lathe lighting ?

[WoodShaver]

Hi all,

Just wondering who uses what for lighting up the work object when turning. I had been using a old scissor arm task lamp which always got in the way so I did away with it, not been turning in ages and was thinking about getting back into it and putting a new LED lamp on it somehow. Was looking at a couple of those magnetic gooseneck type with small LED heads but haven't made up my mind. So thought I'd ask what others are using.

[Cliff Rogers]

It is always a good idea to have a certain amount of either natural &/or incandescent lighting on a lathe to help negate the stroboscopic effects of LED & fluro lighting.

Things like this can work.

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[smiife]

Hi guys, yeah, I use a similar one to cliff, s , but with a magnetic base so it can be moved around if it gets in the way

[Pat]

I have a number of the task lamps, but found that a good general lighting over the lathe made life easier. I installed a 1200*300 LED light panel above the lathe bed. It's a plug'n'play so no sparkie required.

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[WoodShaver]

It's a very small workshop and has no windows, though there is natural lighting (lathe is near the door) and I do have LED's and also fluros but how I stand shadows the front face of the headstock and small spindle work. I used to use a task lamp with a normal size globe but it used to get in the way.

I'm actually wondering about something like the 3w flexi gooseneck led type that teknatool or I saw one on CWS site, magnetic as well so can place anywhere on the bed etc (I know it's not ideal on headstock because of bearings). Thinking maybe one for the bandsaw as well could be handy.

[poundy]

this thread (https://www.woodworkforums.com/f245/powerfull-magnetic-base-led-light-lathe-scroll-etc-231558) has some great ideas

[NeilS]

...magnetic as well so can place anywhere on the bed etc (I know it's not ideal on headstock because of bearings) .

I've heard this said before, but does anyone have any proof that magnets are an issue for the headstock bearings on woodturning lathes.

Perhaps on metal lathes a magnetised bearing would attract metal dust and shorten the life of the bearing.

Otherwise, I'm not convinced there is an issue for woodturning lathes given that I've had lots of magnets stuck to the headstocks of my lathes and never noticed any issues from doing so.


Sent from my ZTE T84 using Tapatalk

[Pat]

I have 2 of the CWS magnetic lamps, ended up buying another 6 for the club, that I am in. 1 on the lathe and 1 for the Bandsaw or Drill Press.

Magnets on the headstock, I have rare earth magnets holding onto small rules,squares and punches and I have never noticed any change.

[WoodShaver]

I have 2 of the CWS magnetic lamps, ended up buying another 6 for the club, that I am in. 1 on the lathe and 1 for the Bandsaw or Drill Press.

Magnets on the headstock, I have rare earth magnets holding onto small rules,squares and punches and I have never noticed any change.

Oh I was looking and thinking about some from there. The ones you have got, are they by chance the 3W gooseneck with the on/off magnetic base? If they are bright enough that looks exactly like what I'm after. So it's all a rumour about magnets bear bearings? When you think about it, on a metal lathe maybe it's a thing but what's the harm on a wood lathe. Not that I'd want to do it very often but a bearing is a serviceable/replaceable part, if I had to do it once or twice at the price of good direct lighting I'm ok with that.

[Pat]

Yep, that's the beastie (https://www.cwsonline.com.au/shop/item/3w-led-flexible-light-and-magnetic-base)!

[WoodShaver]

Yep, that's the beastie (https://www.cwsonline.com.au/shop/item/3w-led-flexible-light-and-magnetic-base)!

Excellent and a BIG thank you Pat! I was going to ring them tomorrow but couldn't wait so just clicked on two...woohooo

[powderpost]

I had a single 1200mm fluorescent tube over the lathe, but after 35 years, it had had enough and died. It was replaced with a 1200mm led tube that didn't require a starter. Greatest move ever, good clean white light now lights up the project. I supplement the lighting with an old "scissors" desk lamp (think that is what it's called), that has a led globe in it to see inside hollow forms.

As a matter of interest I have a magnet on top of the headstock. I have a variable speed motor from zero to about 2400 rpm. I can not detect any variation in the speed of the motor, with a tacho, with and without the magnet.

Jim

[NeilS]

As a matter of interest I have a magnet on top of the headstock. I have a variable speed motor from zero to about 2400 rpm. I can not detect any variation in the speed of the motor, with a tacho, with and without the magnet.



The proof is mounting to debunk that bit of hearsay... : ~}

[derekcohen]

I have had the Nova light for several months. The illumination around my lathe is poor, and this light does a great job. It is very directional, so will focus light on a specific area.

https://i.postimg.cc/3RzNP5vN/2legs.jpg

Regards from Prague

Derek

[auscab]

It is always a good idea to have a certain amount of either natural &/or incandescent lighting on a lathe to help negate the stroboscopic effects of LED & fluro lighting.



Think I should try that just for general night time shed use . That sounds like it could be the cause of what I don't like about my LED only lighting .

[Richard Hodsdon]

At our local convention one of the turners showed us a setup he was using. He had purchased a strip of LED lights (abt 200mm /8") and stuck this to the back of his tool rest. This provided plenty of light right inside the bowl just where the tool was cutting. Usually this area is in shadow from the lip, the turner the shavings etc. It worked surprisingly well. And as the tool rest curved back just below the edge it was pretty well protected from the shavings and turning.
Regards
Richard

[powderpost]

[QUOTE=derekcohen;2168069]I have had the Nova light for several months. The illumination around my lathe is poor, and this light does a great job. It is very directional, so will focus light on a specific area.QUOTE]

That sort of light for that project is less than useless. Good general light is needed to light up the length of project. It would be painful to continuously have to focus the light on any potential detail in that sort of job. Might be ok for a small project.

Jim

[jmk89]

I put a light into an extension of the bell mouth extractor - here is the post (https://www.woodworkforums.com/f200/improving-machine-cabinet-dust-ports-187936-post2155426#post2155426)where I mentioned it.

As I mentioned in the post and as you can see from the photo, some of the LEDs weren't working - a break in the internal wiring, probably when I was sewing the led strip to the donut. I have now fixed it by soldering some jumper wires to the copper pads in the strip, so I have the full lighting working now!

Cheap and nasty but effective.

[Mobyturns]

Think I should try that just for general night time shed use . That sounds like it could be the cause of what I don't like about my LED only lighting .

LED lighting is not without downsides, as its "blue light" dominance has already been strongly linked to retinal damage and sleep disorders. The recommendations coming from researchers is to use "warm white" LED lighting.


"exposure to an intense and powerful [LED] light is 'photo-toxic' and can lead to irreversible loss of retinal cells and diminished sharpness of vision," the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) warned in a statement.

[jmk89]

LED lighting is not without downsides, as its "blue light" dominance has already been strongly linked to retinal damage and sleep disorders. The recommendations coming from researchers is to use "warm white" LED lighting.


"exposure to an intense and powerful [LED] light is 'photo-toxic' and can lead to irreversible loss of retinal cells and diminished sharpness of vision," the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) warned in a statement.

I use warm white for the overhead lighting (t8 tubes) and cool/ blue white for the task lights, so I think this balances the exposure risks and the light issue.

[riverbuilder]

I’ve been using a reasonable quality rechargeable LED head torch, ithas an adjustable beam and intensity, works really well.

[NeilS]

I’ve been using a reasonable quality rechargeable LED head torch, ithas an adjustable beam and intensity, works really well.

I've used the old Planet work lights in the past (the springs eventually weaken and sag) and currently using an adjustable light like this one (https://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/50355442/) attached to the headstock so it moves with that. Works OK for me. And using what are supposed to be genuine full spectrum natural lighting globes (https://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/pages/bluemax-natural-light-comparison)... I'm not sure if they make sufficient difference given the additional expense.

Like RB, I also use LED head torch when deep hollowing. I attach to the chin of my head visor (not my forehead) to get better position for illumination inside the piece.

Have experimented with mini LED light attached to tool shaft with mixed success.

Yet to try LED strip attached to inside face of toolrest.

Or individual LEDs sitting in holes drilled through toolrest.

[warrick]

This is the setup on my small lathe, does well for pens and eggs :D

The lights came from Ikea but it looks like they only sell the usb version now. The ones I got had a cast iron base which I removed to mount on the custom brackets.

Rick



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[heffa]

I use Ikea Tertial angle poise lamps (https://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/50355442/) at a few stations around my workshop, including the lathe. Well built, versatile, cheap and easy to replace. They take standard Edison screw globes, so you can put any sort of lighting you want in them

[WoodShaver]

Got the magnetic gooseneck LED lights from CSW, must say they are perfect I think for what I needed. Something flexible with direct light I can bright down close to the work if I need too, just used it for my first go at turning a pen. Put the 2nd unit on my bandsaw, I can see the settings on my kreg fence now :2tsup:. I must say the leads they use with the plug part way is handy, as it turned out I had extension leads with the same plugs already on them. Perfect!

[woodPixel]

This lathe has the light built in, but it is simply a bendy-lamp.

Ikea sells very good attachable bendy lamps... just bought one for my sons computer desk.

The bulb, however, is super dooper powerful. The most powerful I could find!

These: Philips 1400 lumen...Woolworths Supermarket - Buy Groceries Online (https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/871612/philips-led-1400lm-cool-es)

I found the brighter, the better, especially for fine sanding and pen work (polishing). The bendyness allowed me to see fine scratches easily.

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This setup is a fairly old picture.

[derekcohen]

Got the magnetic gooseneck LED lights from CSW, must say they are perfect I think for what I needed. Something flexible with direct light I can bright down close to the work if I need too, just used it for my first go at turning a pen. Put the 2nd unit on my bandsaw, I can see the settings on my kreg fence now :2tsup:. I must say the leads they use with the plug part way is handy, as it turned out I had extension leads with the same plugs already on them. Perfect!

That is the same light I posted. It is made by Nova.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[jmk89]

Not strictly lathe lighting, but I thought I would put this post here.
I’ve become aware that parts of my workshop seem to be dark spots, and I’ve been looking at ways to improve the lighting cheaply.
I have used LED strip lights which seem to be obtainable on eBay for about $1.00 per metre. To power them, I am using old mobile phone chargers (although the LEDs are rated 12V, anything over 6V seems to make them work sufficiently, at least if the length of the run is less than 2 metres).
My latest installation is over the grinding area, which frankly is a real dark spot and that makes accurate sharpening a challenge! For this installation (which will also run over the nearby scrollsaw, the idea is to use white 32mm class 12 PVC pipe as the holder for the strip.
The photos show one end of the installation:


A stub dowel turned to the ID of the pipe is turned and then epoxies and screwed to a wooden plate, which is affixed to the wall.
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The pipe is cut so that ½ of the circumference is removed where the LEDs will sit, but the ends are left uncut to fit firmly over the stub dowel.
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One section on.
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Now the grinding station is no longer the Black Hole of Calcutta!
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When I get the rest of this up and running, I'll post some more pictures.

[Cliff Rogers]

I got some of that LED strip lighting to light up a cupboard that I want to turn into a spray booth.

[jmk89]

As promised here are some further photos showing some more details:


Here's the old phone charger (I think for a Nokia from over 15 years ago) - it's 12V and as you can see, provides plenty of ergs to provide a good light.
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As you can see the cord from the charger has been wrapped loosely around the PVC pipe - this is to reduce the strain on the solder joins to the cables into the LED strip. The cables supplied with the LEDs have been extended and a line socket matching the plug on the charger ($2.45 from Jaycar)has been soldered to the other end of the extensions. If you look closely, you can see the line socket on top of the PVC pipe - makes it easier to reuse the pieces than soldered joints!
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The light is in fact three strips in a U-shape with 90 deg bends at the bottom of the U. The LED strips do not like going around corners very much, so I cut them on the little copper solder pads provided, removed the silicone cover and solder "jumper" cables between the strips that enable a the current to flow between the strips and go easily around the corner - also means that you are not lighting and heating the inside of the bends!:o:o
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If you look closely about 50mm into the brick from the lintel on the left, you can see a screw. To help you, the second photo has the screw circled in red). This holds the bottom of the U in place and reduces the strain on the stub tenons (which are at both of the top ends of the U).
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The scroll saw and grinders in all their illuminated glory! Unfortunately, the auto exposure of my iPhone means I can not give you an accurate impression of quite how dim and dingy this area was when just the general overhead fluoro lights were on. In my earlier days I coulds tolerate it, but now I really need to be able to see and I can!
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Total cost? I already had the PVC pipe and the Nokia charger,so the cost came to well less than $20 - 2 x 90 degree PVC elbows, LED strip, 1 x line socket matching the charger plug. Plenty of LEDs, PVC pipe and surplus phone chargers left for lighting up some other dark spots!

[BobL]

It is always a good idea to have a certain amount of either natural &/or incandescent lighting on a lathe to help negate the stroboscopic effects of LED & fluro lighting.

My experience is that LED or fluoro spots are more of a problem in this regard than extended light sources like tubes, even less with multiple tubes.

Directly above my WW lathe I have a pair of conventional fluoro tubes and can only see a faint strobe effect when this is my only illumination.
The reason for minimal strobing is probably because extended light sources like tubes also illuminate more of the work indirectly than spots.

When I illuminate WW lathe work using the two nearest pairs of general lighting LED tubes that are about equidistant from the lathe I cannot see any strobing and the same if I then turn on the pair of conventional fluoro tubes above the lathe.

I have similar setup above my MW lathe. I also have 2 incandescent spots above this lathe that I rarely use.