Shop Lighting

Steve D · 01-12-2006, 08:56 AM

Moderators, please feel free to put this wherever makes the most sense, ideally as a sticky.

I wanted to address some generic issues about lighting to eliminate answering the same questions repeatedly. There has been a lot written on shop lighting and I don't claim to be the definitive expert. I did spend 15 years in the electrical industry and also owned a lighting agency selling and specifying commercial and industrial lighting and have attended quite a few training workshops with various manufacturers.

To avoid excessive boredom, I'm going to try and keep a very complicated subject brief and I'll try and address questions separately. There are a couple of key factors in lighting that affect performance for our needs. The major ones are the amount of light (lumens or foot candles), the color temperature of the light (degrees Kelvin), uniformity and color rendering index (CRI). Unless you have a huge shop with more than 20' ceiling height, fluorescent lighting will give the best and most economical results. They eye sees best when light levels are uniform so more fixtures spread out are better than a few bright ones.

The IES guidelines for general woodworking are a minimum of 50 foot candles and 100 foot candles in finishing areas. I would design for between 75 and 100 overall because lumens fall off with lamp age and as dust covers the lamps. There are two main types of ballasts in fluorescent fixtures, magnetic and electronic. You want electronic for several reasons. Electronic ballasts start more effectively when cold, they don't hum, they're more energy efficient and they flicker at a rate that is faster than the eye will notice. An electronic ballast turns the lamp on and off several hundred times a second where a magnetic ballast is only 60 times a second. It is possible for a magnetic ballast to setup a strobe effect where the blade of a table saw will look like it is off when it is spinning.

For lamps you want to use a minimum of 41K and ideally 50K lamps with a minimum CRI of 80. Higher is better. This will give you a more accurate representation of color for grain matching, staining and finishing. Use all the same (41 or 50K) lamps throughout, don't mix. You can also supplement with task lights at given machines. Incandescent is OK but you will see a noticeable difference with a halogen or a compact fluorescent lamp in task lights.

In most of our cramped spaces, 4' 2 lamp strip fixtures will be the easiest to work with and most economical. You can also get 8' fixtures with either 8' lamps or 4 4' lamps. 4' lamps are cheaper, easier to work with and easier to store. If you have a very large shop you might benefit from using high output (HO) fixtures but with lower ceiling heights, uniformity becomes more of a challenge. HO fixtures are also available in magnetic and electronic ballasts. Again, the preference is electronic.

You will see better overall performance if you space fixtures evenly and light the shop uniformly than if you task light and only place the fixtures over your key areas. Focusing on tasks gives you hot spots and does not work as well as lighting evenly. The areas where you would want to punch it up with additional lighting would be your finish area (stay with fluorescent) and detail machines like scroll saws and band saws. The flexible fixtures are good here but try a halogen or CF lamp in place of the regular incandescent.

If you have high ceilings or open trusses, fixtures can be suspended. To avoid shadows you want to suspend them so the bottom of the fixtures is even with the trusses. In these situations you will also benefit from an industrial type fixture, which is essentially a strip fixture with a reflector that directs the light downward. If you have a drop ceiling, you will want to go with troffer style fixtures that lay in the grid. With very low ceilings, you may want to use tube guards (plastic that goes over the lamp) or wire guards (a cage that protects the lamp) to minimize breakage.

Wall color, ceiling color and floor color have a major impact. Light is better, white is best. Gloss is fine for ceilings but can create glare on walls and floors. Satin or semi gloss are better on those surfaces. Age matters too. As we get older, we need more light to see well.

Good lighting isn't cheap and you will probably need to go to an electrical wholesaler to get what you want. You can probably find 4' electronic strips and 41K lamps at the BORG's but that will be it. Open up a fixture to see who makes the ballast. If it's not a name brand like Advance or Magnetek, go to a wholesaler.

Lighting isn't as fun to buy as a new tool but you will be amazed at the difference when it is done right. In addition to being safer, you'll find work easier and less fatiguing. In the end you'll wonder how you ever did without it.

SteveColes · 01-12-2006, 09:49 AM

What do you guys think of making this a web page to itself

Travis Porter · 01-12-2006, 09:57 AM

OK, I would guess that I have sufficient light in my shop. It is 24 x 32 with 10 foot ceilings and I have 24 4 foot fixtures. I am going to guess they are mechanical ballasts as they were cheap. They were the shop lights at home depot that were fully assembled, but I digress.

As far as overall light goes, I am guessing I am ok, but would be curious to your perspective. The thing I have trouble with in lighting is finishing. Being able to spot runs, bubbles, etc is somewhat difficult. The last project I finished I used oil Poly and just looking at it in the shop, it looked great. I decided to get out what I call a trouble light and went around and found more runs when I checked it out from an angle which is good that I found them, but is there a good way to set up stationary lighting or to work lighting in so that this is more visible instead of carrying a 100 watt incandescent in one hand and a brush in the other?

PS - Steve, yes I think this would be a good web page.

DaveO · 01-12-2006, 09:59 AM

I think it is great information, and should be put where ever it will be most easily accessed and utilized. Whether that is a stickey or page, I don't know.
Dave

DavidF · 01-12-2006, 12:28 PM

Steve you have done us all proud - well done and thanks again.

D L Ames · 01-12-2006, 10:56 PM

SteveD.....once again you have done good! Your post on lighting is very informative and very well presented. Thanks.

SteveC.....Hmmm, a separate web page under "More Pages" might be a good place for it where we can refer folks to it. Or, do we want to consider a whole new forum for Shop Design/Layout Ideas? This forum could cover topics such as this lighting info, work flow/layout consideration, storage ideas, shop designs based on shop size, specialty spaces such as finishing and assembly, Dedicated shop space versus shared (garage) spaces. Thoughts?

BTW, if we go the forum route I'll even do the Mod work on it.

D L

Steve D · 01-12-2006, 11:02 PM

Originally Posted by D L Ames

SteveD.....once again you have done good! Your post on lighting is very informative and very well presented. Thanks.

SteveC.....Hmmm, a separate web page under "More Pages" might be a good place for it where we can refer folks to it. Or, do we want to consider a whole new forum for Shop Design/Layout Ideas? This forum could cover topics such as this lighting info, work flow/layout consideration, storage ideas, shop designs based on shop size, specialty spaces such as finishing and assembly, Dedicated shop space versus shared (garage) spaces. Thoughts?

BTW, if we go the forum route I'll even do the Mod work on it.

D L

Great idea DL!

clowman · 01-12-2006, 11:42 PM

Great information. At a minimum, it may fit in the Reviews section. I do stress at a minimum.

Steve D · 01-13-2006, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by Travis Porter

OK, I would guess that I have sufficient light in my shop. It is 24 x 32 with 10 foot ceilings and I have 24 4 foot fixtures. I am going to guess they are mechanical ballasts as they were cheap. They were the shop lights at home depot that were fully assembled, but I digress.

As far as overall light goes, I am guessing I am ok, but would be curious to your perspective. The thing I have trouble with in lighting is finishing. Being able to spot runs, bubbles, etc is somewhat difficult. The last project I finished I used oil Poly and just looking at it in the shop, it looked great. I decided to get out what I call a trouble light and went around and found more runs when I checked it out from an angle which is good that I found them, but is there a good way to set up stationary lighting or to work lighting in so that this is more visible instead of carrying a 100 watt incandescent in one hand and a brush in the other?

PS - Steve, yes I think this would be a good web page.

Travis,

You have plenty of fixtures, the biggest question would be lamp color temperature and CRI. There may be room for a big improvement with a lamp change. "Flat" light is still the best bet for examining a finish. No matter how good the available light, small imperfections and runs are tough to spot until you look at them from different angles and get them to cast shadows. Your approach with a handheld light in used by many of the pros and it will even be better if you turn the other lights off when you do it.

DavidF · 01-13-2006, 09:32 AM

I would vote for the new Forum route, there is so much stuff around on shop layout etc, shop cabs, lighting...

McRabbet · 01-13-2006, 12:36 PM

I agree with David Fenton that a new forum on Shop Layout is the best route -- how about calling it "Shop Talk"?
Rob

SteveColes · 01-13-2006, 07:58 PM

I'm not ignoring the suggestion about a new forum, just thinking about it. (insert smiley with smoke coming out head) We have a lot forums now, maybe too many. People already are starting to have problems figuring out where to put posts. At least, I do

Steve D · 01-13-2006, 08:21 PM

Based on recent posts, I think we can consolidate things into only three forums: Tools, Chicks and Beer

cskipper · 01-13-2006, 09:28 PM

You could stick it to Reviews and add the "heading" of Shop design to the description or make a new forum. It's really good information.

zapdafish · 01-14-2006, 04:36 PM

dang, last week i finished putting up some shoplights in the garage and all the bulbs have a 62 CRI. I wasn't sure which to get and one package said shoplights so I got those.
For a 19/19 garage, do you think 4 4' T8's with 2 bulbs per lamp is enough? One centered in each quadrant. I was thinking of adding two more but it seems very bright to me now. I went from a two 60 watt bulbs to this setup and it has made a huge difference. 2 walls are unfinished but as soon as the wiring is finished, i'll insulate and then cover them with something, maybe sheetrock or panelling, not sure which yet.
The bulb description is:
Color/Finish Cool White
Base Type Medium Bipin
CRI 62
Life 7500 Hr.
Lumens 2200
bulbs are cheap enough, i can upgrade these if needed, prob cant return em anymore as I tossed the packaging. any chance you can link the best bulb say off the home depot website for a shop?
once i get the cabinets and benches built, I will most likely have some under the cabinet lights too.
Also, as I was hanging them i was thinking T8 light fixtures are a huge ripoff. With the flimsy aluminum bodies and just a small ballast thing in there, hehe. There wasn't even a plug, but as I was wiring, I just went ahead and wired those into the circuit running the garage lights.

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