Laguna Revo light conversion

[Mike Reames]

My Laguna light is terrific, but gets pretty darn hot....It has a 12volt halogen lamp in it so I converted it to an LED flood lamp...
‘I bought a lamp socket with a rotary switch on it, then disassembled my Laguna...the lamp I bought just snugly fits inside the housing and screws into the socket...I wired the lamp to the wires coming up the arms, then disassembled the base, and jumped around the 110-12v transformer so 110 goes right to the socket...easy to do, cost about 10.00, the lamp is 7.00 at the local Menards...now it’s brighter, and floods the work piece with light.. My son did the same thing on his bandsaw light..59DB4DE7-4662-4EC1-A2AF-5DD1CD0C0926.jpg85504ADF-CB7B-4217-99F5-0EF3D488B48F.jpgsorry for the sideways photos, no idea how to fix it...
Mike

[Mick Fagan]

That is certainly interesting, the twin lights on my Laguna lathe certainly get warm after a good hour of turning, more so on a warm to hot day.

I worked with a machine light with an identical head to the Laguna lights that had been converted to LED, but it was hopeless. Basically it just flooded the area with light, which was exceedingly bright, but not focussed. Tungsten lamps, or at least the ones in my Laguna lamps are focussed and give a hot spot of light exactly where I point them.

My question is:- does your converted Tungsten to LED lamp, give you the same sort of focused light area as the Tungsten original?

Mick.

[Mike Reames]

It is a bit brighter in the center, but I haven’t ruled out getting the spotlight bulb to compare...
The led’s today have so many options, it’s hard to decide on which one to get...I bought this one based on the diameter so it’d be a nice fit inside the housing...

[Mick Fagan]

Thank you, I'll keep my current lights as they certainly work very well for me.

When I see some LED units that can focus a beam of light that is wide enough to be suitable for what I'm doing, then I will seriously look at changing. Everything I have seen so far is just bright as anything but not really focused and therefore, not suitable for me.

Mick.

[John K Jordan]

Thank you, I'll keep my current lights as they certainly work very well for me.

When I see some LED units that can focus a beam of light that is wide enough to be suitable for what I'm doing, then I will seriously look at changing. Everything I have seen so far is just bright as anything but not really focused and therefore, not suitable for me.

Mick.

I think of "focused" as a tight, bright spot. It sounds like you mean spread. I agree that a different light might be more useful depending the the type of work being done.

That's a big deal for me - I want enough spread to cover what I'm turning but no so much do decrease the light intensity too much. I tried a lot of lights and ended up buying a number of the Supernova LED lights Ken Rizza sells at Woodturners Wonders. I have one at each lathe, bandsaw, drill press, milling machine, sharpening, etc. and a spare to carry to demos. They are perfect for me, magnetic base, long gooseneck, incredibly bright. I like the balance between the light spread and intensity and the color temperature is just right for photography along with my photo lights. If you have a chance, maybe try one. (I have some of Rizza's other lights but this one is my favorite.)

JKJ

[Mick Fagan]

Hmm, that lamp does look pretty good, but.......

The cost is $227.00 AUD, which is very pricey, but doable. The power though is a problem, it is 110 V, which isn't doable without a transformer, which I know from experience is not cheap. Then there is freight which could easily be $50.00 USA or $71.40 AUD.

Maybe when my eyesight really goes downhill, maybe.

The tungsten lamps are focused into a tight, but not too tight spread; if you get what I mean. At 450mm away (18") the spread is a bit close, at 1m to 1.2m away (39¼" to 47¼") on the tailstock, it is a nice spread over the internals of a mid range bowl.

Mick.

[John K Jordan]

Yikes, that sounds high, on the surface at least. I guess the actual hit to the budget depends on the relative cost of living and income between here and Australia which I've never experienced first hand (it's high on my list, though!) I know when I ordered a Vermec sphere jig directly from Australia I was very pleased with the cost, even with shipping added. I'll look at the transformer next time I go to the shop - some of these will run on either 110 or 220v only needing an adapter but I don't know about this one.

Another thing I consider with task lighting is the heat since my head is often near the lamp head. I use multiple task lights at the lathe for several reasons and I replaced all the tungsten/halogen with CFL and LED. Note that the LED light head in question does get quite warm but nothing like the tungsten and the heat radiated in the infrared is quite low.

I tend to spread the light by positioning more than one light as needed. I've posted this before, but it shows some of my task lighting at the lathe. I think I have 6 lamps at the moment, some on swing arms and a couple high on the ceiling.

lathe_PM_cu_IMG_20160331_18.jpg

I especially like the Supernova LED positioned close to the work when turning things with wings so I can see the blur, smoothing with NRS here after finish cuts.

NRS_IMG_7515.jpg

JKJ

Hmm, that lamp does look pretty good, but.......

The cost is $227.00 AUD, which is very pricey, but doable. The power though is a problem, it is 110 V, which isn't doable without a transformer, which I know from experience is not cheap. Then there is freight which could easily be $50.00 USA or $71.40 AUD.

Maybe when my eyesight really goes downhill, maybe.

The tungsten lamps are focused into a tight, but not too tight spread; if you get what I mean. At 450mm away (18") the spread is a bit close, at 1m to 1.2m away (39¼" to 47¼") on the tailstock, it is a nice spread over the internals of a mid range bowl.

Mick.