Awhile back I saw some threads talking about the ideal shop lighting setups. I saved some messages that really summarized the bulb types and hardware. Since then my system crashed and I have lost my newsreader. Now that it is time to light the shop I am looking for suggestions as to the best types of bulbs and fixtures to use in a shop.
Any suggestions?
I'm using combination of fluorescents surrounded by ceiling cans with floods on separate switches. Gives both spectrums of light to better simulate outdoors. Separate switches allow hot floods to be turned off as desired. Also dimmer switch allows control for when watching videos.
TomNie
Tom, is the dimmer on the fluorescents?
snipped-for-privacy@myplace.com wrote: > Awhile back I saw some threads talking about the ideal shop lighting > setups. I saved some messages that really summarized the bulb types > and hardware. Since then my system crashed and I have lost my > newsreader. > Now that it is time to light the shop I am looking for suggestions as > to the best types of bulbs and fixtures to use in a shop. >
1) Use flourescent but stay away from the cheapie shop lights.
2) Use 1 watt per square foot and 40 watts per lamp as a design guide to determine # of fixtures.Could give you all kinds of engineering documentation for the above, but suffice to say, it works.
Lew
Twenty years ago I put 4' florescent fixtures between the ceiling joist in my basement. Since I got into woodworking I have lowered them to under the joist and get much better light.
Me, too.. problem now is not banging them with lumber...
The light is spread better but the lower tubes are more likely to get hit...
I'm looking forward to the new shop with high ceilings, for sure.. Mac
Wow! I must be going blind! I have TWICE that amount of lighting and think it is just right! Greg
I've been going through this to pick fixtures for my wife's stained glass workshop. I found a very useful tool here:
My first guesstimate on her shop lights gave me levels around 105 foot candles, which seemed a bit high. I consider my woodshop to be well lit, so I ran that arrangement through the Toolbox, and found I had light output of 40-55fc throughout the central portion, dropping to
30fc in the corners. The Toolbox does not consider wall reflectance, only fixture output, so I suspect the white walls and ceiling are why my corners do not seem darker. I have modified the glass shop plans, using one less fixture, and found rotating the others should give a more even pattern. So this Toolbox has saved me the cost of a fixture, and the electric cost to run it.No. Just the cans.
TomNie
I'm at 2.7x to 3.8x the rule you referred to.
TomNie
Well, I've got regular incandesant fixtures with 100w "daylight" bulbs peppered around on the main switch, and about 20 4' flourescents (two tubes each) and one four tube fixture right over the table saw on a seperate circuit. Works pretty good for me.
The best thing I did with the flourescents, and the $.02 that is probably the most helpful to myself, is that I put recepticles in the rafters, and then used lights with corded ends. All the outlets are controlled by a heavy duty switch, and when I move tools around, or want to add another light, it's really easy to reposition things for the right lighting- and I can toss a fan or two up there as well, if they're needed.
Other than that, I'd echo the sentiment that it's best to avoid the cheap fixtures. The ballasts on about half of mine went out right away, and the money I thought I had saved turned out to have been wasted.
Some basic design information.
Incandescent lamps produce about 20 lumens/watt.
Fluorescent lamps produce about 60 lumens/watt.
By definition, 1 lumen/sq ft = 1 footcandle.
As you can see, incandescent as well as halogen are not suited to general purpose lighting but rather specific task lighting used on an intermittent basis.
Lew
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.