Shopsmith Forums

A while ago one of my flourescent fixtures died so I bought a new LED light to replace it. The difference was amazing so I decided to install another at the entrance to the basement workshop near my bandsaw.

My shop is now so bright I can see everything around and no longer need the magnetic light I had attached to the bandsaw.

They were not cheap, but well worth it. My electrecian friend told me they would last a life time. At my age, I think he's right.

John

Lighting is a very necessary item in a shop. Recently I had a contractor install solar tubes in the house, They lit up the dark interior like the rooms were outside. They were so good that I had the guy come back and put one in the garage over the workbench. I don't have turn the lights on during the daytime. (the solar tubes don't work so good at night)
Bill V

I get that feeling when I break down and finally clean my glasses. Praise the Lord, I can see again.

LED lights are great. we replaced almost all the bulbs in our house and I have a few in the shop.

john wrote:A while ago one of my flourescent fixtures died so I bought a new LED light to replace it. The difference was amazing so I decided to install another at the entrance to the basement workshop near my bandsaw.

My shop is now so bright I can see everything around and no longer need the magnetic light I had attached to the bandsaw.

They were not cheap, but well worth it. My electrecian friend told me they would last a life time. At my age, I think he's right.

John

I resisted LED lights for a long time due to the cost. The cost has come WAY down in the last 4 or 5 years so now they are very attractive given the life expectancy. I have replaced all my outside flood lights with LED. Also all the task lights in the shop are now LED. The kitchen has all LED lights now. The best thing that has come along is dimable LED's. That makes them much more attractive for locations where you had that with incandescence's.

The main shop lighting is 11 8' four bulb florescent fixtures. I have very large windows also so it might be a while before (if ever) I convert those to LED.

FWIW edison base screw in bulb(60W 'equivalent', 5000K) are available at DOLLAR TREE. NOT dimmable.

LED lights are great, but often I find it difficult to get the daylight color ones. They are easily available in the screw in bulbs, but difficult to find in strip lighting. The soft white and yellow white don't give me the light I want.
So far, I've not been completely happy with LED bulbs life. I have had 4 or 5 of them blow out within a few months. I think they need more years more of development to match the reliability of fluorescent lights. I ran CFL lights in my house for around 10 years with no failed bulbs. The LEDs have given me 4 or 5 failures in less than 3 years.
Like everything, the early designs are poor and they keep getting better and cheaper as time passed and technology catches up.

I very much prefer a mix of several types of light in my shops. I found these at a local farm store and absolutely love them for lighting a work station area with very bright white light that helps me see very clearly. They do light areas in general but if I had a dozen in my woodshop they might generate too much glare. That's why I like a mix.
I have one above my table saw and one above my main bench. I picked up another that will go above my sharpening bench as soon as I decide where that bench will land.
I also have one above my drill press in the farm shop. My SS double drill press in the woodshop sits (for now close to my table saw so it is well lit without its own light (until I move it ).
BTW, I am not all that fond of the "bulb" type LED's but I do use a few especially outside for running long hours.
https://www.ruralking.com/4-led-shop-li ... s-27100055


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There are a lot more choices in LED lighting now than there were a few years ago. I bought two 4' LED replacement tubes (built-in drivers) and rewired a fluorescent fixture for them in my shop about 5 years ago. Today there are much better choices in complete fixtures for the shop than what I did before. I just redid my entire shop with LED fixtures and it was expensive because I chose to look for fixtures with a CRI (color rendering index) that was greater than 90. Actual fixtures I installed are 95 CRI. Most LED fixtures on the market have a CRI of only 80, meaning their light doesn't render color as accurately. I also chose a color temperature of 5000K. Natural daylight varies between 5000-6500K and is typically 5600K at noon on a clear day. I only found one manufacturer (American Green Lights) that guarantees a high CRI and I wanted to try to get as accurate of a color reproduction as I could in the shop so that I could see the true color of the wood and the finishes that I apply. I am not advising that anyone else follow this approach unless you have had the same concern as me and want a high CRI in your lighting. See pic below for color comparison of 85 to 95 CRI.

American Green Lights were helpful and ran a simulation of my actual shop by entering all of my shop dimensions, workbench locations and Shopsmith placement. They sent me a simulation of what the actual lighting would be in my shop showing hotspots and how their recommended fixture placement would yield a fairly uniform distribution of light with greater than 60 foot candles at all table & tool locations. I just finished installing the fixtures as they recommended and I am happy with the results. Whether it was worth it or not, I won't know until I get to the finishing stage on a project. Below is a helpful quote from a rep at American Green lights with some rules of thumb for shop lighting.

"A wood shop should have a minimum of 60 foot candles which can be achieved uniformly throughout the room with approx. 1 watt per square foot. "

http://www.americangreenlights.com/shop ... ounts.html

http://www.americangreenlights.com/high ... ights.html

P.S. I went with 6 of their SL-4L-48-50 fixtures (4' long, 48W, 5000K) in my main shop and put another 6 in the rest of my garage.

got a good deal on 20 8ft led lights on ebay and we have been putting them all over , both basements , the garage , there is a very big difference . not sure what we will do when they burn out as the price is rather high.