Shop lighting finally complete.

[Tom Pritchard]

Since I put my shop together in 2003, I have been struggling with several 4' fluorescent lights hung around the shop, along with a couple porcelain ceiling fixtures with light bulbs in them. The lighting was inadequate, and very "shadowy", making it hard to measure and finish my work.

I broke down and purchased six 8' T8 fluorescent fixtures last week, with all the associated romex, switches, and breaker, and got them hung and wired in yesterday. What a difference! My shop is now bright, and there are almost no shadows, even when standing directly over my work! They are spaced 48" apart, and I put the "daylight" bulbs in them, and the light level is perfect for me! Now I can use 2 switches at the entrance of my shop to turn the lights on and off instead of walking around and hitting individual switches and pullchains to turn them off and on!

I'm so happy to have it done, I just had to share it with others who would appreciate something small like good lighting in a workshop!! Thanks for looking!:D :) :D :)

[Tom Ruflin]

Tom,

I too appreciate good lighting in a shop. I have several 4 foot T8 fixtures around my small shop. My only concern with your setup is hitting and breaking a tube when moving wood around. My shop has only 6'8" of headroom so I put my fixtures between the joists and they also have a protective metal grid over them. Your shop appears to have more headroom than mine but, be careful!! Nice looking shop by the way!

[Gary Keedwell]

Tom,
Did the same thing in my basement. Sometimes I go down there to just look around!!!! lol
Oh Yea.......great looking shop.
Gary K.

[Tom Pritchard]

Tom, good to hear from you again!

I did consider the risk of bulb breakage moving wood around the shop. Unfortunately, the area between my joists is full of ductwork and cross supports and hanging my 8' fixtures at the spacing I wanted wasn't possible, so they had to go on the joist. I will be putting clear plastic protectors over the bulbs soon, and I have always had to be careful of lights hanging low in the shop, so I'm hoping damage will be minimal.

Thanks for the kid words on the shop Tom, I really like it too!:D

Gary,
I laughed when I read your comment about going down to the shop to look around!! My wife caught me twice today, just sitting there looking around while she was doing laundry (yes, I help her with that task, usually dryer duty)! I do love sitting there looking around, thinking about things, and appreciating what I have. I think that's important! Thanks for the laugh!:):D

[Dave Ray]

Tom, those lights will make a big difference in your work. I just did the same as you a couple of months ago. Your shop sure looks clean and orderly. I think there are times when we all just sit there look around and daydream, or plan, or just contemplate.... what ever! Isn't that part of the peace and enjoyment of woodworking. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[lou sansone]

most everyone uses lumens now, but I grew up using watts as a calculation for light levels. anyway.... I have sort of settled on a minimum of 3 watts per sq foot for decent light levels.

Lou

[Steven DeMars]

My shop is 20' X 22' with 10' ceilings. Now for lights I have (24) 2 light T8's with 5000 degree Kelvin bulbs . . . A little bright, but nice . . .

Steve

[Jim Becker]

The look great, Tom! Good light is essential to good work, IMHO. And better safety, too.

[Jim O'Dell]

snip
Gary,
I laughed when I read your comment about going down to the shop to look around!! My wife caught me twice today, just sitting there looking around while she was doing laundry (yes, I help her with that task, usually dryer duty)! I do love sitting there looking around, thinking about things, and appreciating what I have. I think that's important! Thanks for the laugh!:):D
Guess I'm not the only one who does that, huh??:D Lighting does help. I 've had most of my lights up for almost a year now, but just got the electricity turned on last week. I still need to purchase 3 4' two bulb T8's to finish. My shop is 20X24. I have essentially 13 two bulb 4' fixtures. I had a single 4', 3 bulb T12 I ran off the house wiring until now. Talk about a difference! So I know where you;re coming from, and it is nice, isn't it? Jim.

[glenn bradley]

I picked up a couple T-8 fixtures to try them out after reading about folks using them here on the Creek. What an amazing difference from my T-12's (which in all fairness had just about whatever type of tube that happened to be in them when I got them; horrible color distortion). Of course I only wish I'd bought more as they were on sale so now I wait in the shadows for the next sale so I too may one day be . . . shadow free!

[Rennie Heuer]

Tom,

Looks great. I've been a proponent of the daylight lamps for years having installed 4 2-lamp 8' fixtures in my shop 9 years ago. They're great and you will love what they do for your attitude!

[scott spencer]

What a difference Tom! Looks even brighter than that lighter I've been using in my shop! :D

[Allen Bookout]

I'm so happy to have it done, I just had to share it with others who would appreciate something small like good lighting in a workshop!!

There is nothing small about really good lighting in a shop or wherever else that you really need to see. The best thing that I did for my working area was install the T8s with daylight bulbs.

Good Job!

Allen

[Tom Pritchard]

Thanks to all for the kind words! I ended up using 6500K color appearance/85 color rendering F32T8/Daylight Deluxe Sylvania bulbs, and I am thrilled with the intensity/color they give off! As Rennie said, it's amazing what they do for your attitude!!

Now I have to go build something and try them out!!!!;)

[David G Baker]

Thanks to all for the kind words! I ended up using 6500K color appearance/85 color rendering F32T8/Daylight Deluxe Sylvania bulbs, and I am thrilled with the intensity/color they give off! As Rennie said, it's amazing what they do for your attitude!!

Now I have to go build something and try them out!!!!;)
Tom,
I have been searching for the Sylvania F32T8/Daylight Deluxe bulb on the Internet and haven't had any luck. I tried one of the Home Depot T8s and it failed after a couple of months. Do you have a recommendation for a suppler for the fixtures.
Thanks in Advance.
David

[Tom Pritchard]

Tom,
I have been searching for the Sylvania F32T8/Daylight Deluxe bulb on the Internet and haven't had any luck. I tried one of the Home Depot T8s and it failed after a couple of months. Do you have a recommendation for a suppler for the fixtures.
Thanks in Advance.
David

Hi David!

I bought everything from our local Home Depot. If you want to check online, I have used this place before and they are very good. Here's a link to their Home Page:

http://www.atlantalightbulbs.com/

Do a search on T8 and they have 5 pages of 48" T8 bulbs!

The fixtures I bought were made by Lithonia Lighting, and they appear to be well made by today's standards :rolleyes: . If you are worried about failure, just hang on to your HD sales receipt and they will replace it if it fails. They are usually very good with me if I have a problem AND a receipt:) .

[David G Baker]

Thanks for the information Tom. I am going to Home Depot tomorrow and pick up a couple lights and give them a try.
David

[Al Willits]

Just wondering why T-8 versus the T-12 bulb?

Just went though the which bulb to use thing, found some at 5100K from Phillips that the guy a HD said would work, ya if ya like a blue tinge bulb...
Returned them and tried the suggested "shop/utility" light and it was a lot better, only if my garage was about 65 degree's, which it's normally not.
Returned them....

Off to Lowes and ended up with Sylvainia's shop light that works in cooler temps....same ones I've been using over the years, only 4100K but they are white, bright and at reasonably cost, good enough for me.

So now I have 10, 2 bulb 4' fixtures and pleanty of light...life is good. :)

Al

[Tom Pritchard]

Just wondering why T-8 versus the T-12 bulb?



Al, I went to the T8 for 2 reasons, 1) they are 32 Watts/tube vs. 40 Watts for the T12 and yet have the same light output, and 2) I liked the 8' T8 configuration that uses 4-4' bulbs.

Maybe someone else can add some other good reasons, but those are mine!

[Dave A. Jackson]

Nice Bandsaw!
Dave

[Al Willits]

Thanks Tom, I didn't know they were as bright, always went by the bigger is brighter theory....more learning curve... :)

Just wondering, is there a measurement to go by, like lumins (?) or something??

Al