Shop Light

Re: Shop Light

John lucas

Definitely LED. I made the change when I built my new shop and will never go back.

Re: Shop Light

Dick Hines

I but up two racks over the lathe and added

I LED lights. They are all aimed at the lathe. I get a lot of light but no heat.

Re: Shop Light

John K Jordan

Ha! Definitely T5 fluorescents.

I shopped and bought various fixtures and tested and compared and decided on the T5 fixtures. (Nine 4-bulb fixtures, about 4000 lumens/bulb) I'm extremely happy with them. They are more expensive than LEDs.

That said, LED fixtures would also be fine. I've seen John L's shop and the lighting is good. For long life look for those that have good heat sinks to keep the LED emitters cooler. Some inexpensive fixtures don't.

JKJ

Re: Shop Light

mikeee12345

Indirect lighting with less then 20% differential between your task lighting in each area is easier on the eyes if you spend a number of hours in your shop each day. A direct light source without a lens or reflector to diffuse the light can be hard on the eyes if you are in direct line of sight of the light source. Care must be taken when using and placing the LED lights in your work space. A larger number of smaller wattage luminaires provides a better quality illumination over a fewer number of luminaires with higher wattage. You want an even illumination throughout the work space, you don't want bright lit areas with darker areas in between, this is hard on the eyes as they constantly refocus when looking away from the well lit areas. Most people usually require twice as much lighting later in life compared to their younger years. Quality lighting will make it easier reading fine print and working on mechanical equipment etc. Most shop areas should maintain 50-100 foot candles of illumination for good quality illumination. There are a number of lighting calculators on the internet that can layout a typical lighting system in a shop and calculate the number of luminaires needed for your size of shop.

diffuse light at the lathe

John K Jordan

>>>Indirect lighting with less then 20% differential between your task lighting in each area is easier on the eyes if you spend a number of hours in your shop each day.

Hmm... I don't know about easier on the eyes but I do know that indirect lighting is the worst lighting for evaluating compound curves on the lathe and for viewing defects such as scratches and gentle high or low spots such as center mounds/depressions, undulations, and concentric ripples.

A small diameter non-diffuse light source (approximating a point source) is far better for this, as long as the light is not coming from close to the point of view (i.e. a headlamp).

When I see pieces for sale or in club show-and-tell sessions with these defects I wonder what kind of light was used.

I use multiple positionable light sources at the lathe, these plus a few more to off the picture. I move the lights often.

JKJ

Re: Shop Light

Doc Green

Definitely CFL with shop-made fixtures. Cheap and effective.

Each "fixture" consists of a 1' x 4' panel (with stiffeners) of 1/4" plywood, covered with aluminium foil to serve as a reflector. Each fixture holds three small ceramic sockets (available at Lowes) installed through holes drilled in the plywood. A cheap extension cord is convenient for wiring the sockets and connecting the power.

Bulbs are easy to change. Mix warm and cool CFL's to get the color you want.

LED's are supposed to last at least forever and two months. Don't believe it. The internal electronics is what dies.

I first did this years ago in order to get rid of the old style fluorescents - before this new, fancy LED stuff came out. See no reason to change now. Your mileage may vary.

Re: diffuse light at the lathe

mikeee12345

Task Lighting and Area Lighting are two different animals. If you like watching someone arc weld all day long and then suffer from flash burns of the eyes, that is about the same as staring at a bare LED lamp source for the entire day. The trend in LED lighting is higher lumen output LED's using fewer on a board to produce more lumens per watt and lower the cost of the LED arrays. The exposed fluorescent T-12 bulbs were tolerable but when they moved on to T-8 lamps they also became an eye irritant in open style luminaires. A diffused lens or globe makes any luminaire easier on the eyes when a high output lamp source is used. Here is a simple test you can try at home, purchase one of those cheap LED flash lights at the Dollar store and have your spouse sit across the room and point it at your face while you try to read the newspaper. I guess you can always wear sun glasses inside your shop to cut down on the glare.

diffuse and task lighting

John K Jordan

>>>Task Lighting and Area Lighting are two different animals.

Yes, they are different. When designing shop lighting, the total light at the lathe should be considered. I've seen too many lathes with ONLY high overhead lights that provide diffuse lighting. Most clubs are set up that way so I always bring a gooseneck light to a demo.

I did mount an 8' long fluorescent fixture on the ceiling over each of my lathes for even, diffuse lighting when not turning. Each is on a separate switch so they are independent of the task lighting and the general shop lighting.

Another thing that has made my lighting more enjoyable - someone wiring a shop from scratch might consider. Where I use more than one task light at one station I wire several outlets through one switch to turn them all on at once. I do this at the lathes, sharpening station, bandsaw, drill press, and milling. The long plywood "skirt" on the front of the small shelf behind the lathe hides several of these receptacles and light cords (AND makes a great place to hang pencils and things from magnets!)

>>>If you like watching someone arc weld all day long and then suffer from flash burns of the eyes, that is about the same as staring at a bare LED lamp source for the entire day.

It would be intolerable for any light in my shop to shine directly into my eyes. If one did, I would fix it. The only eyes that stare directly into bright lights here are those of raccoons at the chicken house, just before their demise.

JKJ

Re: Shop Light

Don Evans

Roger

Take a look at Rocklers stock of LED lighting for shops. I have multiple ones of the shaded one with heat sinks just above the light bulb. 5 of them are 2500 lumen and one is 4000 lumen.

Over my carving bench I purchase on of the strip type LED fixture, looks just like a flouresent light except no bulbs just a strip of LED emitter, it is 7500 lumen. I really like all of them as I've got tired eyes due to age and these cured the problem. I do work a lot of detail stuff so I need to really see well. The last one's mentioned come in 4000, 7500 and 10000 lumen.

If I ever change out my ceiling lights (general lighting for the shop, I get 4 of the 7500 or 4 10000 lumen units. These unit come with a linking cable that allows to the link one to the next, another convenience if you don't already have wiring installed you may only need one socket in the ceiling.

Prices are good also especially when they put them on sale.

Don

Re: diffuse light at the lathe

Don Evans

Mike

I don't think your test is reality, perhaps I misunderstood. In working in the shop this would not happen unless you lay on your back on the floor working on something.

In normal conditions lights are located above you head and you eyes cast down.

I do agree that really dark areas verse bright areas are not good.

Don

Re: diffuse light at the lathe

David Walser

John -- I agree that the kind of lighting you describe can be of great value at the lathe (or when sanding an finishing any kind of woodworking project). However, I believe that Mike was merely pointing out that we shouldn't ignore the need for good 'general shop lighting' in our search for ideal task lighting. I've visited friends' shops where each tool seems to stand in its own pool of light, surrounded by darkness. (I exaggerate only slightly.) As Mike says, such an extreme contrast can be tiring and hard on the eyes.

In my own shop, I have several overhead fluorescent fixtures for general lighting. Each workstation has its own task lighting, with the type of task lighting varying by the type of workstation. My workbench, for example, has additional overhead fluorescent tubes. My lathe, has several lights with magnetic bases that I can adjust to provide the the appropriate light for what I'm doing at the time -- a low, raking, single, point of light when I'm trying to spot surface imperfections, for example.

Re: diffuse light at the lathe

John K Jordan

>>>However, I believe that Mike was merely pointing out that we shouldn't ignore the need for good 'general shop lighting' in our search for ideal task lighting. I've visited friends' shops where each tool seems to stand in its own pool of light, surrounded by darkness. (I exaggerate only slightly.) As Mike says, such an extreme contrast can be tiring and hard on the eyes.

I agree completely! Working in pools of light in a dark cave doesn't seem pleasant. I think the the general lighting was addressed above.

To Roger, the OP - shop lighting has been discussed a lot here in the past and some of that might be useful. Although the built-in forum search doesn't seem to be working, a google search with the "site:" parameter does, for example, try site:woodcentral.com shop lighting

For general lighting I installed multiple fixtures with four T5 bulbs throughout the shop. I positioned the fixtures carefully for lighting all over the shop, mounting one temporarily to measure the spread. I paid special attention to make sure I didn't put one where glare off the shiny table saw would be in my eyes.

All of my lights are wired in zones so, for example, one main switch doesn't turn on the brights in the turning wood storage area behind a separating wall. A separately switched string of lower-wattage can lights gives enough light to walk anywhere in the shop without switching on the bright fixtures, great for fetching a socket wrench or a can of paint.

My task lights are in addition to the general lighting, only switched on as needed, perhaps especially useful since I often turn smaller detailed things. As our eyes get older, the extra light makes a difference, not only to see the detail but to increase depth of field for better focus and less eye strain.

JKJ

Re: Shop Light

Jeff Smith

When we built the new shop it has nearly all led lighting in it. The work area with 8-foot ceilings (painted white)has 6 four-foot long single tube led fixtures spaced evenly on the roughly 18 foot x 20 foot area. They give off a soft, diffused light that is great for ambient light. There are two large windows and a sliding glass door to augment the light in the daytime. Task lights are adjustable desk lights with led bulbs positionable as needed. All artificial lighting is on the warm side (3500K or less) from personal preference.

The turning area has 12' ceiling sloping down to 8 feet in the front. It has three hanging pendant lights with 4K lumen bulbs. There is a four tube flourescent fixture (the only non-led light in the shop) over the lathe, and task lighting as needed.

All is on the warm/natural light side rather than the 'daylight' balanced light that makes me feel like I'm in a fishbowl. After spending a lot of the last 40 years doing critical color work, I personally feet that the color temperature of the light sources is way more important than the total lumens of output. It's easy to add lumens, getting the balance correct has potentially more influence on your work...

Re: Shop Light

Don Evans

Jeff:

I cannot agree with that more! They are both important in making the right decision. Here are the ratings that anyone in the market should consider:

The CCT (consolidated color temp) for the best shop lighting falls between

3500 & 4100 Kelvin

If for some reason you want Daylight closer to the SUN then you'll need lights that are : 5000 to 6500Kelvin.

All the LED's I recommended are in the first above at 4000 kelvin.

Thanks for bringing it up it's important!

Don

Re: Shop Light

Jeff Smith

Since the numbers look a lot alike to the unitiated, thought I'd put out there that when we're talking about lumens it's describing the amount of light output. More lumens, more, brighter light.

Color temperature is in degrees Kelvin (K) and describes the quality of the light by it's color - standard daylight can vary from 5500 to 6500 degrees kelvin. This describes a light that is very much on the blue side. A lower color temperature - from 4000 to 2500 degrees Kelvin describes a warm light with a lot of yellow/orange in the mix. Incandescent tungsten lights (what we used before leds entered our lives) are typically around 3500 - 2500 degrees kelvin and put out a nice warm light that I personally find comforting. In terms of assessing color accurately, our eyes adjust to whatever light we've got to one extent or another. Mixed lighting becomes harder to live with. If you light your shop in flourescent lights (notoriously spikey, green and lacking in the shadow areas) and fill in with tungsten or led light as a close in task light you wind up with shadows that are a different color from the highlights. Its visually confusing even if its a subliminal effect.