Fluorescent Light, Need help

Working indoors with heat? Either will do. You'll take things to the window to judge color, anyway.

If you're in poorly or unheated, you'll want cold start fixtures and bulbs.

Flourescent lighting creates a stroboscopic effect with rotating machinery which could appear to be standing still ,take care and happy shavings

Aubrey

You'll find the tubes you have will give a slight blue color but not really a big deal. In some of my shop light fixtures I have a cold white tube paired with a Warm White which makes it more like daylight. My wife also uses this combination in her plant stand with good results and is a lot cheaper than the Grow lights. I haven't had any problems with strobe effects but some people are more sensitive than others to this effect. Billh

Incandescent is best for task lighting. I use a cheap drafting lamp and built my own wooden base screwed into the wall. I can position the lamp exactly where I need it. I did the same setup for my router table, drill press, and chop saw. A fluorescent lamp is tiring to the eyes and could produce annoying strobe patterns, although I use fluorescent for general shop lighting.

The new fluorescent fixtures with electronic ballasts don't seem to have as much stroboscopic effect as the magnetic ballast fixtures do.

Second that. I bought two, relatively inexpensive machinist's lamps (magnetic base, flexible arm, metal reflector shade) and put one on the headstock and one on the ways when turning a bowl. They produce plenty of light and are positionable.

Max

Hi Dennis

Dennis daylight and warm white give a redder light and I have used them with plants and also combined with cool white, but for the use by my lathe I like the cool whites best, I also use a incandescence quarts light bulb to give me less cycle flicker, which you can have sometimes when the 60 hertz coincides with the rotation speed of the wood, and that can drive you crazy.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Denis Marier wrote:

incadescents are horribly less efficicient than flourescents - for 160 watts (two 8 ft tubes) you get a lot more light than a box full of 60 watt incadescents and a lot less heat too - you probably want both, the incadescent for spot lighting and directional lighting of your work when you need it, and the fluorescents for general shop lighting. I know I use both...

I found that mounting the lamps to the stand shortened their bulb life, so my swing arm floods are now mounted off the stand and burning longer.

I like to blame the stroboscopic effect for the barked knuckles I get sometimes when cutting interrupted-edge bowls.

Guess I should have mentioned that I have several fluorescent fixtures overhead in the shop, one immediately above the lathe. The incandescents simply brighten and add definition to the workpiece when turning.

Max

I use cool-white fluorescent for general illumination and incandescent for spot illumination of specific tasks (band saw blade, drill press quill, scroll saw blade) and a magnifying lens / circle fluorescent for the lathe. I could honestly use quite a bit more light ... but I have enough to get by with for the moment because I have it where I need it most.

Mix your lighting sources and you'll come closest to natural, diffused, light.

Bill

Denis Marier wrote: : I just bought on sale a 48" shoplight. : I did not exactly what type of fluorescent light tubes to get. I got back : home with Super Saver Cold White. Then I learned that I could have : purchased " Daylight or soft white. : I wonder what is the most popular with type used for woodturning.

I use full-spectrum fluorescents, which are just a little pricier than the cold white ones. Much nicer light to be in, and it's much closer to daylight.

-- Andy Barss

Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread. This newsgroup is packed with hand on experience and know how. The information is helpful to me. Again thanks for sharing your experience.

Mac I noticed your Shopsmith note concerning blocks and was interested as to what you exactly meant. Do you elevated the unit because the height is not what you prefer or are you adding weight to keep it from vibrating? As due to economic consideration I also turn with a shopsmith. Two eight pound bags of Quickcrete placed across the horizontal bars seem to settle it down to and except-able degree.

I was referring to the height, Floyd... though when turning something a little off balance, every joint, adjuster or other metal part of the SS tells you about it... maybe a few hundred pounds would help...

I just got a Jet mini for Christmas, and set it up on a table until I build a stand... it's a bit too high, but what a difference from the SS! Instead of the bowl center being at waist level, it's a little above elbow level... which is what I meant be wanting to put the SS up on blocks... I was even thinking of taking the SS off it's stand and bench mounting the sucker..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Thanks Mac that's what I thought. Congrat's on the new lathe maybe next year I can join the world of real lathes. As I turn a lot of segmented bowls I'll need something bigger than a mini. Been checking ebay for a used big lathe like a Delta or Powermatic. Got out bid on a nice General but I'll just keep looking. I seen a post from you that you had bought a chuck for your SS how did that work out for you??