Shop lighting?

D

Dixieblade57

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Jun 20, 2007
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I am in the process of reworking my shop and I am going to add some lighting, along with reworking some benches.

I know my eyes aren't as good as they use to be when it comes to fine work, I had to done reading glasses about 5 years ago. I find my self walking to the back door or the garage door to use the daylight, when I really need to see.

What kind of lighting do you consider the best for a work shop, fluorescent, halogen, incondesent, etc. etc., and why?

I will have some overhead cabinets over some of the work benches and have thought about under cabinet lighting, but not sure if its a good move and not sure what to use if I do under cabinet lighting!

I am trying to eliminate shadows as much as possible. Any one with ideas on this subject?
 
In addition to fluorescent ceiling lights, place a couple of long reach "swing arm" lights around your bench. You can pull the light where you need it.

Al P
 
Use T-12 high efficiency ballasts, with matching bulbs. good on energy/lumens ratio. Win Win.

Make sure the bulbs match, some T-12 are not HO, and HO is not required but the bulbs have a different connection on the end, and the ballasts are not the same i think ($40 dollar lesson from me to you). They should cold start down to -20°F so shop temp shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Lighting follows the Inverse square law, so mind that when placing the lighting fixtures. You may buy all the lumens you need at 8'. but if you have a shop cieling of 12' your lights will not shine so brightly. This is what i mean.

EDIT; It should read, "T-12 are not necessarily HO, and HO......." sorry for that gents.
 
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I also suffer from eyes that aren't as young as they were.
I use fluorescent 8' lamps with incandescents wired near the ends. The reason I do this is the incandescents are instantly up to speed. It it cold here and the fluorescent take a few seconds to come up.
I have windows above the workbenches, and pendant lights with incandecents. Some benches have halogen.
On each machine I have flexible arm lights with incandescents.
I like a variety of lights as it seems each has their own limitations.
I watch for lights at garage sales and on clearance at the home center.
I don't think it is possible to have too much light. (within reason)

Alden
 
Ron m80, That is a helpful lesson you linked to. That is why you need a light source at each machine.
Thanks
Alden
 
It's basically true that there's almost no such thing as too much light. It's also true that closer is better, as long as you're not bumping into the fixture. Ideally I would like a 2-bulb flourescent just ahead of me, and another behind. Those small under-cabinet flourescents, and gooseneck lamps, are very handy for eliminating shadows from overhead flourescents. Those flourescents in the shape of a 8" or 12" circle are pretty neat as well.

The very best light to see by is natural sunlight. Clean windows and plenty of them is a good thing, and the light is free, although not always there when you need it.

Even combined HPS and metal halide lamps aren't really as bright as they seem when compared to direct sunshine. I'm sure we've all had times when a blade looked finished, took it out in the sun, and lots of frustrating tiny scratches suddenly "appeared". I think that's a test that should be done on every blade.

Spectrum has something to do with it as well; some lamps are heavily biased toward either the red or blue end. You can look for better-balanced bulbs, or use one cool (blue-heavy) and one warm (red-heavy) bulb in a two-bulb fixture to mimic a more natural-looking light.
 
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