Lights and Lighting over workshop machines

[Andrew C]

Not so much Tools and Tooling more being able to see what you are doing.

I have always had both Florescent and normal light bulbs in a workshop and was wondering with good old fashioned light bulbs becoming harder to get hold of what to use instead.

I am thinking of the work lights over the machines more than anything. I currently have a large draftsman angle poise over the lathe with a 150w bulb in it that is about 30 years old (The bulb not the lamp That's even older!) One of these days it's going to fail and then I'm going to have to heat the workshop

I don't want to just use florescent because of the strobe/stopping affect on chucks etc. question is do you get the same with an LED? my gut feeling is no and what about these energy saving things?

What do you all do?


Andrew

[bobpendleton]

Mar 17, 2014 4:35:19 GMT Andrew C said:

Not so much Tools and Tooling more being able to see what you are doing.

.... with good old fashioned light bulbs becoming harder to get hold of

Andrew

You might look at www.bltdirect.com/incandescent-light-bulbs

No doubt there are others who can still supply - but maybe not for long. The short answer is 'get 'em while you can'. In our line of activity I daresay we may be lucky in that 'rough service' bulbs (for trailing inspection lights etc.) seem rather easier to get. hold of.

FWIW, I suspect that those higher wattage bulbs of the ordinary kind still available do not last as long as they used to.

Bob

[peterseager]

Quartz bulbs inside ordinary bulb envelopes are becoming available. Supposed to be 30% more efficient. Can't believe the increase in efficiency is worth the complication!

Peter

[ettingtonliam]

My local hardware stocks conventional light bulbs up to 200W (!) labelled as 'rough service bulbs - for industrial use only' When I asked, they told me the ban on selling conventional bulbs is for domestic user only, not for industrial use, but apparently steps are being taken to plug this gap in the legislation.
I agree that bulbs don't last as long as they did, but then I don't think the current environmentally friendly ones last very long either.

Richard

[Rex Hanman]

I have strip lights in my workshop, and all the school workshops that I ever worked in had them. I have never had a problem with strobing. If I recall correctly they recommend that strip lighting be mounted at 90 degrees to a lathe bed rather than parallel though I've never noticed any significant difference.

Again, iirc, they recommend twin tube fittings that are designed so that the tubes run out of phase with each other.

That said, a decent light over the work area is a major asset.

[Roger]

You can buy High Frequency Fluorescents which don't have the strobing problem. They're usually fitted in offices with computers for that reason. They're not much more expensive than the normal types and there are loads on ebay.
If you want to replace normal bayonet types, I'd use these because they last better than any other LED bulb types I've tried and they're really bright. You won't know the difference from your normal ones. I've had one fail at about 1 year, but the rest are still going strong. Don't buy any of the GU10 mains ones from ebay, they don't last more than a month or two, despite what they say on the life they claim. The figures they quote are for the MTBF of the LEDs and that's not what fails. There's usually a high voltage capacitor in there and the life of the cheap Chinese ones is only a matter of months under the arduous conditions found in those types. Even replacing the capacitors with top quality long life ones, they still won't last 6 months. The only way I've got those to last is to redesign the electronics inside to avoid using that type of capacitor, and that works ok.
If you buy any LED lights from a local shop, be sure to keep the receipt because you're likely to need it! It's still a technology in its infancy, but reliability is sure to get better. At the moment it's still on the poor side.
I also meant to mention that you won't get your money back from some ebay suppliers. The ones I had trouble with were not contactable even though they were still selling, and ebay won't open a dispute with them if the sale is months old. There are truck loads of these dodgy LED lamps out there and they'll shift them one way or another. 

[ejparrott]

Can't say I've ever experienced strobing either. I've got florescent lights at home and at work

[Andrew C]

I cant say I have noticed it either but was always warned about it. I guess I am thinking of florescent lighting from when I was at school and that's 40 years ago!!!! so they have probably fixed the problem by now

Yes Rex I do find having a bright directional light near to the coal face so to speak a real asset. It's probably my bad eyesight lol

I'll give the LED globe bulbs a go thanks Roger.

Andrew

[andyhigham]

My Harrison came with a Lo-Vo transformer and 50v ES lamp.
The input to the transformer primary was 415V, I make that a ratio of 8.3-1
Connecting the primary to the lathe control circuit 110V will give a secondary output of 13V, well within the tolerance of a 12V dichoric spotlight.
I bought an adaptor off Ebay to convert the ES to MR16, fitted a 50W halogen spot, switched on and lo the lathe was perfectly illuminated. I may try a LED spot as halogens like incandescants get a bit warm

[Roger]

Here's something else I've changed....



I hated the 50Watt bulb that was on there, I kept burning the back of my hand on it and it had to go.
This one is is a 12/24V tail LED tail light bulb and is only 3 Watts so it's pretty cool. It's really bright and directional.
I rewired the output from the transformer to include a single series diode and then put a capacitor across the bulb to smooth out the mains voltage fluctuations.

[Andrew C]

That Roger is something I had not thought of..... low voltage LEDs thank you

[trimleytramway]

strobing can be achieved by matching spindle/chuck speed with the mains and thus the lamp frequency, the chuck appears stationary much like timing a car off the crankshaft pulley with a strobe gun.
Its only a problem really with the lathes with infinitely variable gearboxes.

regards John