Individual task lighting

[dennis thompson]

I recently added a magnetic sewing machine LED light to my scroll saw. It works great and only costs about $12. I just ordered two more for my bandsaw and drill press. They are available on Amazon.Hope this helps.

[John Dewes]

They are $16 for two as well - great idea!

[Bill Carey]

I bought 3 of these after seeing them in a thread about 2 months ago. They are fantastic. To be able to use them anywhere, I picked up a couple of old cast iron irons at a junk shop, and can now have good lighting anywhere. Also mortised in and epoxied a few fender washers near the miter box and the mortiser and the top of my moxon - works great.

[Tom M King]

I just ordered a pair too, thanks to this. They must have been very busy, because that was the slowest to process Amazon order I've done in a while.

[David Utterback]

I bought 3 of these after seeing them in a thread about 2 months ago. They are fantastic. To be able to use them anywhere, I picked up a couple of old cast iron irons at a junk shop, and can now have good lighting anywhere. Also mortised in and epoxied a few fender washers near the miter box and the mortiser and the top of my moxon - works great.

I have one of those, Bill, that I bought from Lee Valley a couple of years ago for about $50 IIRC. I have to disconnect the battery section after each use or they will fully discharge. Hope yours work better.

[Bill Carey]

a good use for these old irons. They also make handy little anvils.

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[Jim Becker]

The only place I use task lighting in my shop is at my band-saw (because of the nature of the machine) and over my smaller guitar focused bench because of its location. The former presents a situation not unlike your scroll saw so getting the light to the cutting point is nice. The product I use is a gooseneck type lamp with a magnetic base that's suspended directly from my band saw's top case. It's old...so it's halogen and gets "quite toasty"...but I'd buy LED if I were setting it up these days. For the rest of my shop, I have enough light coming from all angles from the LED lighting on the ceiling that it's almost like being at the beach on a sunny day.

[dennis thompson]

I just ordered a pair too, thanks to this. They must have been very busy, because that was the slowest to process Amazon order I've done in a while.

Maybe it's time to buy some Amazon stock

[Michael A. Tyree]

R.e., slow orders as mentioned above- A problem on Amazon ordering is that they have many Chinese sellers but don't make it readily apparent when an order is coming from China. On ebay many of the same items are sold some by the same sellers some by others. The location is clearly stated on ebay. Also, many Chinese sellers have North American warehouses now as they learned they were losing sales to people not wanting to wait a month or so. One such warehouse that has many China items is near me in Cinn., OH/ KY area.
Good practice on cheapo stuff like the light to look both places.

[Jim Becker]

When ordering from Amazon, it's generally best to buy things either sold directly by Amazon or stocked and shipped by Amazon for third parties when processing and delivery time is important. I often get one day service on many items that way and two day service for some items. Rarely do I need to wait longer and that's only if it's "sold and shipped" by a third party and they are on the left-coast or something.

[Jay Kepley]

I added two of the LED sewing machine lights on my bandsaw and two on my drill press. They work great and provide excellent lighting, especially for my eyes that aren't so young anymore. I just bought two more of the lights to have on hand. I know I'll use them.

[John K Jordan]

I recently added a magnetic sewing machine LED light to my scroll saw. It tworks great and only costs about $12. I just ordered two more for my bandsaw and drill press. They are available on Amazon.Hope this helps.

I guess it depends on how much light you are satisfied with. I've experimented with a variety of light fixtures. I tried several sewing machine lights (those with magnetic bases that plug into 110v) and I do use them in several places. But the light output is quite weak compared to the task lights I prefer and use at the lathes, sharpening station, bandsaw, drill press, and photo booth with a spare to carry to turning demos. I have sewing machine lights on my scrollsaw, buffing wheel, and on the metal-cutting lathe to suppliment some other lights.

I set up this to demonstrate. In the photo are two lights, each the same distance from a plywood wall. The light on the left is my preferred LED task light. On the right is a typical sewing machine light.

Lights_SN_sewing.jpg

I also took light meter readings but can't remember the numbers.

The preferred task light has a long goosneck on an extremely strong switchable magnetic base. They, of course, costs quite a bit more than the cheap sewing machine lights. For my use it doesn't make sense to spend untold thousands of dollars on shop, machines, tools, and materials then buy cheap lights to work by.

JKJ

[tom lucas]

I have one of the nice and expensive gooseneck lights. It does put out a tremendous amount of light. To augment it at my lathe, I purchased gooseneck desk lights from Ikea. I think they were $12 each. I removed the weight base, turned a little puck on my lathe and recessed the bottom for a big magnet (which I already had on-hand). I made two of these. They are great, especially for the cost.

Then just recently I replaced an overhead incandescent bulb with one of those 5000 lumen LED downcast lights sold by Woodcraft, Rockler, and others. I already have 24 18-watt LED tubes overhead, but that little LED bulb is outstanding shining down on my lathe. So if you have overhead "bare bulbs" consider the LED downcasters. They are a huge improvement and screw right in like a normal bulb.

[John K Jordan]

Then just recently I replaced an overhead incandescent bulb with one of those 5000 lumen LED downcast lights sold by Woodcraft, Rockler, and others. I already have 24 18-watt LED tubes overhead, but that little LED bulb is outstanding shining down on my lathe. So if you have overhead "bare bulbs" consider the LED downcasters. They are a huge improvement and screw right in like a normal bulb.

I think it is important at the lathe to have several small diameter light sources coming from different directions. This helps me see and judge the compound curves better. It also helps see scratches and other defects. IMO, the worst possible light at the lathe is "flat" diffuse light, such as an array of long fixtures high on the ceiling. Diffuse light makes curvatures and defects harder to see. Light coming from behind your head can't show shadows like light coming from the sides.

JKJ

[tom lucas]

I think it is important at the lathe to have several small diameter light sources coming from different directions. This helps me see and judge the compound curves better. It also helps see scratches and other defects. IMO, the worst possible light at the lathe is "flat" diffuse light, such as an array of long fixtures high on the ceiling. Diffuse light makes curvatures and defects harder to see. Light coming from behind your head can't show shadows like light coming from the sides.

JKJ

Yes, the overhead is no substitute for multiple point source lights (I use 3). But if you have a dim bulb burning overhead consider one of these downcasters, which are more spot than flood. Worth every penny.