Let there be Light

[John Conroy]

The older I get the more light I need to see anything. I was looking for a lighting solution for the dark area of the garage where my new lathe lives and found these on Amazon. I bought 2 and they work great and are cheap, my favorite kind of product. The difference is like night and day (pun intended). Before and after pics below.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07M5SQSF7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[DPittman]

Yup it's hard to get things too well lit in a shop. I went to led lighting in my garage from incandescent bulbs and for the most part like them. The power consumption of the led's is a fraction of the incandescent and I like the colour of the light of led's a bit better but they are much more directional lighting than the bulbs. The old bulbs reflected off the ceiling and walls and lit all corners pretty well but the led's leave dark shadows in top 2ft of the walls and ceilings.

 

[PeterT]

Good score. I'm finding I actually prefer the broader indirect light.I have a converted study lamp with LED bulb closer to the chuck but I find the glare kind of distracting. Do the LED bulbs vary in those class of lights by manufacturer or are they pretty generic? They sure have come down in price, glad I waited.

btw was the Halogen looking spot lamp included with the lathe? Is it a halogen bulb or something cooler like LED?

 

[Tom O]

I went to leds also getting the flush mount type at Home Depot and have no complaints about them.

 

[John Conroy]

My whole garage is now lit with LED lighting. So much better than the old T12 fluorescent bulbs. The lamp that came with the lathe is 24 volt halogen and not nearly bright enough for me.

 

[YYCHM]

Man I never seem to have enough light when I'm working with my machines. Forever in a shadow.

I'm almost to the point of doubling up on the IKEA goose neck LED lamps.

 

[Bofobo]

I went full LED 2 years ago, my house and shop have never been brighter!

 

[DPittman]

Man I never seem to have enough light when I'm working with my machines. Forever in a shadow.

View attachment 4771

I'm almost to the point of doubling up on the IKEA goose neck LED lamps.

Well the nice thing about most of the surface mount led fixtures is that you can easily just plug in another unit in the end if you find you need more light (and you always do)

 

[CalgaryPT]

A few years ago I bought one of those dual LED worklights and tripod thinking I could move it around my shop as needed. It worked great for a year, but tipped over and shattered the plastic parts of the tripod. The lights themselves work fine and are on a bracket that I hang from points in my ceiling as needed. Eventually I will make a metal tripod for it. LEDS are great.

I also have a portable battery powered Milwaukee LED worklight that is great for when working on mowers or snowblowers in the shop. A least one portable light source is great to move around and get under things with--not a flashlight, but something that you can stand and position.

It's funny, as I age I need more light for some things (like in the shop). But other things are way too bright for me--like movies and big screen TVs. Ahhh, who am I kidding? I stopped going to movies years ago because they were too loud. And I couldn't bear paying $7 for a bottle of water and $25 for a bag of popcorn.

 

[PeterT]

And I couldn't bear paying $7 for a bottle of water and $25 for a bag of popcorn.

Do you have a link/pic for the Milwaukee? I'm kind of growing onto their tools because the battery is so common

Oh & btw water & popcorn is now $11 and $27 LOL

 

[CalgaryPT]

The Milwaukee is 2361-20 and it's an M18. Super bright, but has a half power setting. I like it because you can position it at almost any angle. Great for under vehicles as well. Almost too bright at times. The other pic is the King LEDs that use to be on a tripod but I now hang from my ceiling.

I was at Calgary Fasteners today and their new tool section has a shelf devoted just to Milwaukee lighting. But they are pricey...Amazon has better deals especially if you have the batteries and charger already, and have Prime.

$27 for popcorn? Are they operating in some kind of exclusive economic zone I was unaware of?

 

[Chicken lights]

I have this little guy for working on stuff. Magnetic base, straight or on a 45 degree angle, it’s handy.

I don’t like the glare from LEDs, the old work lights were a much more pleasant soft light to work with.

I agree with others, my shop is all LED light bulbs now, they are a much brighter light, but strangely they cast more shadows. What I did was painted all the walls white, then doubled up every light bulb at every socket. That helped a lot, but I still feel like one half of the shop needs a few more lights run

 

[Bofobo]

Being a younger man of the forum but with some experience with “older” and hand tools, I question who still owns a classic touble light? How many light bulbs have died from being jostled in the slightest way?

Well i still own one, and i would buy another! Because now we have LED bulbs that fit these archaic devices and now it seems indestructible!

 

[DPittman]

Being a younger man of the forum but with some experience with “older” and hand tools, I question who still owns a classic touble light? How many light bulbs have died from being jostled in the slightest way?

Well i still own one, and i would buy another! Because now we have LED bulbs that fit these archaic devices and now it seems indestructible!

Hey I own and like my traditional trouble light too! You've got to use "rough service" bulbs in them if you use incandescent bulbs. However I too find the new led bulbs much superior, they seem just as tough and don't get as smokin' hot. I was always burning/melting myself or something with the old bulbs. And I exploded more than one when working under a vehicle and a water drop would hit the hot bulb. I know there are stories of terrible mishaps/fires with the old trouble lights especially in the days of mechanic pits.

 

[Chicken lights]

Being a younger man of the forum but with some experience with “older” and hand tools, I question who still owns a classic touble light? How many light bulbs have died from being jostled in the slightest way?

Well i still own one, and i would buy another! Because now we have LED bulbs that fit these archaic devices and now it seems indestructible!

I’d have to look, there was one hanging up in the shop not that long ago. My biggest thing is I hate having too many cords out at once, they have a tendency to get tangled. Typically if I’m working on something I’ll have an air line for air tools and cutting torch hoses strewn about. Add in a trouble light cord and they quickly create a trip hazard

 

[CalgaryPT]

Hey I own and like my traditional trouble light too! You've got to use "rough service" bulbs in them if you use incandescent bulbs. However I too find the new led bulbs much superior, they seem just as tough and don't get as smokin' hot. I was always burning/melting myself or something with the old bulbs. And I exploded more than one when working under a vehicle and a water drop would hit the hot bulb. I know there are stories of terrible mishaps/fires with the old trouble lights especially in the days of mechanic pits.

 

[PeterT]

My work light over the scroll saw & lathe is a cheapo repurposed student lamp with mag base. But I removed the incandescent or halogen or whatever was in there & replaced with LED. Like what you guys were saying, one little drop of coolant or spatter & the old hot bulbs went bang. Not what you want to startle you over a rotating chuck. So far so good. But the overhead big LED fixture would provide a lot more ambient light over the machine & if you are spraying that high, well go easy on the coolant LOL.

The old school trouble light with coated lens seems to just mostly hang the glass shrapnel together, but it will still go bang with liquid. I still use it but should either get a different bulb or just cut the lamp off & harvest the 20 mile long cord.

 

[DPittman]

My work light over the scroll saw & lathe is a cheapo repurposed student lamp with mag base. But I removed the incandescent or halogen or whatever was in there & replaced with LED. Like what you guys were saying, one little drop of coolant or spatter & the old hot bulbs went bang. Not what you want to startle you over a rotating chuck. So far so good. But the overhead big LED fixture would provide a lot more ambient light over the machine & if you are spraying that high, well go easy on the coolant LOL.

The old school trouble light with coated lens seems to just mostly hang the glass shrapnel together, but it will still go bang with liquid. I still use it but should either get a different bulb or just cut the lamp off & harvest the 20 mile long cord.

If the old school trouble light was one that had outlets in it you could plug in additional tools, that would be worthwhile saving. I like mine because of that feature although corded power tools are also almost a thing of the past.

 

[TheLocalDrunk]

I was lucky. They demo'd half the warehouse beside me and I was able to grab a bunch of 4lamp 4ft fixtures and wired those up.
I WISH they were LED though.

 

[PeterT]

I'm still running old school fluorescent's. I keep saying I'll upgrade when the last of my bulbs burn out, but they refuse to die. They have survived how many expensive & now redundant fads that have come & gone already with questionable net improvement but a whole lot more money. I think LED is here to stay & the price seems to be dropping every year. The main thing is the light is better.