I am finally getting around to installing some decent lighting in my shaping room, I noticed while shopping around that there seems to be some pretty bright led strip lights advertised.
I was just wondering if anyone had tried them, and if they will provide the right light/amount of light?
I looked into them and I found them to be nowhere close to what is needed unless you get a ton of them. Yhen you have to plug yhem all in somehow.
Much cheaper ( a lot of the time free) to check Craigslist for lights.
I picked up two 8ft lights with extra bulbs for 20 bucks
Thanks
I have some six foot LED sidelights that work well for me.http://www.menards.com/main/p-2346773-c-7239.htm It was less expense for me to go this rout than new eight foot fluoro bulbs,fixtures, and cords plus less hazard for breakage. I got the idea from a older post from Mr. Mahady. Mine are mounted on 1x2’s that get stuck into adjustable stands ( cheap roller stands for other shop tools), and I move them depending whether I am working in the house, shaping room, or garage. The rope light types are not bright enough. Sidelights and shaping stands, for me two ‘should-have-done-this-sooner’ tools for shaping.
First pics are store copy, third is an ‘un-retouched’ pic in the garage with a 13’ 9" Blake. Messy space but blessed to have it. -J
That’s led light rope. Another option is LED tape. You have to buy a separate transformer. I use it for my kitchen under counter lights. Light rope doesn’t usually give that much light.
Thanks for the responses,
Everysurfer, do you think that the led tape would be bright enough for a shaping room? I have been looking on youtube and led technology is improving some seem pretty bright but difficult to access how bright without actually being in a room with them. The appealing thing is that they would just be much easier to set-up, its just a question if they would carry enough light.
My LED lights are about 8 years old and change colors if you want, I love them, super bright, uses 80% less electricity than standard bulbs and they last forever. Never replaced them.
Wow,
From the look of those pictures perhaps more light isn’t always better, you can see every planer line so clearly, And the contour is so clear that you would never be able to get such a perfect shaped concave area without decent lighting.
I had noticed on some of my past builds that there were some deeper scratch marks from sandpaper which were not fully sanded out before glassing, not that they were clearly visable, but they were easily seen in the sunlight at certain angles.
I think I might give it a go and see if it does the job, my plan is to buy 10 metres worth so that would mean 2 strips either side.
Just for anyone else thinking of getting some. The research I have done it seems like the 5050 strips are slightly brighter than the 3528 (numbers refer to width and spacing of the led strips) . Also the 5050 comes in 30 led’s per/m or 60 per/m - obviously more is better. Of course there are better ones out there, but they start getting expensive- unless I’m missing something these seem the best of the cheaper bunch.
ES-You are 100% correct that the regular ropes are not bright enough. The stuff I am using is a transformerless tape, plugs right into the wall and all the LED’s point out and the back is opaque. Spec’s are in the first post. -J
Edit: found a couple more pics.
I think this is really cool!
Tjrm63, where did you get them? 120 volt or transformer?
Yes. Following
The next time the ballasts go out on my flouros I’m gonna switch to LED.
Sorry for the dirty package, but it’s been sitting in my shop for 8 years. These pics are from tonight. I know this company still makes these but in a different package. When I bought these I paid $65 per side, I bought 4 of them just in case one burnt out, well they never did. I can pic any color I want and the white is super bright, also if you really want a challenge you can put it on music mode turn up your stereo and the lights change colors to the music. Listening to Dark Side Of the Moon with these on and a couple beers makes life interesting ( children don’t try this at home I’m a trained professional haha ) All I did was mount each 1’ light in a row on a 12’ board, staple the wires neatly out of the way and plug it in, they all come connected so there is no guess work.
Tom
Bright enough for me…
I tested the LED strips versus the fluorescent bulbs in my kitchen. My test apparatus is a solar cell from a LED garden light hooked up to a voltmeter. To keep reflections to a minimum, the solar cell was placed at the far end of a 2" diameter cardboard tube and the other end of the tube was placed directly on the surface of the light and angled to acheive the highest average reading. A small sliding section of kraft paper on the tube allowed me to tune it for distance.
A single strip of the LED’s I have caused a reading of 1.8 mV at 36 inches of tube. A single 4’ fluro bulb does 1.8mV at 47" of tube. The LED’s throw less light around the room so the washout effect is minimized.
-J
Pardon me if this is an ignorant question. Do they throw off a lot of heat? For me heat in the winter is good, bad in the summer. Mike
No heat, cool to the touch all day long
