Lighting on your grinders?

I like having a mixture of lighting... flourescent, incandescent, halogen and natural. I find that each type of light reveals something different about the work pieces. What looks perfectly fine under a halogen light can show deep problems when taken outside and viewed in natural light. Likewise, something that seems free of scratches in natural light may have a tendency to show up better under flourescent.

The desk I use for the primary grinding has a flourescent bar overhead, a gooseneck incandescent mounted on the bench grinder (that I use for any work being done there) and additional CFL bulbs overhead that throw off a different temperature of light than the flourescent bar. The tiny bench where I do most of my filing, sanding and drill work is lit by a halogen lamp, augmented by natural light when I open the garage doors. Most of my handle work is done outdoors, where I can take advantage of natural light.

By the way, natural light here usually means overcast skies so the light has a softer, grayer tone to it. It's not like the blinding direct sunlight I used to get in Texas... except during a small slice of time in the summer. I find the overcast skies make it much easier to see colors better, and also to locate scratches (because you aren't blinded by the reflections).

- Greg
 
Thank you for your post Brian, that sold me on them. I've been kicking around the idea of buying some for a couple years, between this thread and the email from Enco with the promo codes, I put some in my cart last night... I'm going to go ahead and finalize it now.

I have quite a few of the articulated ones like in Salem's photo, but I haven't had the best of luck with them. Salem's lights look beefier than the ones I've owned, so that would make a huge difference. But mine all end up sagging really bad.

My biggest issue with most lamps available, no matter the style, is their max watt capacity. The ones like Brian has, are rated for up to a 100 watt bulb.
 
NickWheeler said:
Thank you for your post Brian, that sold me on them. I've been kicking around the idea of buying some for a couple years, between this thread and the email from Enco with the promo codes, I put some in my cart last night... I'm going to go ahead and finalize it now.

I have quite a few of the articulated ones like in Salem's photo, but I haven't had the best of luck with them. Salem's lights look beefier than the ones I've owned, so that would make a huge difference. But mine all end up sagging really bad.

My biggest issue with most lamps available, no matter the style, is their max watt capacity. The ones like Brian has, are rated for up to a 100 watt bulb.
Click to expand...


I've noticed that too.

Most of my articulated arm lamps max out at 60 or 75 watts.

Even with low wattage halogens on a standard base, i've melted the base or contacts from the high heat.
Now I look for the ones with the ceramic inserts rather than plastic.

I tend to use the compact fluorescents for the cool touch and intense blue light, but they are bumping-fragile compared to an incandescent, or halogen

I try to find the junk shop articulated lamps -especially if they are old, or came from medical offices- they usually have solid metal pins
The newest ones in the business stationary stores now have plastic fittings that all need to be fixed or modded with steel fasteners before using.


I've also had trouble with the twisty switches usually on the lights too.
By the time I tighten up the nuts that hold the switch in, i can't turn it on anymore.

I notice the ones Brian linked as well as the sewing machine light I found are rocker switches - much nicer for me.
 
Since I really like light I just use one of those double halogen setups on a tripod, not the most convenient but gets rid of shadows. A benny for this time of year is the extra heat it puts off.
 
One other bennie of the ones I use is a heat sink.

A hundred watt bulb gets HOT.

These have a large finned aluminum heat sink inside.
 
I ordered a couple industrial magnetic base lamps that I'm going to put on my grinder and drill press.. or maybe both on the drill press as needed.. one above and one behind the platen maybe? I will experiment. They take regular 60/100 Watt bulbs, which is nice.. though they were expensive, I hope they should work well.
 
I do like that 33" reach... But the light itself looks like it has some of the traits I seem to have issues with, like the twist on/off switch.

I'm going to make some more "elegant" versions of this light base/arm for the new lights like Brian's that I ordered yesterday. It extends the reach significantly (about 15" on this one), and is super simple. You can't really see the light itself in this shot, but you can see that little swing arm it's mounted with (far right side of the pic.... oak arm and black articulated light). :)

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BTW- these are the lights over my grinders right now. The yellow one is an actual DocLite.... the silver one is a "copy" that I built.
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NickWheeler said:
I do like that 33" reach... But the light itself looks like it has some of the traits I seem to have issues with, like the twist on/off switch.

I'm going to make some more "elegant" versions of this light base/arm for the new lights like Brian's that I ordered yesterday. It extends the reach significantly (about 15" on this one), and is super simple. You can't really see the light itself in this shot, but you can see that little swing arm it's mounted with (far right side of the pic.... oak arm and black articulated light). :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pics nick.

I do remember commenting on them, but it's nice to see them again in this thread so I can find them easily.



I'm going to have to do something like that swing arm too.

I was thinking gooseneck on grinders especially if I can ever put together something that can do the horiz vertical tilt.
If I can bolt it on, it won't fall off.

I can get around the twist switches - either wire the lamp into the grinder power, or use power bar strips to switch the lamps on.
 
Most of the links are gone
I'll try to repost them

I find I do like the new 100 watt or better daylight 6500k LED's
 
I was looking at the date of this and thinking how fast technology changes answers. Today, if this question was asked, the overwhelming answer would be 6500K LEDs. The good thing is that most of the older lighting fixtures will accommodate a new LED bulb .... even your old fluorescents fixtures.
 
I've had good luck with the led floodlamp bulbs, screw into a regular socket. Bright, hard to break, and hard to burn yourself on. Bulbs I've got solved, still looking for more lamps to stick them in though.
My dad has one of those florescent lamps with the built in magnifier on the bench in his shop, I think it came from a library. Those are quite nice, if you can find one that's used and affordable
 
I got this one foot long LEF linkable light at Home Depot yesterday. Going to see if I can't make it work. $42 bucks, but it looks pretty bright.
 
I have 2 of the IKEA ones but they have a spring clip. They point down on either side of the belt.

I have them mounted on an arm above the grinder. It also mounts my wet grinding nozzle.
 
A long gooseneck is great, but $127 is crazy. You can easily make a very long one (40+") of your own from microphone gooseneck extensions ( about $12 for a 20" piece) and a base plate ( $7), a clamp style work lamp fixture ( $10 or less), an extension cord ( cut the female end off) ( about $3), plus any LED type lamp you want ( $6-10 for a 6500K 75W). That will run you $50 or less for a powerful 40" flex light that could cover an 8' long workbench of tools. Many of these parts are already in some junk boxes, or found at yard sales.

Gooseneck - http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-XSS-PRO-...530502?hash=item3f842dc046:g:3dUAAOSwjn9ZjUpf
Base - http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Microphon...268876&hash=item4affa9016d:g:S0kAAOSwcldUY-7i
Reflector fixture - http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDX-75-Watt...345338&hash=item466181331e:g:ThMAAOSwc-tY8R1X
6500K lamp - http://www.ebay.com/itm/75-Watt-Equ...hash=item33d251db78:m:miPH4pqnleCC2o00xtHvX1Q

Only caveat is to make sure the gooseneck extensions are firm, and will not sag.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
A long gooseneck is great, but $127 is crazy. You can easily make a very long one (40+") of your own from microphone gooseneck extensions ( about $12 for a 20" piece) and a base plate ( $7), a clamp style work lamp fixture ( $10 or less), an extension cord ( cut the female end off) ( about $3), plus any LED type lamp you want ( $6-10 for a 6500K 75W). That will run you $50 or less for a powerful 40" flex light that could cover an 8' long workbench of tools. Many of these parts are already in some junk boxes, or found at yard sales.

Gooseneck - http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-XSS-PRO-...530502?hash=item3f842dc046:g:3dUAAOSwjn9ZjUpf
Base - http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Microphon...268876&hash=item4affa9016d:g:S0kAAOSwcldUY-7i
Reflector fixture - http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDX-75-Watt...345338&hash=item466181331e:g:ThMAAOSwc-tY8R1X
6500K lamp - http://www.ebay.com/itm/75-Watt-Equ...hash=item33d251db78:m:miPH4pqnleCC2o00xtHvX1Q

Only caveat is to make sure the gooseneck extensions are firm, and will not sag.
Click to expand...
I've been looking for bare gooseneck for a long time, never knew about that.

The closest I've come before that was a large lot of lamps made for sewing machines.
 
Another junk box gooseneck is a flex gas hose. They are pretty darn stiff, so they stay where you bend them. They come from 18" to 60". They can be had for free in many cases, because code requires a new one when you install a new gas device. A visit to a local Plumbing and heating business may yield a trunk load.
 
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