I was wondering what is an ideal lighting shop set-up would be. I recently repaired a table in my basement where it looked very good but when I brought it outside I was shocked at the difference in how it looked.It was awfull!
Subjective answers will follow.
What do you have for ligh>I was wondering what is an ideal lighting shop set-up would be. I
On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 11:45:38 -0400, Gerald O'Brien calmly ranted:
You stained it, didn't you?
Add some incandescent lamps to your fluors (or vice-versa) to get closer-to-real lighting when you finish.
Natural lighting is best overall. But not everyone has windows in their shop. I use fluorescent lighting for general lighting and drafting incandescent lamps for task lighting. For sharpening tools, I use natural sunlight.
You could also possibly use the "full spectrum" flourescents. I've got a couple in the main light over my workbench, it's amazing how much better things look than with the regular tubes. Seems to be easier to work under, too.
Mike O.
Try some GE Chroma 50's or the Phillips/Sylvania equivalent. The number to look for is CRI - Color Rendering Index. The closer to 100 it is, the more "natural" the light will look. Your average shop light is a single phosphor tube with a CRI of ~68. Chroma 50's are tri-phosphor blends with a CRI of 92 or so...
If you are going with new fixtures, get the newer T-8 designs with an electronic ballast. They use less power for a given light quantity, don't "flicker" like tar ballasts, and the bulbs are reduced mercury. Almost all of the T-8s are tri-phosphor bulbs.
Most commercial lighting these days is T-8 - which makes buying good bulbs cheaper. I use Alto 850 T-8 bulbs - 5000k color temp, 3000 lumens, and a CRI of around 93.
FWIW,
Greg G.
I prefer the 4 tube 4' long eight foot flourescent T8's for ceilings under
10 feet. For higher ceilings (like my 14 foot ceiling) I prefer the 2 tube - 8' long flourescent HO's. It what works for me. And the more the merrier. Lights are like clamps imo. You can't have enough. SH
Thanks for the input.I have copied down the specs. My definition of 'awful' is that a table that I patched up with filler and stain looked really very close to the existing finish in that you could'nt really see the patch but when outside in full sunlight you saw eveything as opaque(filler,stain). I tried again but found that everything looked good from 1 angle but less so from another and in full sun all looked bad. I just thought that having proper lighting would help and was wondering what the norm would be in a shop without windows. Thanks
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