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New lighting, with a twist!

A few months ago, they did some remodelling in our office building, so there were stacks of fluorescent light fixtures laying around. A few weeks ago, I mentioned to the building manager that I was tempted to take some of them home for my workshop. He took me back to a closet, found 4 of them, said they were extras, and let me take them for free! Well, of course, I couldn't turn him down. 3 4' T8's in each one, high-power factor, commercial-rated high frequency electronic ballasts, and very nice fixtures and reflectors.

Yesterday, I got out the 16' ladder to reach the ceiling, mounted the lights, wired them in, and turned them on. Nothing. Well, OK, a little flicker, but that's it. My heart sank. I pulled one down, took apart the fixture to look at the ballasts, and wouldn't you know it, they're 220-volt ballasts. Ah, shucks.

Well, everything DID turn out alright, because I have a subpanel in the shop that makes wiring easier, so I picked up a new 2-pole breaker and

2-pole switch. Paying $8 for a simple switch was a little excessive, I thought, but hey - after the $15 I spent on the breaker and switch, I still came out way ahead of having to pay for new lights!

Here's the funny part: After adding 400 watts of light to the shop, I expected it to look VERy bright - but it really doesn't! The high-quality reflectors do a terrific job of foxusing the light downward, and don't let it shine all over like a shop-light. So, whereas a shoplight has light hitting you directly in the eyeballs, making it LOOK bright, these don't, which makes them *appear* not to be as bright. All of the light hits surfaces, and THEN your eyeballs (well, unless you're looking straight up), so while it doesn't look terribly bright, everything is VERY well-illuminated. While it is very easy on the eyes, it is somewhat disappointing to add 400 watts of light, and not be able to say "Holy cow, that's bright!"

steve

Reply to
Steve Wolfe
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Wow, what a deal! :)

I would think a disadvantage of such focused light would be more shadows. Is this the case, and does it ever get distracting?

david

Reply to
D K Woods

I haven't really noticed shadows. The lights are still pretty high above the floor, and there are shoplights mixed in, so there's a lot of light sources scattering light all over the place. It ends up pretty even. I feel purty lucky!

However, one of the reasons I've wanted more light was so when I work the inside of a deepish piece, I won't need as much supplementary light - I've been pointing a 500-watt halogen worklight inside the piece. I don't think this will alleviate that need, but even with more scattered light from above, I probably still wouldn't. Having that much light shining INSIDE of the piece is hard to compete with when the light is coming from above!

steve

Reply to
Steve Wolfe

I don't have any experience with it, but what about putting an actual light source into the piece?

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's basically a bright light at the end of a thin gooseneck -- thinksnakelite with an eating disorder. As long as you're not working with areally thin mouth, it might help? david

Reply to
D K Woods

For items with relatively hollow necks, that would be terrific. For things that are more open, the worklight does pretty well. : )

steve

Reply to
Steve Wolfe

Over the years I've had a peice fly-off at high velocity obliterating florescents at least twice. When one of those kinds of bulbs break it takes forever to finally get all the tiny shards. Good luck

Reply to
<ace

That's odd, I've also been turning for years, but have yet to break my first florescent light, then again, I've never had a piece fly off my lathe at "high velocity" either. I sort of feel like I've missed out on all the excitement some how.

James Barley.

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high-quality

Reply to
James Barley

Hi James, Turners (not counting you) who have missed the excitement of a piece flying off the lathe remind me of the married couple who claim to have never had an argument. They don't care enough for each other to bother, have poor memories or stretch the truth. ;) Arch

Fortiter,

Reply to
Arch

James..........Buy yourself a Nova chuck and you too can enjoy the dangers of flying wood........:-)

-- Email evades spam Direct contact through web site

M.J. Orr

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Reply to
M.J. Orr

They make a plastic tube to go over the fluorescent bulb for just such problems: you can pick them up in any electrical supply store, probably at Home Depot. Just slide it over the bulb....

Reply to
Adrien

Have to have the ineptitude to go with it, though.

Reply to
George

I just happened upon a picture of a good method of using this idea, thought I'd post the link:

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Reply to
D K Woods

Reply to
Ali T. Borahan

Oh yeah, I've *heard* of doing that.... ;)

You bring up a going point, people tend to be too dependant on sight. Of course, with woodworking sight is almost always critical. But the fact that this is even possible (with people living to tell the tale) is just another reason why turning is so cool.

david

Reply to
D K Woods

Actually Ali, the thread is about installing florescent lighting, it's pros and cons. When you miss the beginning of a thread, you can always call it up on google groups,

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check out the whole thread.James Barley,
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Reply to
James Barley

Thanks James! I always wondered how I could review the entire thread. Now I know! :) I'll go back and check it out.

-ali

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and check out the whole thread.>

Reply to
Ali T. Borahan

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