Quality swing-arm lamp/magnifier?

[Andy Griffith]

I have five or six of the swing-arm lamp, or swing-arm lamp/magnifiers around here. Some in the shop, one at the grinder stand, one on the drillpress, one at the workbench, one at the reloading bench, etc. Have them on two of the desks in the house. These get used a fair amount and they are all the cheapy versions you get from the department store. They don't last particularly long and I'd like to upgrade a couple of the more frequently used ones to a higher quality version if possible. I'd like to try one lighted magnifier swing-arm lamp, and one regular swing-arm lamp.

Most frequent failure points in these cheap lamps are:
- The rotary switch for the lights don't last long before they seize up.
- The pivot joints wear and get sloppy. On some of the lamps you can tighten a screw at the pivot point and that helps a little, for awhile anyway. It eventually wears as well and the linkage becomes a sloppy mess.
- The biggest failure point has been the pin at the base of arm that fits into the bracket which clamps on the desk. These pins seem to break off pretty easily.

What quality swing-arm lamps are available these days?

Thanks

 

[mark40sw]

I work in a medical manufacture and the machines that run small stuff use Electrix brand
http://www.electrixtask.com/magnifiers_main.htm

 

[sberry]

I ordered one frrom a discount place as I recall,,, maybe I bought it at Menards, cant remember but at about 40 dollars it has worked fine for years.

 

[machine_punk]

Look on eBay for anything with the Dazor brand on it. I regret posting this, as i haven't found mine yet, but they are out there to be had. If you don't need the vintage styling, Dazor builds plenty of new stuff still too (including a nifty, but unbelievably expensive, camera/screen magnifier).

 

[Jack Olsen]

I like my Dazor. I got it on ebay (apparently right before machine_punk could find it ).

 

[BigAl62]

I have a Luxo magnifier/lamp. I got it for free from my brothers friend about 20 or so years ago and it has held up great. http://www.luxous.com/

 

[hairyj]

i don't know about other brands but can tell you from experience the Electrix stuff is good quality and everything i have from them is made in USA, that said they are pricey.

 

[j.c.whitney]

Any of the old school Dazor stuff is USA made high quality lighting equipment made to last for decades. I acquired a Dazor M210-A that "didn't work" but two squirts of contact cleaner fixed the didn't work issue. That pooch must weigh 40 lbs or more.
It looks like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Daz...665?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6a0a0dc9

 

[machine_punk]

I like my Dazor. I got it on ebay (apparently right before machine_punk could find it ).

Ha! You laugh, but I intentionally delayed my thread about my dental lights until I got both the lights I wanted off eBay for a reasonable price. Since I put the Pelton & Crane dental lights in my thread on GJ, I haven't seen any reasonably-priced P&C lights on eBay.

 

[PCO6]

I picked up this one at Princess Auto about 5 years ago for $40 or so. I have no idea of the specs or who made it but it works fine.

 

[Rolling_Thunder]

I also have a Dazor on a heavy base that sits on my work bench. When I bought my house it was left behind by the previous owner. I dont know how old it is but it works great!

 

[Andy Griffith]

It looks like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Daz...665?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6a0a0dc9

This type looks to use three short florescent tubes, are these pretty standard tubes and available?

I didn't realize the weighted base models were so popular. It brings up a weakness in the cheap lights that I forgot to list. The clamp brackets on those lights inevitably come loose and require repeated tightening after they have been in service for a relatively short time.

I kind of hate to give up the bench space or floor space required by a weighted base model, but maybe that's one key to these being better quality, better performing lights?

Thanks

 

[Provincial]

As long as you don't locate it much higher than the bench top, I have found that mounting a bracket to the wall puts the light in a usable spot and keeps it off the bench. The bracket can be as simple as a block of wood screwed to the wall.

 

[John Timmins]

This info came just at the right time ! Thanks everybody !

 

[bobadame]

Here are a couple of lamps I put together using heavy old office chair bases and on one a garage sale lamp. The red lamp is adjustable up and down. On the other one I mounted a big magnifying lens.

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

I picked up my 'Office Max' labeled magnifier lamp for $20.00 at a local thrift store. I had to pop open the rotary switch and snug down its retainer cap but it works just fine now. The local Goodwills/Salvation Army type of stores are a gold mine of useful stuff if you're a fix-it kind of guy; it's amazing what people unload as a donation.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I bought this one for my step-dad a few years back. It came from Hobby Lobby and they usually have a coupon you can print off online. I used a 20% off coupon.

 

[5lima30]

I picked up an older magnifier light magnifier made in USA from Habitat. It needed some TLC. Works pretty good the bulb on mine is the circular flouresent type. I don't remember the brand.

 

[PrecisionTools]

If its not a Luxo then its a pretty good rip-off.

Luxo for me...second hand one would be good - very tough and well made lamps.

 

[Boost Creep]

I picked up this one at Princess Auto about 5 years ago for $40 or so. I have no idea of the specs or who made it but it works fine.

does this look like a toilet seat to anyone else too?


this thread comes at a good time since i'm going to be needing one of these soon for my bench i'm going to make in the basement of my house