Put in some fluoro's......

Got 4 twin fluoro's a couple of years ago and now have finally got around to puuting them in so I cvan work the night shift.
Decide that I will do 2 at a time and want to wire to a power point given that they draw bugger all, 74watts per unit.
Anyway I go out and buy 10 metres of cable and two plugs, a grand total of about $35.00 and set to work, beeee yooooo teeeee, let there be light, all is well with brown to earth (dirt is brown):rolleyes:
Sorry, just a little humour, I can wire a damned plug.
A few days later I go to get some more cable and plugs for the next two, I am walking through the electrical section of out local Shifty Link Hardware when I spy upon some 5 metre extension leads, at a mere $5.95 each and rated at 10 amps.
Be buggered, why the hell should I buy all the bits for $35.00 when I can get two 5 metre extensions leads, chop off the female end and wire into fluoro's?
Boom Boom, come home with the goods, quicksnip and strip and I have the next two working with a saving of $23.00, now the question is.......
WHY THE HELL DIDN"T I DO THIS FIRST TIME AROUND:(( :(( :((

Iain
I've made use of the same (and th e 3m ones sometimes) for similar purposes ... seems a waste to cut off the the female and throw it away but what the heck ... like you say ... the product is cheaper than the sum of the parts ... figure that:no:

Iain,

You may/may not be up to speed with this but here goes.

Fluro lights flicker at a rate [I think] of 60 cycles per second. If you have rotating machinery in your workshop ie lathe, rotating blades etc and they happen to be rotating at around the same rate as your fluro is flickering, it gives the appearance that the rotating object is stationery - you can guess what can happen from here:o. There are many reported cases of people putting hands onto 'stationery' objects with grim results.

From a cost point of view, fluros are the go, but above your rotating machinery, a floodlight/incandescent is the safer option

Regards

Colin Howkins
Graceville Qld

Yep, I do too. Given that you can buy extension leads up to 15mtrs you could wire up the largest shed on a shoestring - no! an extension lead would be better.

Denn

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Originally Posted by Colin Howkins

Iain,

You may/may not be up to speed with this but here goes.

Fluro lights flicker at a rate [I think] of 60 cycles per second. If you have rotating machinery in your workshop ie lathe, rotating blades etc and they happen to be rotating at around the same rate as your fluro is flickering, it gives the appearance that the rotating object is stationery - you can guess what can happen from here:o. There are many reported cases of people putting hands onto 'stationery' objects with grim results.

From a cost point of view, fluros are the go, but above your rotating machinery, a floodlight/incandescent is the safer option

Regards

Colin Howkins
Graceville Qld

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Ah Grasshopper, if one notes carefully the wiring in the internals you will notice that the phasing is arranged so that the cycling is opposite on each tube, thus a steady light and no flickering, also the rate here is 50 fps (flickers per second:wink: ), good ole US of A has 60 hertz.
My argument against this too is that I am not deaf and I can hear the machine running plus if I am intending to use a machine I should be aware that it is running.
Of course the same ruling applies to incandescant lighting and you cannot eliminate this unless you use a full wave rectifier, which is something of an expensive overkill for a home workshop.
Remember the strobes you used to place on the turntable to check the speed? (remember we used to give an apprentice a torch to check them with:D ).
Ramps, it does hurt to cut off the female end and no matter how long you stare at it, it is still going to be useless, bearing this in mind, I still have the two useless ens in a drawer in the shed, I know they are absolutley useless but they are brand new and sqeauky clean and just not suitable for binning, even though they are a sealed unit and cannot be used for any application apart from chucking at cats.
Here we go, a new thread starter, weapons for use against marauding moggies.
I had better stop before someone thinks I am related to Mr Wild Dingo:rolleyes:

Iain, start a "That might come in handy one day" bin. You will find that most things in it will be very handy at some time in the future.........usually about two days after you've had a clean up and thrown the damn thing out.:doh:

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Originally Posted by Termite

usually about two days after you've had a clean up and thrown the damn thing out.:doh:

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I know:( :(
Although yesterday I needed to do some sanding but the hose adapter for my rotex is split and the mew one hasn't arrived, solution, get a cable tie and wrap around the end so I can attach the hose, now, I have a big plastic jar of cable ties in the shed....................somewhere.
After an hour searching I'm buggered if I can find them so I head off to the local hardware and buy a bag of them (so I can use one), works a treat, get the bag and put it on the shelf next to the jar of cable ties that I can't find:~

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Colin Howkins

Iain,


You may/may not be up to speed with this but here goes.

Fluro lights flicker at a rate [I think] of 60 cycles per second. If you have rotating machinery in your workshop ie lathe, rotating blades etc and they happen to be rotating at around the same rate as your fluro is flickering, it gives the appearance that the rotating object is stationery - you can guess what can happen from here:o. There are many reported cases of people putting hands onto 'stationery' objects with grim results.

From a cost point of view, fluros are the go, but above your rotating machinery, a floodlight/incandescent is the safer option

Regards

Colin Howkins
Graceville Qld

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Hi Colin

When you belong to this forum long enough you discover there are very few new subjects covered, you just need to be able to find them.

This subject on strobing was covered a couple of years ago.

And Iain you probably remember it.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...nical+Bulletin

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Originally Posted by Barry_White

And Iain you probably remember it.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...nical+Bulletin

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I didn't but thanks, I had forgotten the candle option:rolleyes: (50 or 60 Hz candle sir:wink: )

Well Iain, I sort of had a similar experience.

Got the fluros from a salvage yard dirt cheap, doubles, big heavy fellas nobody wanted. And there they sat for two years 'cos the thought of buying cable and plugs for more than the lights cost me just darn annoyed me. (Dumb logic).

Had a clean up day and was tossing out some old damaged extension leads, that had too many heavy things fall on them, when all of a sudden I had a thought, leads all good apart from a bit in the middle + fluros gathering dust somewhere = light in the shed.

Durh !!! So now I have light in the shed and what a thrill it was. You have reminded me to get some more and some cheap extension leads and do the garage as well.

Cheers
Pops

Iain, you could also be related to Wongo:U

One of my lesser used flouros on hooked up with an extension lead to powerpoint, the one over my lathe:B

G'day Iain,

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Originally Posted by Iain

and cannot be used for any application apart from chucking at cats.

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:2tsup:

Hadn't thought of chopping an extension lead. :2tsup:

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Originally Posted by Iain

WHY THE HELL DIDN"T I DO THIS FIRST TIME AROUND:(( :(( :((

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Because you never asked? :D :rolleyes:

Still remember going in to the local bunnies a few years ago when they had some sale on shortish extension leads.

We asked if there was a limit to the number we could buy. Manager said as many as we wanted to buy.

So we bought them all. :2tsup:

Almost a pallet sized box worth of the stoopid things.

Got the apprentices to practise their flex stripping skills, and recycled the dud sockets. Then we all chipped in wiring them into flouro's that had somehow been delivered without leads on them.

In the end, we were busy in the shop for a few days, the lighting mob dodged an expensive bullet, the boss made some unexpected extra cash, which he used some of to buy us beer and sausages with.

Plus we made the Bunnies managers eyeballs stick out about 3 inches. :oo:

I usually buy a bit longer than needed, and then wire a male plug (quite cheap) to the cut female bit and I end up with another extention cord. Yes, I also hooked up a floro set to the garage - now I can see what I'm doing after 5pm. Got my at Flemington Markets for $15 includes twin tubes and a white hood and it comes plugged - just connect to extension cord to wall socket. Might hook up another set right under my work table:roll: - will wait if I could get those enclosures that looked like aluminium/mirrors - those at some new offices.

Short extension cords are quite useful. But for those you have already cut off you can use them to protect the male plugs on corded tools. For some reason the prongs often get pushed together by clumsy placement of boards and things when to lazy to put things away properly. (would not buy an extension cord to do this though - it just saves you having to chuck them at the moggies)

Pusser

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Fluro lights flicker at a rate [I think] of 60 cycles per second. If you have rotating machinery in your workshop ie lathe, rotating blades etc and they happen to be rotating at around the same rate as your fluro is flickering, it gives the appearance that the rotating object is stationery - you can guess what can happen from here:o. There are many reported cases of people putting hands onto 'stationery' objects with grim results.

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This will occur only if the flicker rate is equal to rpm of the rotating machinery ie 3000rpm. Whilst it can happen on single flouros it is not a common occurrence . After 30yrs in the business I it find to be the rare exception if it occurs