Fluros in the Workshop

Last weekend while I was retrieving a sheet of 2400 X 1200 ply out of the timber rack I lifted it into the middle of a fluro tube. As I was directly under the tube when it broke it speared into the top of my head. It could have been worse and I definately have to do something about it to prevent it re-occuring. There are six single fluros in my shed and they do not have covers. It will be expensive to replace all the units so before I do that I would like to see if anyone has come across a means of covering the tubes to make them safe. I am not sure if I am a slow learner or a fast forgetter but I did a similar thing five years ago with a ladder.

cheers,
Rod

Rod, you could go to an electrical wholesaler/supplier and buy some mesh guards, or you could make some out of arc mesh or similar. The other possibility is going to a sheetmetal shop that produces stainless equipment for catering. Any fluros used (ie in bain maries or salad bars) have to be encased so that if they should break the glass won't contaminate the food. They use a tough clear plastic cylinder as a protective sleeve. It will lessen the chance of the tube being broken and prevent you getting speared should breakage occur.

Mick

Hi Rod,

The wire mesh guards would be the best solution ... unfortunately, they're (relatively) very expensive! At my local electrical wholesaler, a batten with guard is twice the price of a batten with a plastic diffuser. Also, in your case, you only need the guard, not the whole fitting, and I doubt if you'll be able to persuade someone to sell you the guard alone (or if they are made to retrofit generic battens in the first place). My wholesaler certainly doesn't sell guards by themselves.

Wherever I've had a situation where I was afraid of breakages, I've planned ahead and bought a batten with diffuser. As a rough guide, a single batten with diffuser recently cost me something like $24. Depending on your budget (and whether you might be able to use the existing battens elsewhere) you might be able to swallow hard and live with the cost of replacement.

The diffuser is obviously not as strong as the mesh guard. However, in some ways, it's actually better than the mesh because it's a solid piece of plastic. Not only does this prevent thin objects slipping through and hitting the tube, it also means that if the tube does break somehow, the pieces are contained (and no mercury vapour randomly scattered all over the place, which has got to be a good thing!)

If buying new fittings really is out of the question, you might be able to whip up some rough and ready protection out of clear perspex or something similar. It mightn't look pretty, but it should work. If you do create your own protection in this way, just be careful that you allow enough separation between the fitting/tube and your protective enclosure, so that the enclosure isn't affected by the heat given off by the light and its associated ballast. Fluoros run fairly cool, though, so I don't imagine this being a big problem.

I have to say that my workshop also has fluoros, but I didn't bother with protecting my lights. I've never broken one; I just take extra care when moving large objects and watch out for the lights.

Hope this helps!

Michael.

Thanks for your replies. I will follow up on the wire tube covers and compare it to replacing the units with diffusers. One way or the other I will be doing something this time!

cheers,
Rod

Make up a box out of some scrap mdf and put that over the fittings. The quality of the light may be reduced but there will be no more broken globes. :D

That's exactly what I wanted to hear - some good lateral thinking there Sir Stinkalot.
Perhaps high reflective paint applied to the inside of the box would improve the light or perhaps another tumbler or three of malt will let me see the light.

Thinking even more laterally, scrap the guards and wear a helmet.:D
But
Would you remember to wear it ?

Seriously though, if you go with Stinky's suggestion, why not line them with aluminium cooking foil, shiny side out .;)

Thanks for the suggestion
I took a trip to Bunnings and they sell a fluro lamp with a platic coated wire cover. The wire is bent to form almost a "U" shape and this gives it quite good rigidity. The fittings to attach the wire cage are steel straps fixed under the lamp and extend in much the same shape as the wire cage but in the reverse. There is always more than one way to solve a problem and this bulletin board is a great medium to get feedback. Until I fix the problem I will wear the helmet not only for your suggested use but also to protect me from the one who should be obeyed but rarely is.
Until then maybe a few nights studying it while testing the malt might keep me out of harms way.
cheers,
Rod

Rodm

I have done exactly the same thing in my workshop. Made a helluva mess. It was a double fluro and I broke both tubes.

My solution was to go to the local steel merchant and buy an 8x4 sheet of galvanised mesh for about $30. It is fairly strong stuff with a 25x25 mesh.

I cut it into strips with a pair of side cutters and folded each strip over a piece of 6x2 scrap by clamping it onto the 6x2 and bashing the sides over with a rubber mallet. (Sounds rough, but they actually turned out quite neat). Ended up with 8 U shaped screens 6" wide by 3" deep for my 8 double fluros. Made up some hangers with some 4mm galv wire and voila.

There ain't no piece of timber thats gonna get thru those babies.

Took about two hours to complete and fit the whole lot.

Worked for me!!!!

If you fitted a mini-cyclone to the ends of the MDF protectors, you could channel the condensed light out through some galvanised downpipe.

You could use some gutter angles to direct the light to your primary work areas.

Save running around with a helmet on.

Or, maybe Triton could sell an add-on lamp for their face mask?

I think you would have to use six inch PVC rather than gal dowmpipe, to reduce light loss fromfriction. Check with Wayne.:D :D

Yep - go with the PVC. Don't want to slow down the light. Might become water if it drops below the speed of light :D :D :D

It would appear that the malt bottles are empty now!

Quote:

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It would appear that the malt bottles are empty now!

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Watcha talkking about!! I'm stonne soober kold (hic). Neverr touck the stuffff (burp).

Hi,

You could make some clear covers from 3mm perspex.
If you go to a salvage yard you may even find some old diffusers from large industrial fluros which you could cut down.
Any type of metal mesh will cut down the light.

Glen

This may be a bit off topic but...

In the dark recesses of my memory I vaguely recall reading warnings about using fluoro lights in a workshop with machinery.
The fluoro tubes are actually flickering on and off with the power supply, 50Hz. Your eyes can't detect such flickering but it is real. The danger is that the flickering can coincide with certain moving bits of machinery, to make it appear stationary. (like a strobe light can do.) So the author recommended either NOT using flouro's over table saws, lathes, etc, or if you must, then install a regular incandescent globe too. I suspect that compact fluoro's might not have this problem as they work at much higher frequencies, but don't take my word for it.
People have lost their hands when gripping an apparently stationary bit of machinery that turned out to be moving fast...

Chris.

Actually you CAN detect 50Hz. But it is a nonsense as the gas is FLUORESCENT - that is it gives of light when excited. The gas stays excited for a short amount of time even after the charge is gone. If it didn't, the fluro's would drive you insane with the flickering, and fluro's would be very unpopular and probably not much used. When you notice it flickering, generally it is time to change the tube (gas needs to get really, REALLY excited to produce light), or very, very cold (gas absorbs more energy as it heats up). Ever notice they are brighter after they've been on for a few minutes? (more noticeble when cold)

Anyway, getting back on topic, ratwire is quite cheap, comes in about 600mm- 800mm wide roll can be bent into shape etc and is readily available.