Well as part of finishing the basement I'm redoing my work shop. Moving the duplicator over into an alcove to try and minimize the dust.

Currently have some 4' fluorescent lights but they are not as bright as I would want.

Curious what are you guys using over say a lathe or duplicator to give you enough light?

DO NOT USE FLURO's OVER A LATHE !!....the light "fluctuates" and at some speeds the spinning lathe chuck appears to be standing still.

Roger

Roger
Thanks for the heads up. This will be over a duplicator. I have no lathe.

I wonder if that be why I have trouble telling if my band saw is on. With hearing aids out and hearing protectors on I for sure can't hear the motor on the saw. So I had to tie the flexible saw table light into the motor switch. Least I can tell it is on but sucks for set up.

Duane I was leaning towards trying the led. Glad to hear positives. You talking the 4' tube type or more the spot. Rockler has a couple spots with reflectors that put out the same as 3 old 100wat bulbs.

I have always had 4 foot fluros over my lathe and yes, I can tell when it is spinning. Note that there are at least 5 different grades of bulb for these; I use the one for "laundry" use; it is the brightest. I don't want no "soft", warm, light; I want LIGHT.
But the new LEDs are best.

That was true of the old magnetic ballasts. New fixtures use electronic ballasts that elimnate that issue. Nowadays we seldom install fluorescent lighting. About 90% is led. How are your old fixtures? They make led replacement bulbs for most fluorescent fixtures. If you need something like that let me know I can get something drop shipped to you on one of my wholesale accounts. But for fixtures most my wholesalers can't compete with the prices from lowes or Home Depot unless you need a large qty.
Don

LED tubes from Costco. They look like 4 foot fluorescents.

Just installed 8 in the garage and 12 in the barn. Twice as bright as the old fluorescents.

Next is to install them in the shop.

quote:

Originally posted by yumastepside:
DO NOT USE FLURO's OVER A LATHE !!....the light "fluctuates" and at some speeds the spinning lathe chuck appears to be standing still.

Roger

Nope, does not happen in my shop. Regular fluorescents. See my other post.

I switched over to the newer T8 fluorescent lights. I buy them in the 2 X 32 inch pre-made hanging bars with the cord, switch and plug attached. They are much brighter than the older fluorescent bulbs and they last a lot longer too. I have a couple light stands as well. One with the halogen bulbs. (which seem to burn out daily) I also have one with LED bulbs. I find the LEDs to be very ? ? ? (annoying?) The light is very hard and if I accidentally glance at them or don't get them positioned right so that they don't shine in my eyes they temporarily blind me for a micro second. I have multiple light bars on different outlets so I don't get strobing problems. I can get the mill to strobe if I turn off all of the lights but one and slowly increase and decrease the speed and stand in just the right spot. But I have to work at it. Not the lathes as they don't have the adjustment range to let me match the 60 cycles of the lights.

The T8s are definitely the way to go.

I sell and install more of these now days than any other fixture probably 3 or 4 thousand a year.

http://www.e-conolight.com/ind...on-sensor-5000k.html

They come in 4 lamp through 8 lamp. T-8 and T-5HO. Motion sensor probably not recomended and that makes 'em cheaper as well.

This is what I have in my home shop.

T-8 unless your ceilings are over 20' or so t-8 for the rest.

Econo light is a great company to deal with as well.

At the current time the main shop had 8 double fluorescent units with T8 bulbs. 3500K. I have about half a contractor box of bulbs. Two unused bases. I wasn't aware they made a t8 led that would simply swap out in the old bases.
However looking at the box says the old bulbs are 2800Lum and the Led are 2000Lum. Is the 2800 for the Fluorescent simply optimistic?

It is only a 9' ceiling.

These from Costco:

http://www.costco.com/4%E2%80%...oduct.100223617.html

I shit canned everything else, HUGE difference!

I suspend the T8 bars right over the machines and benches about 7 feet off the floor. Any higher and they start to diffuse too much. Any lower and they glare like the LEDs do. Herring Munchers must be descended from some sort of nocturnal critters I'm afraid.

Econolite is one of the cheapest to deal with in the under 100 qty market. As stated t-8 for under 20' and t-5 for over. Most the hibay (over 20') jobs we do are led nowadays, with about 20% being t-5 6 lamp fixtures. Led are still a questionable market, I did a parking lot job with 125 cree led fixtures about two years ago and have been replacing drivers at a rate of 5 a year.
Don

If I can piggyback on the original post. How fast do the LED lights come up to full illumination in freezing temperatures? What do you recommend for full illumination at a ceiling height of 16 feet and at what fixture spacing?

LED's come to full illumination immediately. LEDs actually work better in the cold. T8 flourescents are a huge improvement over the old T 12's but if your shop is cool you loose illumination. T8's will last much longer than the old t 12's. LEDs will last 20 + years and they use about 1/3 the energy the flourescents use. The number and types of LED bulbs on the market are increasing. Install the correct LED and I don't think you will ever be sorry.

I use T5 HO four ft. Four blub fixtures and they are bright. Four fixtures light up a 2k square ft. shop well.

Joe

we've switched the whole shop over to 6 bulb 4' t5 fixtures (about 100 each at amazon) but the higher K bulbs are much brighter than the loweer k ones

In my shop i have 6 8ft.fixtures and over the lathe i have a 2 bulb t8 fixture.

Have not had any problem with the lathe seeming to stand still.But i do have a cover on that fixture to keep chips from hitting them.

This is my LED lathe light.


I made the setup and have it mounted and wired. I will be replacing my 4' florescent bulbs as I go. Never had the problem with them over my lathe.

Thanks guys for all your input. Butch that looks like a great light for a spot area.

Hind sight being 20/20 I probably messed up I hardwired in all my existing fixtures. Instead of simply wiring in some boxes.

Guy next door is moving. He just gave me 2 4 bulb Lithonia Heavy Duty Shoplights. They take the t8 bulbs I already have. Will use an outlet and hang them via chains so they are closer to the duplicator.

As my bulbs go out I probably need to look at an led swap into existing units. As I understand I would need to simply remove (rewire around) the ballast?? Has anyone done the swap?

They make two types. One just replace the bulb and the other you remove the ballast. We install thousands of the bulb type.
Don

Thanks Don. Will need to watch out for that. Just the bulb would be the easiest for sure.

The ballasts on several of my lights were going out. I wanted to go LED but didn't want to install ceiling receptacles. I used the retrofit T-8s, which requires special tomb stone lamp receptacles. It took maybe 10 minutes to remove the ballasts and hook up the wiring. They are probably more expensive than the LEDs using the ballasts. They work great though.

Personally I like that type better than the bulb only. But when you are bidding a job and need to keep the costs lowest posible then the bulb type wins each time because of the low labor costs.
Don

quote:

Personally I like that type better than the bulb only

?? Don are you saying you prefer the type that must have the ballast taken out of the wiring loop?

Yes because you are taking the ballast out of the loop. One less part to fail. My personal stuff I would use them even though they are more labor intensive. Now if you don't feel qualified to do the work yourself I would opt for the bulb type. As the labor required to install them out ways the pros.
Don

Thanks Don. Nope the mechanics of the rewire is not an issue. Already had them apart once hardwiring them in.

Thanks

quote:

Led are still a questionable market, I did a parking lot job with 125 cree led fixtures about two years ago and have been replacing drivers at a rate of 5 a year.

My experience exactly. LEDs are gonna be the future.....we just aren't in the future yet....


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