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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

Portable Sawmill & Tree Service – Abingdon, VA

Lamp is too bright *LINK*

Posts

Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#1

Lamp is too bright *LINK*

john lucas

Gosh I never thought I would say that. I love lots of light in my shop. I bought one of Ken Rizza's Super LED lights. It's kind of focused and that bright spot is really harsh. I end up adjusting the light position constantly trying to even out the light so it's not so harsh. So I built myself a miniature soft box or diffuser for the light. I cut out the circular depressed area on a white milk jug and then cut out another circle about the size of the inner circle on that depressed area. Then I turned a cone with a depression in the large side to accept the 2 pieces. This spaced them about 1/4" apart to help diffuse the light. I drilled a few holes to let any heat out even thought the light doesn't get that hot. Drilled and tapped 3 holes for screws to lock it onto the light. It now makes a nice even light. The photo doesn't do it justice. To your eye it's much more even across that 8" piece.






http://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/lamps/products/super-nova-lathe-lamp

Re: Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#2

Re: Lamp is too bright

klowwn

Very cool idea!

Question: I have a homemade light box to take photos of my stuff. I use a cheap halogen work light from Menards for light but get shiny hot spots reflecting off the finished item. Would the milk carton material make a good diffuser for the halogen work light?

Thanks

Ricc

Re: Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#3

Re: Lamp is too bright

Don Evans

It is unfortunate that they don't tell what the "K" rating is on the light. Do you have anything that tells it?

It's probably close to 2700?

Anyway, I have another solution to task lighting in my shop now. I'll try to get some pictures of them and post. I purchased them from Rockler but more places are carrying them now. One of them is Klingspor's

woodworking shop in NC.

I like them because they are close to 3000K and not focused in a spot, but are bright when compared to the old incondesent bulbs.

Re: Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#4

Re: Lamp is too bright

Roger Chandler

Ken was at the Virginia symposium last week, and I saw those lamps. He also had the KJR Aurora lamp, which I got early this year from Craft Supplies USA. That lamp has 500 lumens from an LED set of bulbs with over 30 year life on them at 8 hours a day.

I find the Aurora Lamp to be superb for my lighting needs. Flexible, easy to direct the light exactly where one needs it, and a magnetic base.

https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/images/prod/275/kjr_aur_led_lat_lam_2015_flip.jpg

As mentioned, Ken carries this as well, but the image is better at the link above.

Re: Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#5

Re: Lamp is too bright

David Walser

I also purchased the KJR Aurora lamp from CSUSA when it was on sale a year ago. I love it. The neck is very flexible, yet it holds its position very well. It's easy to focus the light where you want it for each task. I like the on/off magnetic base. I have the light mounted to the side of the lathe bed. It's rock solid. If I need more light at the drill press, I simply turn off the magnetic base and move the light to its new home. I wish I'd purchased several while they were on sale.

Re: Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#6

no-very dangerous

john lucas

quartz halogen lights will burn up most anything but metal within a few inches of them. I used them for years but had to make metal grids and barndoors. They did make soft boxes designed for quartz lights but we almost set one of those on fire one day.

I switched to CFL bulbs for my photo set up. They are cool enough you can make all sorts of adaptors out of cardboard or cloth without worrying about catching things on fire. The downside is they aren't anywhere near as bright as the Quartz light so you need to shoot in a darkened room and use a tripod because exposures will be quite long. I bought my lights from Alzo.com

Re: Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#7

I don't worry about the color temperature on these

john lucas

This is just a task light and I don't do any photography with it. It is fairly cool in temperature but probably not full spectrum so it probablly won't match any normal color temp for photograhy

Re: Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#8

Re: Lamp is too bright

mikeee12345

The LED can be quite "harsh" and "intense" source of illumination, you definitely want to have an indirect or diffused lense over the LED lamp source to minimize the glare. This type of light source can irritate your eyes quickly if you have any direct line of site to the lamp source. My eyes get dry enough from working around wood dust, the last thing I need is a bright light source hitting my eyeballs.

There is a big difference between quantity of light and quality of light. If your eye is subjected to a light source your retina will close to adjust, while at the same time your brain needs to refocus the image, do this over an extended period of time and you will get a headache.

Re: Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#9

THANKS!! NM


Re: Lamp is too bright *LINK*

#10

Re: I don't worry about the color temperature on t

John K Jordan

>>>...I don't do any photography with it.

(I wrote a note about this and must have forgotten to click the button. I hate when I do that.)

I love your diffuser solution. I have these lights at some tools and they are a little too bright at times and would in fact be more useful with some spread. I also use one for highlights at the photo cube and keep it covered with a couple of layers of tissue - your diffusing hood would be much better. I take 4 or 5, please. Do you take American Express? :-)

The color temperature seems to be very close to the photo CFLs I use. With the white balance set to the CFL light I see no color cast from the LED lamp on neutral grey.

JKJ