"Lighting for your Mill" What do you have ?

[Hephaestus29]

I'm having trouble finding a good light to go above my mill. The lighting in my shop isn't the greatest, so i'm looking for something
I can direct towards the mill table like a Flexible arm light. I was thinking of mounting it to the mill but I haven't seen much in the way of options.

I started looking at large arced floor lamps and kind of like some of those options.
I was thinking of mounting it on the back of the ram where the broach might go, and have it arc all the way over or just beside the motor.?.?

 

[txvwnut]

I have one of these https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/181450159714

Works pretty good puts light right at the work piece with no shadows.

 

[MFolks]

I've read that using a lamp like the Dentist's use is ideal for your situation. I'd look at used Dental equipment,or a Dentist retiring.

 

[James-W]

Would something like this work for you?

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80255530/

 

[Hephaestus29]

Would something like this work for you?

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80255530/

Depending on where I mount it maybe.

 

[Hephaestus29]

I've read that using a lamp like the Dentist's use is ideal for your situation. I'd look at used Dental equipment,or a Dentist retiring.

That's a good idea if I could find one cheap enough, I'm not crazy about Halogen lights though. Maybe they could be converted to LED.

 

[Hephaestus29]

I have a dental light, but what I like best are my cheap magnetic based lamps. $7 or so, I have four of them.
They are on flex heads, use standard base bulbs and the magnetic base fits anywhere on the mill. Pictures tomorrow if no one posts a link.
They move easily and shine exactly where I want them. I can put one millimeters from the work if I need to.
Backlight, forelight, overhead... In seconds.

Are the magnets strong enough to be mounted on the side of something or up side down ?

 

[ambenz]

I would put a 4 foot LED shop light over the work area on a adjustable rotisserie like holder.

 

[bmk]

Check out the halogen one at the bottom of the page. http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=1054&PARTPG=INLMK3&PMITEM=505-0050

 

[astroracer]

This is the typical light level at the table on my FrankenMill. I have a 6' 4 tube flourescent light mounted to the ceiling right over the top of it.

I also have task light mounted to it that I use once in while but it is generally not needed for most jobs.
Standing back to see the whole picture. If you mount a good flourescent to the ceiling you won't need much more then that most of the time.

Mark

 

[matt_i]

I put a T5HO 4 bulb fixture above my Bridgeport. I hate any kind of arm mounted work light (have one in plant's shop at work) as I'm always bonking my head into it because I don't expect it to be there. I guess if one is a better mill operator they wouldn't need to sight down the axis of the ways

...then some goofus bought in a blue CFL bulb and put it in the mill's worklight.....

I did temporarily try out a LED sewing machine light found on Amazon but it was relocated to the horizontal bandsaw where I needed it more.

 

[pepi]

Seeing machinist using a halo led light, locating them up and around the quill. The only draw back I see is 12 vdc power requirement, idea over all is good. I personally am not sold on a battery or an ac regulated power supply needed.

 

[kf4zht]

I put a halo light on my pm727. Found one the was a perfect fit and holds with no adhesive. For power I took an old 12v wall wart, popped it open and replaced the plug points with wires. The whole thing easily fit in the unused space in the control box and a couple minutes with a dmm found a 120v circuit tied to the main power. When the mill is on the light is on.

It's been great, the only time the work is not well lit is really short tools close to the work.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

 

[txvwnut]

The one I have I mounted to the mill head as it was a loose fit on the quill, plus having it quill mounted would interfere with some of my machining operations.

 

[Kevin54]

Look into some automotive LED lighting that runs off of 12v. I was at a swap meet yesterday, and one of the vendors was selling LED lighting of various styles. They had a 6" long and probably 3/4" wide LED light that was white, and just as bright as can be. I was going to stop back and get a couple and didn't get in done. You can easily wire one up to a phone charger, or some other similar 12v charger/adapter.

 

[joe--h]

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/

I bought a half dozen of these. Great light and bends and stays.

Joe H

 

[EdT]

I have a couple of dental lights and one huge ceiling mounted OR light in my shop. They are, as you might expect, excellent task lights. The OR light is especially good since it, for practical purposes, casts no shadow. On the down side, the dental lights illuminate a very small area which is no surprise given their intended use. Both kinds of lights use special bulbs that are expensive, short lived, and hard to find. I'm about half way through making an LED replacement for the dental lamps, but other projects always seem to get in the way.

 

[CJ7VFR]

I bought two gooseneck LED lights from Home Depot for my shop tools. They cost about 12 bucks. I can move them to whatever tool/area I need extra light to work. They come with a clip on base, but I glued on some big magnets to the bottom of the clip on base so that I can stick them pretty much wherever I want.

Here is a picture of the light. I got two of them. They have the same basic light in white, and they also have them with longer goose necks. The one I have has a 17 inch long goose neck, but I believe they have them up to 24 inches long as well for a bit more money.

Oh, and these are plug in lights. They also had some battery powered ones, but I didn't want those.

Jim