Lighting above the lathe

[bob starkey]

Industrial sewing machine lamps with led bulbs set up on my lathe

[Richard Dooling]

4" Costco LED for diffuse light, a couple of movable spots and Ken Rizza's Super Nova lamp. It was hard to justify the expense but now I wish I had done this earlier.

Besides, I didn't buy it. Santa did.

[Adam Petersen]

JKJ, no particular brand of headlamp. I bought a cheapo 2-pack of LED ones from EBay's daily deal section. I wanted to give it a try before I put real money down on a headlamp. These work well right now, they have the pivoting head to adjust the vertical angle to where you want it. They throw typical LED light and are pretty bright. I will probably look at a better headlamp once these die. Something that has a zoom lens. Can't go wrong with Fenix brand though, very underrated light in my opinion. I carry one every day and it is my go to light at work. I'll have to see if they sell headlamps.....

[Adam Petersen]

Update - I decided to use task oriented lighting and forgo the ceiling hung T8's or LEDs. I have 3 T8 fixtures and I moved one from my miter saw area and mounted it at an angle above my lathe and put in 6500K "daylight" bulbs. These seem to be much brighter. I also went and got some 100W LED bulbs for my desk lamps that I use for task lighting. I have one on my dust collector to the right and now I have one on the left. I turned down a pine dowel and drilled a 1/2" hole in it to accept the stud on the bottom of one of the desk lamps. I now have a reason for having the swing-arm attachment on my lathe! Easily removed and set aside for outboard turning if I ever do need the swing away though. For now though it gives me a lot of flexibility on the left side for lighting. I also purchased one more of these lamps just to have in case I need more light for a particular project. Otherwise it will stay on my bench for task lighting there. That, coupled with 300W CFL fixtures in the main lighting and I seem to get enough light. This was looked at during the daytime, so I'll revisit it after the sun sets, although I only have one window out there. Here's a pic. Thanks for everyone's input on this, it was a big help and saved me some money by not just going out and throwing cash at the problem. lighting.jpg

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Wonderful input, thank you everyone. I see I'm not too far off base with what I currently have, I just need some more of it. I'll let you know how I end up.

One thing I have done to help with hollowing out is to wear an led headlamp. I feel okay doing that since I am usually so far out of the LOF doing that. I still wear quality eye pro and my eclipse mask too which offers some minimal protection, but the light set right where my eyes are looking is great, and I can barely feel it. Anyone else do that?

Not a headlamp, but you could stick LEDs to the toolrest, get the light right up close or even inside the turning .

Toolrest with LED.jpg LED on tool rest.jpg

[Steve Arnold]

I have the 4' LED shop light that I bought from Costco mounted over my workbench and I'm as pleased as can be with it. I used to have a 4' fluorescent fixture mounted there and every so often I'd have to change the tubes. I'm so glad I made the switch because the light is brighter and whiter than ever before.

As for my lathe light, I also have Ken Rizza's Super Nova Lamp mounted on my lathe and it works great. If I were forced to criticize one thing about it, it would be that the light it emits is somewhat directional, and doesn't cover a very wide area so I do have to redirect it quite often to 'just the right spot.' This is a very minor gripe and I would never go back to my old flood style lamp.

[Aaron Craven]

For general area lighting over my lathe, I found some LED shop lights at Costco (they look like fluorescent shop lights) that are very bright and pretty close to a daylight balance. They also have the advantage of being quite affordable and energy efficient. I have one hanging from the ceiling about 7' above the floor directly over my lathe and it provides plenty of overhead light. Of course, a few task lights are still necessary for getting light at odd angles (such as the interior of a bowl).

[Ted Calver]

If you think your eyes are going bad because you have a ceiling full of fluorescent fixtures and still have difficulty seeing, you might be experiencing light loss from fixture and lumen depreciation. Fixtures get dirty and lose some of their reflectivity over time. Tubes also get dusty and dirty, plus they produce less light as they age. If you've been running the same tubes for several years and they haven't been replaced because they failed, it's probably time to replace the whole bunch. You will be surprised at the difference.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

If you think your eyes are going bad because you have a ceiling full of fluorescent fixtures and still have difficulty seeing, you might be experiencing light loss from fixture and lumen depreciation. Fixtures get dirty and lose some of their reflectivity over time. Tubes also get dusty and dirty, plus they produce less light as they age. If you've been running the same tubes for several years and they haven't been replaced because they failed, it's probably time to replace the whole bunch. You will be surprised at the difference.

Yes as Ted says, wash those tubes with some soapy water and reinstall them, you will be surprised by the increase of light given off, and if that doesn’t do it, it’s time to replace them.

[Dave Mueller]

If your lathe is close to the wall, look at using a loading dock light mounted over the lathe. Although they are a bit more pricey, they typically have a 40" reach, are adjustable to any angle and you can replace the bulb on most of them to pick the wattage. Search for "loading dock light".

loading dock light.jpg

[John K Jordan]

If your lathe is close to the wall, look at using a loading dock light mounted over the lathe. Although they are a bit more pricey, they typically have a 40" reach, are adjustable to any angle and you can replace the bulb on most of them to pick the wattage. Search for "loading dock light".

loading dock light.jpg

Now THAT looks sturdy! I found some on Amazon like that. I also found some models with more articulation that might be even more useful at the lathe, possibly mounted on the ceiling, called "swing arm" dock lights.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0184DKAF4

swing-arm-doc-light.jpg

[Adam Petersen]

Now THAT looks sturdy! I found some on Amazon like that. I also found some models with more articulation that might be even more useful at the lathe, possibly mounted on the ceiling, called "swing arm" dock lights.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0184DKAF4

swing-arm-doc-light.jpg

Need to find a dental office that is remodeling!