Hi,
Im about to set up the sidelights for my shaping room and im not sure how much above from the shaping stands the lights should be.
How height from your stands do you have yours?
Thanks,
TR
hey dude
first you define how high you want your stands to be
then, you think about how thick your boards will be, and then add the lights accordingly
so, say the height of your stands is your belly button [very pleasant height] then you add, say, 4 inches of space to install the lights.
the lights should have a cover on top that extends pretty far from the wall into the room towards the blank
that way it really shines the light horizontally towards the board
we dutchies call that kind of light -strijklicht- which could be translated as -floodlighting- according to google
cheers, wouter
Hi,
I like to shape with the blank at the high of my belly button, and that makes stands + blank at 1,10m.
In shaping 101 John Carper says the lights should be 6’’ (+/-15cms) above the blank, i’ve been testing the lights I have ready to set up and Im wondering if that wouldnt be too much light, 4’’ like Wouter recommends sounds better to me, what do you think of that?
Whats the distance you guys have at your own shaping room? ( distance between stands and lights )
Thanks,
TR
I'd advise setting your lights with some means for adjustment. 4'' or 5'' with 2'' either way of adjustment will give you room to find the level perfect for you. There isn't a ''right'' height.
It's your call. Get your racks set to accomodate the blank thickness you will be shaping. Above waist (belly-button) has always worked good for me. It gets my for-arms and hands upward when the blank is flat on the rack. Less fatigue. "Nipple high" is too high for me. Set you lights above the blank so that they cast light across the blank. If you are shaping SUP's, especially thick blanks etc. you can adjust your shaping rack an inch or two to get more light across the blank. I've never shaped in a room with adjustable lights, but have seen guys set their lights up on chains so that they can lower or raise them. Lights are usually stationary in most rooms, but racks are adjustable so you have a little lee-way. I walked into a room last week at a glassing factory that I had never shaped in. The lights were good. The rack was at a heigth I could live with. So no problema. Get the Skil outta the bag and go to it. I try to never mess with another guy's rack if I can get out of it. If I do I always mark where it was with tape, put it back where it was and tighten when done. It's just downright rude to mess with another shapers rack and not put it back exactly, even in a community shaping room. Oh, and I always leave the room cleaner than I found it.
I measured at work today. I'm running lights +5'' (centerline of 2 bulb fixture) over top of rack padding.
mike,
that is smart,could you explain more, i dont fully understand
how thick are your lights, and …
what is the center line of 2 bulb fixture? 2 horizontally adjacent TL’s? [TL, Tube Luminescent, or fluorescent ligths].
fixture is where you put the copper 2 pins in horizontally, do you mean bulb=pin?
cheers Mr shaper!
wouter
I could have explained that better, but I was trying to use as few words as possible. ''Bulb'' was not the correct word to use, either.
I'm using a 2 tube fixture, one above the other horizontally. The centerline I referenced would run horizontally between the 2 tubes, down the center of the fixture. That centerline is 5'' above the top of my (padded) rack.
Hi Mike!
Thanks for the reply, i understand it now!
Can i ask another question?
How large is the overhang on top of that fixture you use?
And do you use that overhang for putting shaping tools on?
Are all your walls blue?
I ask because sometimes i would prefer maybe a black wall at the end of the bay, more contrast.
Then sidewalls blue, where the lights are…
Thanks so far!
Wouter
W, the overhang is 7.5'', and it is a tool/template/etc. shelf.
I used the dark blue with black endwall combo for years. After you do a LOT of boards, your eye develops to the point that you don't need as much contrast. My current room is medium green.
My experience is deeper in general mill/craft shop setup so take this with a grain of salt where dedicated shaping rooms are concerned.
Instead of the belly button height, Mcding mentioned the forearm which is what I’ve always used when setting up handwork benches in shops (mill/handcraft/shaping/etc…) - more specifically, the relation of the forearm to the tool face.
Basically, grab the tools you use most often, hold your forearm at the rest position angle (determined by the position most comfortable when sanding, planing or performing any other continuous long stroke craft activity) then measure from the base of the tool to the floor.
Subtract your typical board/work thickness and that’s your stand/support height.
Mike(?) mentions general bulb heights and the ability to move the lights up and down along with a tool shelf which is pretty important unless you’re building the same thing over and over again. The tool shelf serves two functions - handy space for resting tools/materials but maybe more importantly, shielding for light. The latter matters because you want to see shadowing on the work and staring into the light can obscure that.
My space is asymmetrical (the work table is closer to on wall than the other) so the height of the lights and the shelf sizing is also different on both walls.
Wall color? Personal taste but darker blues for guys seems to coincide with how we’re built.
Hope that helps.
Had not thought of green - getting ready to paint the new studio now that it’s about done so going to try a couple of samples.
Might be asking for input from y’all to help determine the final color selection because it’s going to have to look good on web cams and in pics for bid’ness porpoises.
Correction: my light shelves are 8.5'' wide.
Brian, I suggested the OP rig his lights adjustably so he could dial in the right height for his preference; mine are on conduit electrical lines so they are fixed. My racks are adjustable so if I have a one off that's way thicker or thinner than normal I can adjust rack height to normalize lighting (and that puts the work surface at ''normal'' height). 99% of what I do is between 2'' and 3'' thick so the rack stays put most of the time.
None of this is intended as a ''guide'', it's just what I use. I've seen guys with rack and light heights much different from mine. Height of user certainly comes into play for ''work height'', but then there's still some personal preference involved. For example, Greg Loehr and I both like the top of rack at 41'', even though he's 2''-3'' inches taller than me. Also, I might have my lights a little higher than someone who does mostly flat or convex bottoms - I need to see down into some pretty deep concaves.