Light bulb in tool cabinet

[Dale Murray]

99% of my tools live in my heated/air conditioned attached garage. Once I remodel the basement 99% of my hand tools (planes, scrapers, chisels, etc) will be moved indoors to my hand tool area; until then in the garage they live.

Recently I noticed a hint of surface rust of a few of my planes and wondered, if I were to install a 15-40w (tungsten) light in the tool cabinet would it generate enough heat to keep condensation away. I figure so long as the tool is slightly warmer than the ambient temperature condensation will not happen. Example, garage was 55* this weekend, if the tool is 60* the tool wins.

For the record it did take nearly a year for this to become noticeable but my heart did sink with my LN #8 (anniversary gift) was showing signs of rust.

Ultimately, the question is about heating the cabinet holding the tools, light bulb or not.

[Bob Glenn]

I have a small closet in my unheated shop where I keep glue, stain, paint and other things that I don't want to freeze. I just keep a 60W light bulb burning in there during the cold months. It is amazing how warm the closet remains when the shop temperature is 30 degrees. The thermal mass of your plane makes it draw moisture from the humidity in the air when the ambient temperature warms and your plane stays cold. Just like a cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. I think a light bulb will help. Good luck!

[ken hatch]

Incandescent light bulbs put out a lot of heat. My dad owned a heavy equipment (oil field equipment and engines, ship engines, and such) machine shop. To heat expand ball and roller bearings so they would slip on to massive crankshafts we would place the bearing in a box with a 100w light bulb for a couple of hours. Once they were ready the bearing had to be handled with asbestos gloves they were so hot. Long way around to: Yes a light bulb in a closed cabinet will keep your tools warm or even hot....be careful.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Should work great. I doubt it will take much wattage - depends on the size of the cabinet.

But - I gotta ask: I'm a dedicated electron burner, so I don't know the precise rules here:

Being as how this is a neader topic, are you allowed to hook up to the grid? Or, are you supposed to trap wild squirrels and put them in a wheelcage to generate the power for the bulb? :confused:

[Dale Murray]

Its neander because I am asking about hand tool and hand tool care; planes, hand saws, chisels, scrapers, etc.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Its neander because I am asking about hand tool and hand tool care; planes, hand saws, chisels, scrapers, etc.


Dale - sorry - it was a joke.

[Jim Matthews]

Why not use the VOC dessicant packs?

I have them stashed in drawers, everywhere.
I particularly like the ones clad in metal,
that can be 'recharged' in a small oven.

http://www.wholesalemarine.com/pelican-desiccant-silica-gel.html?gclid=CKH91d7b-8MCFYVj7AodRTcAmA

[Joe Bailey]

For those who don't know (and I admit to not having learned this until about 5 years ago) --

90% of an incandescent bulbs energy consumption goes to heat; only 10% goes to visible light!


So yes, they make better (more efficient) heating devices, than light-producing devices.

[lowell holmes]

I've never done what you are writing about, but I have heard of putting a light bulb in a tool cabinet to stop rust. Check the link below.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/rust-tool-cabinet-how-prevent-144012/

[Jim Belair]

I have a 15w bulb in my wall mounted tool cabinet and measured the temp inside to be 3-5 deg F higher than outside. Not much but no rust issues. I use a 130 volt bulb (from Walmart) designed for exit lighting for longer bulb life. Regular bulbs are only rated for 1000-1500 hours, so a couple of months or less.

I tried one of the smaller metal clad absorbant canisters but found it changed colour indicating saturated within days. Last thing I want to do during a hot humid summer is turn on the oven.

[Tom Jones III]

I use several of the Eva-Dry silica gel packs in my shop. They come in a plastic sealed box with an electrical plug. When the silica gel needs to dry out you just plug it in for 12-24 hours and it is good as new.

[Jim Koepke]

Golden rod low wattage heaters do not (normally) burn out or need to be dried from use.

Your local gun shop might carry them.

They are used in pianos, organs and gun cabinets to prevent humidity problems.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Golden rod low wattage heaters do not (normally) burn out or need to be dried from use.

Your local gun shop might carry them.

They are used in pianos, organs and gun cabinets to prevent humidity problems.

jtk


Or house is very humid (lots of plants and an open topped turtle tank kept warm, and electric baseboard heat, so it doesn't dry out the way forced air does). so ever since I moved in with my wife, I started dealing with rust problems I never had in my old place when I was single. A Goldenrod in my tool cabinet, even my car from airtight one, has helped tremendously. No problems at all.

[Curt Harms]

Should work great. I doubt it will take much wattage - depends on the size of the cabinet.

But - I gotta ask: I'm a dedicated electron burner, so I don't know the precise rules here:

Being as how this is a neader topic, are you allowed to hook up to the grid? Or, are you supposed to trap wild squirrels and put them in a wheelcage to generate the power for the bulb? :confused:

Nah man, get a lil' wind turbine and point it at D.C. The supply of hot air from there is more reliable than the trade winds.

[Tom Stenzel]

Another way is to use two incandescent bulbs in series. Since the voltage and the current to each bulb is cut in half the theoretical wattage for each bulb is 1/4 of the normal rating. Actual wattage will be a bit higher; the filament resistance will be lower with the cooler temperature.

Two 25 watt bulbs will use about 7 watts each so the bulbs will last long and the heat can be distributed in two places. I would do it that way just for the bulb life. Larger bulbs will work the same way with more heat as a result.

And I'm not pointing a wind turbine at DC, the vanes would shred. Captain, she can't handle the strain!

Yeah I'm thinking of Star Trek since Leonard Nimoy just passed away.

-Tom

[Alex Holden]

Search for "tube heater" or "tubular heater". They are typically used to prevent frost in greenhouses. They are pretty cheap, you can get them in various sizes down to 1 foot/40W (that I know of - maybe you can find smaller if you shop around), the element runs much cooler than a light bulb so it doesn't burn out, they have feet/mounting brackets so they can sit on the floor or be screwed to a wall, the tube is made of plastic so is less fragile than a glass light bulb, and the surface of the tube doesn't get dangerously hot (the one I bought recently also had a thermostat in it for extra safety). Even 40W is probably more than you need for a small cabinet.

Edit: a bit of Googling and I found a 1 foot/30W one.

[george wilson]

I use a piano tube heater in my gun cabinet. I think they are safer than light bulbs.