Hi everyone,
This is my first post here, so I'll start with a quick introduction. Then on to the questions.
I'm a novice woodworker and I'm putting together my first shop. That is if you don't include my driveway.
I built (with help from friends and family) a garage with a second story for my shop. I originally wasn't planning on finishing the shop interior, but it has become apparent to me that I need to. Here are some pictures from about 6 months into the construction. These were taken about a year and a half ago:
I am an avid DIY'er and I took on all aspects of the building, with the exception of the concrete foundation and floor and excavation. I began this project with a HUGE stack of books from the library and read every one from cover to cover. I designed and drew up the plans on my computer, which took about 6 weeks part time. The building exterior is complete and I've started the interior.
The shop wiring is nearly complete, except for the lighting. Before I hang my insulation and OSB, I thought I'd better get my lighting planned out - which brought me (again) to this forum for some lurking around.
I downloaded the "Lighting for the Workshop" by Jack Lindsey article from FWW and read it. I would base my plan entirely off that article except for a couple of "issues."
Issue #1, I already have the tubes I'll be using.
I work in a large office area. My company recently began "upgrading" the lighting in my area from 32 watt T8 bulbs to 24 watts. This change is being made in the interest of energy savings - not due to bulb failure. I struck up a conversation with the facilities guy about what was going on and the next thing I knew, I became the owner of 60 four foot 32 watt t8 bulbs to light my shop with. I guess this would be a gloat. They were going to recycle them so they thought it was great that someone could use them until they quit working. Here is a pic of the bulb:
The other issue is that these tubes came from an area that doesn't have as many fixtures per sq. ft. as recommended by Mr. Lindsey. These bulbs came from an area with about an 11' to 12' high ceiling. There are 3 bulbs per fixture and each fixture covers an 64 sq. ft. area (8x8). The fixtures have are recessed into a drop ceiling and have a mirror finish reflector. They also have a diffuser grid that is also mirror finish. I find this lighting to be adequate for working at night, and I'm 46 years old.
My shop is 28x40, has 8' walls with a vaulted ceiling by virtue of scissors trusses. The ceiling has a 3/12 pitch giving it around 11' 9" height at the center.
Mr. Lindsey would have me install somewhere around 36 fixtures (for my T8 four footers) in my shop. Using my office as a guide, I end up with 26 fixtures. That is a pretty big difference! I understand that I'm using different fixtures than in my office, but I'm guessing that the output will be similar - although the office fixtures are more directed than the planned shop lights. My lighting will be strip fixtures of commercial grade mounted to an OSB ceiling that is painted flat white. I'm also planning on putting OSB on the walls and painting them white, with a satin or semi-gloss sheen.
So far, I've found the online woodworking community to be very friendly and helpful so I'm putting up my plans in the hope that I can get useful feedback that would prevent me from making a time consuming and/or expensive mistake.
I bought a fixture so I could get a look at it. It seems pretty good. Here is the ballast:
Since I've already got 4 images in this post, I'll continue this in another post.
Continued....
Dave Zeigler