shaping lights need advice

Archive 1999-2004
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can one get away with one 8ft. fluorescent light from one side for shaping his first board. or is one on each side recommended? also should there be light above the blank?

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can one get away with one 8ft. fluorescent light from one side for shaping > his first board. or is one on each side recommended? also should there be > light above the blank? …my first board I shaped,and glassed… was done in daylight,my second one was done with one 4 foot single side light.So far you are starting out better than I did.Herb.Oh Yea, a overhead light isn’t as important as your sides.

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thanks for the info herb,going to attempt to shape for my kids,can’t wait to get started. thank’s again,isaac

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can one get away with one 8ft. fluorescent light from one side for shaping > his first board. or is one on each side recommended? also should there be > light above the blank? Isaac, Herb is on it with the advise that lights are needed on both sides. Overhead is unimportant. Years ago I had a room that was so narrow, how narrow was it? It was so narrow that I had only one 4 footer along one wall and a cheap door mirror glued to the opposite wall to bounce the light back to the other rail. I was doing really short boards at the time, so the 4 foot light was okay. My room is really long and I have an 8 foot and 4 foot butted to each other. 12 feet of light is great, I do quite a few 11 and 12 footers, so long lights are neccesary for me. I have 12 foot overhead light also, I use this for boards with a lot of offset stringers, I turn off the side lights, put the board on its rail and sand it on edge. This lets the glue balls that come out of the edge of the stringers fall away without scratching up the surface of the foam. Jim Phillips

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thanks for the info herb,going to attempt to shape for my kids,can’t wait > to get started.>>> thank’s again,isaac Isaac, If you have room and a workable budget side lights for each side is optimal. If you live in So. Cal. contact me. I used to be an electrician and have done lighting for several shaping rooms and would be willing to give you a hand if you are in the area. Height is important as well as having a shelf over them to better direct the light. If you can have each side switched independantly that is a nice option sometimes. My e-mail is

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can one get away with one 8ft. fluorescent light from one side for shaping > his first board. or is one on each side recommended? also should there be > light above the blank? You can, just as you can shape a board with a cheap planer. Nothing wrong with that. Of course, the optimal lighting is to have two side lights. I’d invest the money, if you quit shaping they make good garage lights. Another important bit of advice when mounting the lights. Take a blank whose bottom shell has been skinne–you know, with all those planer marks. Set it on the shaping rack with the bottom facing up. Now, turn the lights on and raise and lower the light until you can see all of the imperfections. Too high and it will look like it is over lit and too low and the blank will be over shadowed. That sweet spot just in between is what you are looking for. Good luck. Steve in San Diego

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Alright, I’ve moved from an extra room in the house to a dank, dark garage.

I want to buy a cheap fluorescent 4 ft long, then either shift the board or light to an opposite wall to get my work done.

Everything is on the cheap right now.

 

The ones I’m looking at take 2 32w T8 lamps and ‘plug-in’

Is there anything wrong with the 2 lamp approach and its maybe low wattage?

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Fluorescent-Lighting-Strip-Fluorescents/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhcZarlu/R-100427195/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Fluorescent-Lighting-Strip-Fluorescents/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhcZarlu/R-100427185/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

Do you think I’ll be vastly underpowered to get by?

Any recommendations?