Good Bench Light?

[Tony Shea]

I've had enough of bad lighting at my benchtop. It seems as though I should be all set with lighting as my overhead lighting is plentiful. But I just can't combat the little shadows that happen depending on what is where, especially when sawing and the sawplate creates a shadow on the side I need to see. So my answer is not overhead lighting, I need some sort of decent clamping bench light I can manuever around to my work. I know some of you must have some sort of clamp bench light but have never been able to turn up anything on search functions here. Must be a common issue and I would love to hear what everyone is doing to combat it. Show me a good light please.

[Tom Winship]

Tony, I had the same dilemma and bought a clamp on swivel arm flurescent with a round globe. Would have preferred the old type draftsman lamp but wasn't able to find one. Bought mine at Hobby Lobby I believe.

[Marco Cecala]

I got one of those yellow bench lights from Rockler, Velux I believe. Works OK.

My ultimate solution was to go to Goodwill and buy 3 articulated desk lamps than use regular incandescent bulbs, I use 60 watt bulbs.

They all seem to have a half inch post. So I drilled out some 3/4" plastic rod and can put light in any bench dog hole. Works great.

[george wilson]

I have a single halogen construction site type light mounted under the top most shelf above my bench,about 7' high. It is one of the rectangular kind with the tubular lamp. It gives out good light,but tends to make my bald spot warm.

[Gary Hodgin]

I have one of these clamped to my bench. It gives me some directed light and magnification when I need it, and I usually do.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200...pter-Lens.aspx

[Ted Calver]

Tony,
Check out some of the articulated arm draftng lights. I have an old halogen drafting light attached to my bench for those times when I need some extra lumens. It swings out of the way when not needed.

[Andrae Covington]

I've had enough of bad lighting at my benchtop. It seems as though I should be all set with lighting as my overhead lighting is plentiful. But I just can't combat the little shadows that happen depending on what is where, especially when sawing and the sawplate creates a shadow on the side I need to see. So my answer is not overhead lighting, I need some sort of decent clamping bench light I can manuever around to my work. I know some of you must have some sort of clamp bench light but have never been able to turn up anything on search functions here. Must be a common issue and I would love to hear what everyone is doing to combat it. Show me a good light please.

Rather than a clamping articulating lamp on the bench (which does seem like a good idea to me), I made a cheap and dirty three-leg stand for a basic clamping work lamp. I can move it around the bench, and adjust the height / angle of the lamp as needed. Above the bench I have three more clamping work lamps hanging from a joist. They are the "grow lamp" variety with wire guards and probably can handle higher-wattage bulbs. The standing lamp has a 19W CFL bulb (~75W incandescent) and I think the overhead ones are 23W. Wouldn't hurt to have brighter lights sometimes. To see surface blemishes, sometimes it's better to turn out all the other lights and just use the standing lamp at a low glancing angle. In that case it doesn't actually have to be all that bright.

[Russell Sansom]

This is a great question.
It's been tough for me as I pass through retirement age. I can remember wire-wrapping my first computer early in the days of micro computers. The pins of the integrated circuits were on 1/10" centers with identifying embossed numbers about 1/20" high. Done without eye glasses. I didn't even own a magnifier.

These days I can't even read a book without the tri-focals and my depth of field is shot. The brightest possible light stops down the iris and improves depth of field considerably so for serious jobs, I take some time and set up the lighting.

For filling in shadows, I use a surgeon's lamp with a 100-watt CFL bulb. It's beam is specific, so it has to be adjustable like Andrae's. The bench mount doesn't work so well because the lamp has to be moved as I progress through various stages of a project. The other problem with the Surgeon's lamp is that it is huge and it gets in the way. It generally serves fill-in duty hung from the ceiling with a rope and pulley. Since the intensity of the light diminishes with the square of the distance, I get it as close as possible. Cutting the distance in half gives me four times the light.


A draftsman's lamp with a 150-watt CFL light does a pretty good job, but it's rarely my first choice because it's always clashing elbows with me and the shade doesn't occlude the bulb completely and I just hate bright lights in my eyes.


I tried a small 100-watt Halogen for a while, but found it so hot and dangerous that now I only use it when nothing else will fit into the space or put the brightness just where I need it.

For high-quality floods, I have a variety of track lamps over the bench. My favorites are three smallish hanging halogens. The heat's far enough away that it doesn't bother me or the wood.

[Brian Ashton]

I've had enough of bad lighting at my benchtop. It seems as though I should be all set with lighting as my overhead lighting is plentiful. But I just can't combat the little shadows that happen depending on what is where, especially when sawing and the sawplate creates a shadow on the side I need to see. So my answer is not overhead lighting, I need some sort of decent clamping bench light I can manuever around to my work. I know some of you must have some sort of clamp bench light but have never been able to turn up anything on search functions here. Must be a common issue and I would love to hear what everyone is doing to combat it. Show me a good light please.

Ikea sell one of the better work lamps that I've found. Has a heavy cast base or can be put in a 1/2" hole. Has good reach also.

[Derek Cohen]

I ran a couple of fluoros underneath the cabinet above my bench - ala a kitchen cabinet.

From underneath ..



When standing upright you do not see the lights per se ...



This is the different with- and with out added light ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Dale Sautter]

Show me a good light please.

Tony, don't laugh... but I've been pretty happy with a cheapie Angled Eye LED Desk Lamp that I picked up one day at my local Target store. It offers a direct easy to point task light which won't even burn your face even if you bump/rest against it.

[Tony Shea]

Halogen lights are def. out. I just do not like the heat the produce and really are very inefficient lights in general. They are great fire hazards and burn instantly when bumped into. They also can't be great for the wood movement when focusing the light onto one of my freshly planed boards.

Being that I'm an electrician one would think that lighting would be the last thing i'm having issues with. But it's quite the opposite. I've just not come accross much that really has all the qualities that I've been looking for. I do think I'm going to run some track lighting with spotlight style heads (flood bulbs) over my assembly/finishing table. I've been using the clamp style lights with 42W CFL's as of late but would like to make it a bit more permanent. But I think this area would also benifit from a clamp style articulating lamp that I could focus in on something that might be shadowed. Anything overhead is just not enough for me as there always is a shadow to deal with.

I like your solution Derek and think it would keep shadows at bay being that the light is so low. I just don't have that option as my bench is centered in my shop area therefore have nothing to mount the light under.

[Darnell Hagen]

Vintage Dazor desk lamps, a double flourescent overhead, and one mounted to a post to fit the dog holes.



The bulb in the bench lamp is a 3w LED. Its the newest chip style, there is no heat, so I can have my face and hands close to it when sawing dovetails.

[Nick Laeder]

Anybody know where to find lights like these, but not all yuppiefied and $100/ea? These have to be the absolute cheapest pendant fixtures on the planet. I want three above my bench.

http://www.barnlightelectric.com/pen...cord-pendants/

[Dale Sautter]

As low as $35.50 here

from

http://www.lightingdirect.com/index....ategoryID=3939

from

http://tinyurl.com/328cp93