Lighting Tip

[mbauer]

My eyes aren't getting any younger. Cut lines and scoring lines are getting harder to focus, they look kind of gray and fuzzy at times.

Used to use two Sun Light Lamps that were 27 Watt Flourescents. Thought they were great, plenty of light on the work area.

Then one of them burned out and I couldn't find a replacement bulb.

Bought a flourescent type with a 11 watt bulb and it had a 4x round magnifying lens in the center, the bulb was a circle. It burned out after 4-months of use. The magnifying lens was hard to look through and do continuous cutting or scoring. Once again couldn't find a speciality bulb for replacement.

Was looking at what the local Wally World box store had and found a $22 LED desktop light that uses 6 watts to produce the equivalent of a Sunlight 60 watts. Same equivalent for the 27 watt flourescent of 60 watts.

What a difference the LED made. Took a couple of photos using a tripod. The only difference is the lighting used. The power cord to my laptop was positioned above a blank white paper. The cord and its shadow tell the story......

Photo 1 is the 27 Watt flourescent-note that everything is out of focus.

The camera had trouble focussing on anything!

Photo 2 is the new LED 6 watt. Check out the shadow of the cord!


I can see the lines again for cutting, scoring. All this time I thought it was my eyes getting worse.

Probably has to do with how flourescent lights work. Excited gas that has pulses of electricity to excite the gas.

Going to buy another LED next pay day!

Mike

[RAFleischman]

Timing is everything! I was at "that store" this week looking for a new bulb for my magnifier. I ended up buying one of those swirlie bulbs. I'm pleased with the results...much less heat and a whiter light.

I may try the LED light next!

I have some wonderful memories of some time I spent up in your neck of the woods on the NOAA ship Rainier! (I'm still waiting for someone to do a model of her...great ship!)

russ...

[Don Boose]

What does the lamp look like, Mike/ Can you show us a picture?

Don

[rickstef]

a picture of the barcode works too

[mbauer]

Got to get to work-will take photos tonight.

Mike

[peter taft]

Makes a huge difference for sure. I've got to the point where i use one of the head things with magnifier and light {LED} can't do much without that now.
Rolson Tools 60390 LED Head Loupe Magnifier visor

[mbauer]

Went by the local Wmart on the way home tonight to get the SKU. They only had one of them left, we are at the far end of the supply chain, decided to buy it.

Got some projects to do this weekend, used that as an excuse....


Here is the energy savings-guess I was wrong about the 6 watts=

Here are some photos of the box and the light- Your Zone is the name to look for=


Last photo shows upc/sku scan bar =


Best part is now won't be filling up the landfill with mercury from the flourescents...

Mike

[Don Boose]

Thanks for all this information and the images, Mike. Looks like a very worthwhile investment for any model builder.

Don

[Kevin WS]

Mike - after reading about the lamp I went out to find one.

Unfortunately every lamp I found was cheap and nasty once it was in my hands.

Then, I discovered you can buy the bulbs........

At home I have a decent solid anglepoise lamp, 30 years and made in the Rhodesian sanctions era. It has a standard bayonet fitting.

I duely found a lamp shop that had the various bulbs and ended up getting a 8 watt white light bulb. Dimmable. Around 30 dollars. But everything is expensive here. 25 year warranty!!!!

The LED bulbs start around 8 dollars for a 1 watt blue. As the wattage increases so does the price. The colour range goes from blue though a yellow range and into a white range until you end up with a pure white - which is what I have.

Absolutely fantastic! Recommended. Will post a couple of pics next week.

Strange thing is our cats hate the light. They avoid the light as if it was something physical. Frequency maybe????

[mbauer]

Originally Posted by Kevin WS

Mike - after reading about the lamp I went out to find one.

Unfortunately every lamp I found was cheap and nasty once it was in my hands.

Then, I discovered you can buy the bulbs........

At home I have a decent solid anglepoise lamp, 30 years and made in the Rhodesian sanctions era. It has a standard bayonet fitting.

I duely found a lamp shop that had the various bulbs and ended up getting a 8 watt white light bulb. Dimmable. Around 30 dollars. But everything is expensive here. 25 year warranty!!!!

The LED bulbs start around 8 dollars for a 1 watt blue. As the wattage increases so does the price. The colour range goes from blue though a yellow range and into a white range until you end up with a pure white - which is what I have.

Absolutely fantastic! Recommended. Will post a couple of pics next week.

Strange thing is our cats hate the light. They avoid the light as if it was something physical. Frequency maybe????

Hi Kevin,

Was just at the local Home Depot and saw the available LED for regular light sockets, yes they are expensive, but like you said they have an amazing longetivity.

Don't know about the cats, these lights are a Light Emitting Diode, maybe they give ultra high freq sounds? I know the heat they produce is far below what flourescents emit.

Mike