Shop Lighting.

[groovytech]

For task lighting on my press and sewing machine, I use a 5W superbright white LED in a PAR16 can that is mounted to the machine. LEDs produce the brightness and focus needed and aren't affected by vibration from the machinery, i.e. no "filament flicker". Best move I ever made for machinery lighting. I even integrated LED lighting on my Dremel tool.

[raysouth]

The lighting situation has been a problem for me as well, having 12' ceilings in my shop area, (40x40), but mid 2012 I decided to move my carving/burning work areas into what was once my small sales office, (12x30), which has 8 ft. ceilings painted white. Still a problem for me, not getting the lighting where I needed it most so have gone through, led, xenon, floods, spots, halogen and whatever else I could find, and noe perfect but at least I have learned ways to combat the shadow thing, which has been a problem for me. Eyesight noy what it was years ago so had to compensate. Use a combination of extendable/pivoting desk lamps, (halogen), led strips inder shelf at work tables, 6' flour. on ceiling and even though a bit of inconvenience. at times, it does a fair job for me. Suppose we have to try different approaches until we find something that fits our particular application.

Hope you can find a solution and plenty of assistance here on this site.

Ray

[billymac814]

Here's my update.

I went to Home Depot and got 3 more fixtures, they are the two bulb, 4ft T-8 made by Lithonia. They have small reflectors and were 19.99 which was only 7.00 more than the cheapest ones that use the T-12 bulbs. I replaced two of my existing fixtures with these and added the third over where I moved two of my sewing machines. I also got the daylight bulbs which are a brighter looking light. The added feature of these lights are that they have a pull chain so I can easily turn ones off that aren't needed so the two I replaced are in areas I don't always need lit. I will over time switch out the rest of my existing lights for these ones which should save some money on electricity. I still hate looking at all the chains and cords but I will just live with that and route the cords a bit neater as I replace them.

Another thing I changed out at the same time was my sink, the only water source in my shop was a small bathroom sink which was always a problem because I couldn't even fit a bucket under the faucet so I put in a large laundry tub type sink with a pull out faucet. It will be much nicer having a legit sink in the shop for cleaning items or just filling up a bucket or even a large spray bottle. That was a fairly cheap project too, the sink was only 25.00, the faucet was 40.00 and a few extra bucks for some fittings and I had to change the direction the door swung so it didn't hit it but that wasn't a big deal. I should have done that a long time ago.

Once I slow down a bit, maybe over summer, Ill try to get the ceiling and maybe even some of the walls painted.

Thanks for everyone's opinions.

[groovytech]

sounds like you are goin' with a good plan. The utiliy sink will make your life much simpler. Tip: most towns/cities have a Habitat for Humanity organization and most have thrift store that sells surplus & wreck-out stuff from their projects. Goes to a good cause and usually good deals. Heads up!