I'm really having trouble reading rulers in my shop. I use florescent lights. Is there something that works better?
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I'm really having trouble reading rulers in my shop. I use florescent lights. Is there something that works better?
I have 150w lamps that I mount where I need them close to those places that I need them. A spigot mount so that I can move the light between locations where I've put the spigots - lathe, drill press, band-saw, grinder etc.
The work lamps I bought were those that have adjustable arms, spring loaded and the mounts are spigots on clamps. Just fashioned a few extra spigot mounts as appropriate. Even got one on an old rear axle mounted backwards onto an old cast iron brake drum that I can move around!
I use sunlight, (go to the door and whince until I see the numbers,) sometimes my glasses help, when I remember to bring them out to the shed, I find those magnetic work lights are great, then there are the magnetic battery powered lcd lights that arent too bad!
Assuming that you have enough general lighting to do most shop tasks safely, I am guessing that you end up working in your own shadow. To overcome this, you could resort to a micropoise lamp as a work lamp, a 10W compact fluro lamp generlly supplies plenty of light with modest heat in these fittings.
An other alternative would be a LED headlamp of some type, you can get them band mounted, or with the LEDs on the visor of a baseball cap. I have a nice single LED one that is like a Bluetooth mobile phone earpiece, and runs for a long time on a pair of CR2025 lithium buttons. Fits either ear, has two brightness settings, and adjustable up and down and side to side when fitted.
I find that shadow is the worst for making lines/marks disappear :( I move the square upto my mark and then its gone, disappered in the shadow, move square away, there it is, move square back, cant see it!!! arrggghhh:(( solution plenty of light, sunlight is good like dave or just lots of light from the right direction or sometimes u might see my doing this little jig as I dance about with a bit of wood and square in one hand pencil in the other...round and round I go up down round up nose to the wood:q
Pete
Can you send me a picture of your spigot mount?
Sussertown,
you should never use a fluro light near machinery as it will 'stobe' at certain speeds and the tool will appear to be stopped, much pain and blood stains new timber. best using the 12v halogen on a swing arm over the bench.
Some people would disagree with you it seemsQuote:
Originally Posted by Wallnut
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/wor...lathes-119892/
G'day Sussertown,
I have an under-house woodshop with flouros but used "daylight triphosperous" flouro tubes plus I installed twice as many as one might need for just storage.
I have also fitted specific directional lamps/lights onto the bandsaw, drill-press, bench-saw & router.
It may sound like a bit of an over kill but you have to have good light for working with sharp and dangerous tools.
Cheers, Crowie
I based my workshop lighting setup on an article from Fine Woodworking using fluro lights. It is like day when all the lights are on, with no shadows at all. I have no problems reading marks of any description. You might want to have a look at this article, unless of course you are just looking for task lighting.
Evening Big Shed,Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Shed
Not my pain, not my blood. can only pass on the information,
such is life
take care and stay safe.
Here we go again. I looked up micropose lamp and came up blank.
I don't know what triosphorous is but I did buy a simple, cheap three headed ceiling lamp and installed 3 daylight florescent bulbs. They work really well. But I notice I'm getting a little shadow probably from the other shop lights behind me. So I guess you still have to use one form or another of a spot from time to time.
A micropoise lamp is a lamp head which pivots on two internally sprung arms roughly vertical and horizontal. Can be positioned within about 3 feet of the mounting point and will stay lighting the point where it is aimed.
The light produced by any flouro light is dictated by the flourescent coating inside the tube, and is mono chromatic (single coloured). A trisphor flouro lamp has a mixture of three different phosphors in the coating so produces a much better balance of colours in the light output. There are various combinations possible but most are refered to as "daylight".
A compact flouro lamp uses electronics in the base to convert the mains power to DC, then an inverter to generate a high frequency (25KHz or higher) exciting current to power the tube. While done to reduce the size of the lamp and eliminate the external ballast/starter system, it also moves the point where stobing occurs to spindle speeds beyond 300,000 RPM.
I use Deluxe Warm White, not warm white but Deluxe WW. Unlike the cool white and so called daylight bulbs they give a light much like incandescent bulbs. All-toll I have 72' of this lighting in my shop which is only twenty by twenty foot. The center work station where my saw, joiner and router table live are lit by five four foot double flo_lights which radiate out in a star pattern, I have found that this configuration removes all shadows and dead areas.
The rest of the fixtures are along the walls with the exception of over the lathe as I can't stand the way flo lights make the workpiece writhe and squirm like a horny snake. Over the lathe I use Quartz halogen bulbs, 2x 150 watts.
I got some feedback previously on lighting. I changed some lights while trying to stay energy eficcient. I got what I thought would make good sense. I bought Daylight bulbs. And I made sure they were equivalent to 100watt bulbs. I have two and three headed fixtures. Strangely there doesn't seem to be enough light or the Daylight type doesn't do the trick. Does anyone know about just this single point? Is Daylight lighting not as good as other lighting? For some of my fixtures I just gave up and went back to traditional spots which provide a lot of light and a lot of heat. By the way, I found a gooseneck extension for a bulb at Lowes. It's the coolest thing. You are able to bring down the bulb from the ceiling and move it around. May be the best of both worlds for those who like desktop type lights.
I don't know what happens in the USA, but here in Oz, the compact fluorescent "bulbs" are not accurate in the stated output equivalent. The original ones were but the market has been flooded with cheap asian products having the same input wattage but a seriously compromised output. The original, high quality lamps were too expensive to be a viable stock option for the stores, so price reigns supreme. Your spots also will have a reflector back which concentrates the light in the direction you want, the CFLs spray it everywhere. IMO, workshop lighting is better with the ordinary long fluorescent tubes in a baffled fixture.
Cheers
Graeme
This was very helpful Graeme