Lighting the Inside of Bowls

[Dok Yager]

I have noticed that in my shop/garage even though I have some big fluorescent fixtures with 4 48' bulbs each there are still some shadow spots. One that has bugged me was the inside of my bowls. So I found a floor lamp at a garage sale with a goose neck on the side for $10 and it works Great. Illuminates the inside of the bowl very well and allows me to see much more detail. I installed a 20W CFL and bang it works great, much better than the little cheap-o clip on I have. Nice part is I can position it so it throws a good light with very little shadows. ;)

[Wally Dickerman]

I have noticed that in my shop/garage even though I have some big fluorescent fixtures with 4 48' bulbs each there are still some shadow spots. One that has bugged me was the inside of my bowls. So I found a floor lamp at a garage sale with a goose neck on the side for $10 and it works Great. Illuminates the inside of the bowl very well and allows me to see much more detail. I installed a 20W CFL and bang it works great, much better than the little cheap-o clip on I have. Nice part is I can position it so it throws a good light with very little shadows. ;)

Flourescent lighting is not good for a task light when turning. It doesn't creat the shadows necessary to see small sanding scratches. Incandescent light or natural daylight is much better.

[Scott Hackler]

Plus when a CFL breaks from a stray chunk of bark/wood, it releases the small amount of Mercury into the shop/air. Not something I would want to breathe in! An LED would be a cooler running, safe alternative to incandescent...but be warned...they are not cheap!

[Reed Gray]

There are lights, and then there are lights..... There is a huge difference in the different bulbs. I have been using these, and with prescription glasses, can see almost as well as in direct sun light.

http://www.bluemaxlighting.com/

A similar type are Ott lights, and all of the quilters know about them. The bendable type neck lamps are great. I never got along with the elbow lamps, they would always sag..

I do keep my lights out of the line of fire as well as myself.

robo hippy

[Greg A Jones]

Any retailers carry the bulbs or are they only available from the company?

[Reed Gray]

The Blue max are only available from the company, I think. they are in Mississippi. You may be able to find the Ott lamps in some of the bigger sewing stores, but again, not sure. I will have mine in Phoenix.

robo hippy

[Greg McClurg]

Reed,

Which specific light or light bulb do you use?

Greg

[Reed Gray]

I use the 70 watt floor lamp which is really bright, and has a dimming knob, but I leave it on full blast. In my moffat lamps, I have been using the 32 watt (= 125 watt standard bulb). It does stick out past the housing a bit. I would expect if you talk to the techs, they could help. For me, the brighter the better.

robo hippy

[Greg McClurg]

Thanks Reed.

Greg

[Dok Yager]

Thanks for the info Reed. I will see you on Friday.

[Bill Boehme]

The Blue max are only available from the company, I think. they are in Mississippi. You may be able to find the Ott lamps in some of the bigger sewing stores, but again, not sure. I will have mine in Phoenix.

robo hippy

I was in Joann Fabric & Crafts yesterday and bought an Ott CFL bulb. It was kind of weird ... all that estrogen ... I grabbed the stuff that I needed and made a bee-line to the checkout counter. I bought it to try out in my Moffatt lamp that I have mounted on my Robust AB. I think that it gives a color that is closer to daylight, but the lighting seemed a little too muted -- no shadows like I am accustomed to seeing with an incandescent lamp. I checked out the BlueMax, Verilux, and Ott web sites and they all just give anecdotal BS about why their lamps are better than the competition with lots of "testimonials", but lacking real information.

[Reed Gray]

I am not sure about the different brands. I think what it really comes down to is watts, and lumens, or some other measures like that that tell you spectrum and how bright it is. From the initial short views I had on the different web sites, the Blue Max did look like they had more wattage. Interesting to me also, is that the 32 watt bulb puts out light comparable to a 125 watt normal bulb. I don't know how accurate that scale is, but it is a lot brighter than any regular bulb I had in it, and I did have 100 watt 'rough duty' incandescent bulbs.

robo hippy