During the process of trying to clean out my poor sad workshop sufficient to actually use it I decided that the lights were part of the overall problem. When I set up my shop a couple of decades ago it was by walling off half of a two-car garage and during the build I installed four eight-foot two-tube fluorescent fixtures and that seemed to be more than enough. But still there was the problem that those big surplus fixtures protruded from the already too-low ceiling and that made wrestling oversized/long stock single handed treacherous so I decided that installing thin flush LED fixtures would be the solution. I found a bunch on Amazon, all four-foot, and decided on not the cheapest but close to it. When they arrived I realized that the cost was enabled by the flimsy construction -- steel the thickness of beer can aluminum is not so strong. But these lights were bright and had three settings for color temperature and for brightness. Setting the switches to "neutral" and "low" looked good. I hate ladder work for various reasons including a once-broken arm, shoulder surgery, age and general uneasiness so wrestling down the old heavy fixtures was a PITA but putting up the new ones was relatively easy once proper mounting could be arranged.
The results are pretty clear. The fluorescent fixtures give something like 65-75 foot-candles at bench height (allowing for tube age and surface dust) while the new LED fixtures manage 150. Almost too bright until you get acclimatized. Ceiling clearance is improved by perhaps 4-5 inches and no fragile glass tubes are exposed. I still need to change the last two out but this will entail moving my massive oak bench and perhaps the bandsaw too so I'll leave that until some motivation accrues.
It is difficult to judge because of auto exposure but here is what the present state looks like.
Shop Lights
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Re: Shop Lights
#2More light is always an advantage for fading vision. There are a couple things to consider when installing new lights:
China and cheap(?) although synonymous are not your friend, usually. It will bite at some point. I am still using fluorescent screw-in bulbs my FIL paid a "fortune of $10" for before we married, about 45 years ago. Chinese cheapy EW's at $2 to $5 flake out faster than incandescents. At 25 cents for the original, the Energy Wise are a rip off.
I finally had to supplement the two one-hundred watt bulbs in my garage. I got several strips (4') of low profile (under 1.5") LED's. Break them and just replace; no injury. They were less than $10 via Amzoom. My experience with the new improved Energy Dumbs with LED screw-ins and bliniker-blinkers had me not confident in the future. However, lighting need and premonitions of poor durability and short life numbed me to horrid ecological waste associated with China garbage.
Then my neighbor, a lighting engineer for industrial construction explained that they never specify or use Asian-made lighting hardware. How do I get that stuff?!!!
Re: Shop Lights
#3When I built my shop/studio, I opted for 10' ceiling. I then hung 2 rows of 8 leds located in the middle of each half of the space and 1 foot below the ceiling.
Very even light across the whole space. While each bank is switched separately , I can also turn off individual fixtures when needed (or not needed)
They've been doing well for 3 years. Since I bought the whole set from an outfit in California, it's a fair bet they're Asian.
Re: Shop Lights
#4
I have replaced all of the fluorescent bulbs in my shop with LEDs. I pulled all of the ballasts out in the process. Light is much better now and the elements are more durable for unintended lumber banging.
Re: Shop Lights
#5Joe Fleming wrote:I have replaced all of the fluorescent bulbs in my shop with LEDs. I pulled all of the ballasts out in the process. Light is much better now and the elements are more durable for unintended lumber banging.
I thought about that and had my existing lights not been eight-footers of the coaxial pin variety I might have gone that way. Sadly eight-food LED tube replacement didn't seem to exist. Or at least I couldn't find any. These cheap fixtures seem to have relatively good electronics in them -- I had a good look since three of the eight had let the driver come loose from their tethers and cases which I had to reattach. The components on the driver boards looked to be of decent quality and the layout looked rational (a large part of my professional career was in electronics) and the two LED strips in each seem to be top notch -- very even intensity for each LED and not a dud among them. I'm happy for now. If only I could find a way to easily move the bandsaw and mega bench with a 6X2 and 3-1/2 thick laminated top of red oak with a correspondingly stout frame. When I built it 20 years ago I was a bit stronger than I am now I'd get at the last two replacements this weekend.
Re: Shop Lights
#6I replaced all the fluorescents in my shop with LEDs several years ago. Much higher light level helps with almost everything, except reading a metal ruler or caliper. The intensity of the LEDs causes glare. I have to take the caliper and hold it under an incandescent light on my drill press to be able to see it.
Re: Shop Lights
#7I just made major, but uneconomical, shop lighting improvements. Enhancements include increase in brightness, color rendition and resolution. It's amazing how much better everything looks after cataract surgery. 
A few years ago, I replaced all my 4' fluorescent fixtures with screw-in CFL fixtures and bulbs. As the spiral bulbs burn out (usually much sooner than promised by their ratings) I replace them with LEDs that look like incandescent bulbs, but are much more economical.
Re: Shop Lights
#8Success! Sorta... Well I managed to get up the third pair of lights by rolling the miter saw cart and router table cart out of the way and stretching a bit to get over the drill press. The fourth pair was always going to be the beast. I was able to slide the 16" bandsaw away from the wall with some effort and rocking but the bench was the (near) killer. I did eventually get it away from the wall inch by inch far enough to get a short step stool behind and finish the install although the space around the bandsaw and the end of the lumber rack was still difficult. Now there is one problem -- I cannot even begin to get the bench back in place -- dragging is easier than pushing. I hope that there is a solution though -- I ordered a set of "bench casters" which are foot-activated and raise "600 pounds" and I'm hoping that when they arrive (tomorrow?) I'll be able to mount them and roll the bench back into place. Anyway, the lights are done and the shop is bright as never before but I still face the task of cleaning up the horrible mess that I allowed to accumulate over the years. Oh, and I now have four unwieldy light fixtures and eight toxic tubes to dispose of...
Re: Shop Lights
#9
John McGaw (Bodger) wrote:I still face the task of cleaning up the horrible mess that I allowed to accumulate over the years.
I certainly know that feeling. Maybe someday when I finally get
Re: Shop Lights
#10
freeimagehost
Just to follow up, I received the wheelie things (Amazon B07X2G9RXW) for my workbench and got them installed. Install was a bit clumsy and I used #12 2-12" screws rather than the hardware provided so that there was clearance to slip the plates on and off. Other than that no sweat and in this case having the bench pulled out from the wall was a major benefit. A definite thumbs-up for this product. Now if I can stay motivated enough to do some cleaning...
Re: Shop Lights
#11
@John McGaw (Bodger), After reading reviews of these, apparently including screws that are either too small or too large is common. Were the holes in your plates countersunk to accommodate wood screws?
Re: Shop Lights
#12Yeah. Well sorta' There are two ways to mount these. The way I did it, using the extra plates makes the wheel assemblies removable and these plates have two countersunk holes and #12 seemed to be the largest that would fit flush although I might have gotten away with #14s. If the wheels are being mounted directly then there are six holes, sans countesinks, to use. I'm assuming that the bunch of screws they provided were meant to go here but they did look pretty small for a heavy load unless all six in each was used. I took the lazy way using two long steel screws vs. six screws. I predrilled two step because it is oak and liberally waxed each screw to ease things. I'm happy with them -- anything to ease the old body.