What kind of shop lighting do you have,

Bought a couple 4ft florecent lights at wallmart and took them back because they were junk and didnt work.
Went to the hardware store and tryed a different brand 4ft and seems to work after I replaced the GE tubes I had got at walmart becuase one of those was dead.

Seems like the new floresent light fixtures are just cheap junk. My old, old ones have been working good for 20 years some with the same tubes.


I have a old 300 watt quartz light I use for intense lighting but that sucker gets very hot.

What kind of lighting do you have?

you want "blue" lights, not the normal whites.. as those tend to be TAN in usage

jeffe

Jeff I have a few tubes I took out of a blueprint machine. They have a metal strip running from one end to the other end. They are blue lights when on but lghting is kinda weird.

Is that what your talking about, blueprint lights?

get with a good electrical supply shop and buy high intensity flourescent bulbs they are the bright blue light you need a high intensity fixture as well

I just tryed these blueprint tubes again. They arent very bright , must be different.

You can get lights that are just like sunlight as far as spectrum . They are easier on the eyes and the true color is important if you are dealing with color [matching stains etc]. The lighting should be a good overall level and some work lights adjustable for the particular job.

When you are ready to look at good bench and Machine lights check out: http://www.lightingspecialties.com/dazor_fluorescents.html

I use the model 2134 on my primary bench along with a fixed, 48" 2 tube fluorescent fixture directly over the bench. Never can have too much lighting!

For Machine tool lighting check out: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/itemDetailsRender.shtml?ItemId=1611718849

I just have regular tubes, but the best is whats considered full spectrum tubes, they were pretty expensive at one time, not even sure where to get them, maybe the same types as the links the other guys provided are the same, I didnt check. probably many different kinds now that would do fine and not cost as much.

Hi guys,
I gave up on the little 4` rigs years ago. I put in the 8` and have found them to be the best all-around for me. BUT! Put out the extra and get the heavy duty ones as the ballasts seem to wear out in the cheaper ones. Luckily for me all the $%^% things went out one after the other well within the warranty time slot so I exchanged them and replaced them with the heavy duty ones by paying about 5.00 extra. The bulbs are spendy but I found that if you cozy up to someone in one of the "Marts" like K-Mart, Bi-Mart etc you`ll sometimes luck out and find that they have maintence Cos taking care of their lights. I did and the guy called me and said the maintence co. just replaced NEW bulbs [the ones with the pretty green tips]and the others were on sale for 2.00 a BOX!!! [Box has 15 lights] I bought them all [18 boxes] for 36.00 and got them donuts from Albertsons with the other 4.00 as a thank you. I now have a lifetime supply for about .13 each. Check it out. Sometime it works!!
Aloha, Mark

Bohica. I have 2, real old 8footers in my shop and some new green tip tubes . Think I will just replace the ballasts in them.

quote:

Originally posted by GSP7:
Bohica. I have 2, real old 8footers in my shop and some new green tip tubes . Think I will just replace the ballasts in them.

The green tip just means they're low mercury lamps, it's technically illegel to throw the others away in the regular garbage. If you want better light go with a T-8 ballast and lamps. You'll get 20% more lumens out of them on average and they don't dim with age.
-Don

Spend the money and get the high output flourescent fixtures and bulbs. The high output lamps have a single stub type of a pin compared with the standard thin twin pins. Standard bulbs lose 40% of their output (brightness) if the temp drops below 45 degrees. The high output lamps arent'affected by temperature drop.

I use the lights made by GE that replicate sun light.

If you need more light, pick up a 4ft 4 light wrap from your nearest electrical distributor. They're bigger, but you'd have twice the light.