Although my workshop is not badly lit (couple of 8' tubes, and a pair of
5' ones in a 12'x17' space) - it still has dark corners or places where you end up working in your own shadow. Any good suggestions for task lighting?1 or 2 of these:
Compared to the various shitty halogen lamps and odd bulkheads on flex I have been through and broken, this is my best and most useful purchase ever.
I screwed it to my shed roof temporarily when I needed to make up my cold water manifold and do a load of soldering in November.
I'm thinking you could fashion some sort of sets brackets of hooks in various locations so it shines down in a way that you don't obscure your own light.
Plus you have a very capable task light - great for checking car tyre pressures at night, or lighting the coal shed when retrieving another sack.
The light is clean and daylight style, battery run time is good and it is happy to run off it's charger (has a mains and 12V charger lead supplied).
My favourite is an anglepoise with 150 watt halogen. ;-)
I just acquired (out of a skip) one of those stands with 2 x 1kW halogens on the top. Swapped the plug for a 240V one (it had what I assume was a 110V thingy), replaced the dead bulbs, checked the wiring and gave it a good clean and Robert is your father's brother.
I've used it twice already in the few weeks I've had it. Should have got one years ago.
I've got a lighting bar above my workbench which carries four low voltage halogen spots - each with swivel mount with 2 degrees of freedom and built-in transformer. I can usually manage to point at least some of those at whatever I need to illuminate. I've no idea whether they're still available - I bought mine for a song at a car boot sale nearly 10 years ago.
For reading-off of measurements etc. the above are readily available in Poundworld. Or were at least until a while ago.
They may be available in other Poundshop chains as well
The headbands are rubbish but then I substituted a more substantial headband from a far less efficient headlight costing around ?4 IIRR. The brackets holding the headband can be a bit fragile when installing a bettter headband
michael adams
...
Yup got one of those - nice for if you have to do work outside this time of year as well, as the kW of radiated heat can be nice. Bit OTT for what I have in mind (see my cut line on the bandsaw or what I am drilling on the drill press etc)
I did consider a track light with some 50W halogens on it - I could point them at the fixed tools...
That's not a bad idea actually... I am a fan of head torches generally, and having one on a hook, dedicated to the workshop might do it rather than pinching one out of a toolbox and then finding it missing when I want it later.
Anglepoise lamps were the standard task lights in my factories, although I found 60W reflector spot lamps to be adequate.
These are pretty handy, for £8.50, though I guess other suppliers do similar.
Chris
Most folk install fluoros as bare downlighters. If this is how it is, simpl y moving them so they uplight a white ceilng can make quite a difference.
Task lighting... so many options, most already covered. Not mentioned yet: old fashioned droplight, small fl (eg 13w), or 3w LED in a bulbholder on a wire is better. 1kW halogen is way OTT as a tasklight - it might even suit Brian. For a fixed task only needing dim light, a string of xmas lights can be very effective, and only £1.
NT
That's not a bad price I suppose - do they stay where you point them?
The one I have, which must be 20 years old now, seems to behave itself quite well.
In a different garage, even longer ago, I used a dodge I had seen elsewhere, by suspending a lamp holder from a runner on a length of scrap curtain track, with a few more runners supporting the cable. It had only one degree of freedom, but it was useful at zero cost.
Chris
Which will give lots of little light. ;-)
I used to think that t hen I tried a bit for under cupboard lighting and was suitably impressed.
Just put 2 2.5M strips in a utility room and it's perfectly adequate ilumination, and that was a cheap ebay strip with LEDs of dubious performance.
These
Just checked, I like them. Thanks.
A friend has used it for things like lights round the perimeter of a large mirror, and above a picture rail for gentle up lighting. Quite effective (if a little "blue", but not really the kind of illumination I need.
Yes, I think putting them around a dressing table mirror would be ideal. I may change the lights for the D T mirror to these LEDs instead.
For under shelf lighting , short range , 5050 LED tape is not a bad bet for filling in dark spots and areas where your in your own shadow. Its also ve ry low profile and practically indestructable. For higher intensity Toolsat an`s range of economy T5 strips are pretty good, but not indestructable ;-)
For a dressing table use something that says Warm White,colours can appear slightly differnt under LED of any colour , something to be aware of with c olour critical tasks like makeup.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.