Lathe, Router table and sanding bench. I also have concealed LED lighting below a shelf on Workbench and fitted LEDS directly to the Bandsaw. My apology if this has been mentioned or discussed before.

Best of luck with the final fit out, looks like it all coming together.

Originally Posted by ian

Hi,
If I've read the specification sheet correctly, this is your light pattern as per Post #158 at 50% intensity about 80 cm above floor level (=1.68 m below the lights) which approximates bench and machine height.

But I'd feel much more comfortable saying the above if BobL were to chime in. It's a very very long time since I did these sorts of calcs seriously.

Chime.

I'm not sure if its worth trying to get general lighting to also perform specific lighting. It's such a small space anyway so I would suggest just spreading the general lighting out and then install more flexible and specific lighting for benches and machines once you settle on where they are going to be used, Chances are something unforeseen will end up blocking general light and you will almost want to move things around anyway especially the specific lighting. Maybe I'm not that organised but I must have moved my specific lighting at least 5 times since setting up my shed in 2011.

If I had the shed height I would run 3 SS wires equidistant down the shed and use then to suspend the lighting on like flying foxes - that way you can concentrate the light there you need it. Even they it still may not be suitable for specific lighting.

Ian the coverage looks pretty good using the post #158 light layout.

All the critical areas get a good lighting its only on the edges were its not so bright but I can live with that.

There is an option to hang the lights from the ceiling but I would rather not want to risk banging them with a piece of wood by accident. The ceiling is not very high.

Bob I have portable specific lighting that I can use where I need if I need a very focused light source.

MandJ - I have thought of adding light to the drill press & bandsaw, if the new light and the portable light is still not enough then I will have to look into that option.




In non light related news I purchased a vacuum pump for bent lamination and veneering work.

Plan to make a bag by the week end and will test it out, fingers crossed it all works out.

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

Ian the coverage looks pretty good using the post #158 light layout.

All the critical areas get a good lighting its only on the edges were its not so bright but I can live with that.

There is an option to hang the lights from the ceiling but I would rather not want to risk banging them with a piece of wood by accident. The ceiling is not very high.

Hi Thumbs
I've been guessing that the garage ceiling is only 2.5 or so metres high -- which equates to the wall on the house side of the garage being lined with a single 2.4m sheet of Gyprock or wall board.

When installing the lights, the key will be locating them so that when you are standing at a work station -- bench, table saw, band saw, drill press, etc -- your body is not throwing a shadow across your task.

Although the daisy-chain cords have what look to be locking style plugs, I'm confident that your sparky would be able to splice additional length onto some cords so that you could hang the lights more than 1.2 m apart.

Just my own thinking... I'd put any machine that you want to have dust extractor thats pulling sawdust from closer to the extractor, put saw bench router & planner on back wall... but most important of all I'd put my work bench smack bang in middle or room... LOVE having my work table in middle of my area. I have one in centre of one shed & have a 2x2 metre table outside my both workshops just to work on in nice weather... winter I'll retreat to garage. My bandsaw is on wheels & literally goes everywhere... even outside sometimes, especially when its cutting 2.4m x 250 wide jarrah curved benches...cheers Kerry
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