The place to chat with your fellow MIMForum members about whatever you want that doesn't relate to instruments, or isn't specific to one instrument family. Pull up a chair, grab a cold one out of the virtual 'fridge, and tell your friends what's on your mind.
With Covid keeping me home, I’m finally getting to work on my shop.
I need something to start reliably in cold. I probably won’t spend time to heat it up when it’s thirty below zero, but I’ll spend time in out there in the winter.
The space is 12x20, the end of one side of a pole shed. Ceiling slopes from 7’ to 11’.
My only other concern is that they don’t interfere with my radio.
Definitely go with LEDs. I replaced my old fluorescents with LEDs and it only took half as many because they are much brighter. Got them from Home Despot. Some brands can be daisy chained so you only have to have one plugged in.
I just replaced a 4 foot dual 20 watt fluorescent fixture with a 4 foot LED type. I couldn't find a fluorescent fixture in the store I went to and found a mid isle mountain of these new type on sale for less than $20. Seems brighter without the irritating hum and no need to replace bulbs. Supposed to last for 15 years as I recall.
I take my garbage to the dump myself. They want some serious change to dispose of the fluorescent bulbs because of mercury I think.
I'm building a new shop and definitely using LED 4 ft fixtures. They draw less power and no future fussing with replacing ballasts, etc. If you have a choice look for "warm white" rather than "bright white" lamps. The warm or daylight bulbs seem to give a more natural color when trying to match color tones for staining or finishing. The bright lamps look a little blue-gray to my eyes.
Don't even think about fluorescents for an outdoor shop! The LEDs are no more expensive these days, last longer, give better light, and are instant on. Win-win no matter how you look at it. Same opinion for CFLs indoor or out, they have outlived their usefulness and LEDs are superior in every respect.
LEDs for sure.
When I built my shop they were still kind of expensive and I'm cheap so I have two rows of the cheap porcelain keyless lamp holders with CFLs. I have 3 cheap T8 two bulb shop lights that hang over the table saw and two of the work benches. I thought as these begin to fail I'll replace them with LEDs.
Almost 5 years later they all still burn bright and come on instantly, heat or no heat. The shop is 22'x26' with a 9' ceiling.
Thanks people. Keep the suggestions coming. I'm still insulating the ceiling and exterior walls and framing an interior dividing wall, so I've got some time to make the decision. So far, though, it seems like LEDs are the way to go. Thanks for the tip on color temp, Mike.
LED's come in several flavors and you may want to mix and match color temperatures to get something approaching what you are used to. The typical 6500K is very blueish and will mess with your melatonin levels if you like to work late. I'd mix some 3500K with 5000Ks even though they are slightly less output and can be a bit pricier. They all seem very bright compared to slightly aging T-8 and T-12 tubes.
There are some really high end LEDs that have a CRI of 98 and are super efficient but they haven't made it into the lowly shop lights yet but you can buy them in 5 meter strip rolls. If you prefer the single point source light of halogens IKEA has some really nice LED spots that come in strips of 5 and can be individually aimed with a MUCH nicer light. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/baeve-led- ... -00399735/
I see these are 2700K and you might look for a 2700K or 3000k shoplight. I got mine off Amazon in a set of 8 for under $20 each delivered but that was a couple of years ago.
I'm in the middle of building a new shop and have done all the research on the different lighting options available. My current shop has T8 fluorescents set up to provide about 150 lumens per square foot at 4200K, which is a decent color and amount of light for benchwork, machining, woodworking, etc. and I wanted LED's that would provide similar lighting. What I ended up with were four foot wrap around fixtures from Antlux. They put out 5600 lumens, about the same as a 2 bulb T8 fluorescent fixture, have a CRI index of 95, which is higher than the T8's, are 4000K, and only draw 50 watts vs. 64 for the T8's. They also provide much more even light than the T8's and turn on at full brightness, regardless of the ambient temperature. Buying them in packs of four from Antlux, they run about $35 each.
I got a pair of these* put in a few months back. Much pricier here (x2-x3 plus fitting) that in the link but I am quite happy with them. The electrical company who put them in recommended them. The main reason I got them fitted is that I had no ladders high enough to reach the ceiling and secondly the electricians where here doing another job for me. I also often buy stuff locally even if it is pricier because I think it is better keep the money in the local economy. I live on an island with all its pros and cons.
Beware that if using a digital camera for a video, you may see a flicker in movie. One other thing about leds is that they are apparently sensitive to brown-outs/voltage swings. The consensus here is that here they don't last anything like the time promised due to quality of power we have.
Details.
* 2x 4ft 39W 4000K 4400 Lumens -- The garage/workshop is about 350 ft2 and the ceiling is about 16ft and is a semi basement so very little natural light.
Update: my time has been taken by a structural problem in the roof of the shed where I’m establishing by shop. Bad news, it’s a pain in the neck, good news I’ve got more time to contemplate lights and wiring.
