Shop lighting - cheap track lights

J

jawilder

Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
2,331
The shop litghting was very dim so I made this ugly track lighting from supplies I already had on hand.

It is in front of my grinder and I now have all the light I need. They are all attached to a toggle switch that plugs into the light fixture next to it. That way I can turn them on and off as needed. I'm sure I could come up with a better method of turning on/off each individual light and make it look much better but I'd rather be making knives than fooling with lights.

20130220_182105.jpg
 
The ghetto track light is cute. The amount of draw on that screw in socket is too large, however.
 
Don't get me wrong Jason, I am all for doing with what you have and saving a buck but in this case I would have gone with a couple neon fixtures. They sell for roughly 20-25$ here with the 2 tubes, will put out a lot of flood light (those reflector are a little directional I would think) and the draw would be a lot less. Plus you could save those reflectors and use them with some 150W incandescents for your photo setup. ;)
 
Patrice Lemée;11887329 said:
Don't get me wrong Jason, I am all for doing with what you have and saving a buck but in this case I would have gone with a couple neon fixtures. They sell for roughly 20-25$ here with the 2 tubes, will put out a lot of flood light (those reflector are a little directional I would think) and the draw would be a lot less. Plus you could save those reflectors and use them with some 150W incandescents for your photo setup. ;)
Click to expand...


Neon is probably Canadian for Fluorescent.
 
I live way out in the sticks and it takes me an hour and a half to drive to a decent hardware store. It was more of a spur of the moment decision to solve the light problem and use what I already had on hand.

I actually do use the lights in my light box as well. I just change out the bulbs.

I'm kicking myself b/c I gave away two very good hanging Flourescent fixtures about a year ago which would have been perfect to hang over the grinder. I might upgrade this at some point in time but for now I do like that I get directional light aimed at both sides of the grinder
 
I have a ton of large floresent fixtures in gararge and for bench work they are fine, but I still use a neon and 100 watt bulb to lite up the grinder. I just cannot see what I am grinding with diffused light, I want it bright.
 
I thought that might be an issue but I haven't noticed any at all. I figured it might especially be bad in the summer but didn't notice any heat at all
 
Ahhh, perhaps they mean 100 watt halogen bulbs. Or is there a neon fixture I am not aware of.
 
Proper workshop lighting is a good overall uniform light level with adjustable work lights. The first I took care of with 4' flourescent bulbs and the second with incandescent like the ones in the photo.
 
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