in your shaping bay how are your florescent side directional lights placed? I have noticed some shapers attach them to the wall with the bulbs facing out while others have them attached to the bottom of the shelf facing downwards. I have mine facing downwards but I am thinking that facing out would be better?
anyone? was my question that stupid? anyone?
ya only gotta think about it. It’s not a stupid question, but there are some very quick answers IF you pause for just a mo.
The under-shelf mount means that you won’t have the light in your eyes, in a dark room, giving you a glare headache.
A shelf is nice to have, otherwise all your tools go on the floor.
The light rays don’t know if the bulb is horizontal, or … horizontal. You seem not to know/realize this either.
'Bout all that really matters is the height fo the lights relative to the shape on the rack
hey thanks, never said I didn’t have or didn’t want a shelf but whatever. I was just wondering about optimol directional placement of the light. I have seen shapers that mount the lights under the shelf but to the wall with bulb facing out. I have mine facing down…sorry if my post was kind of vague
picture of my light. >
Mine are on the wall so both tubes provide some light on the subject. I don’t think you are getting much use out of the one closest to the wall. Threw in a coupla pics of two recent boards…hot coated …not sanded.
Krokus
Place a mirror along the wall, behind your bulb, for more horizontal lighting.
Some shapers like to feel the rails with both hands, holding the board over their heads, and also LOOK at the rail they are feeling…hard to do with little light up over your eyes.
Most shapers like the ceiling height well taller than the length of their boards, if possible. Sometimes constraints don’t allow this.
As Hono stated, light coming off the bulbs don’t have a specific direction, they just emanate outwards.
Krokus, nice simple, clean and organized shaping shed you got there. I envy you. nice looking boards . LeeD, I am not having problems the lights and shaping. I hardly make measurements after I cut out the template. I sight and feel shape without any problem. I sometimes shape longboards under the Macadamia trees because my shaping room has a low ceiling and tight entry. I just wanted to know how others placed(wall or underside of shelf) there lights. Thanks for the input.
Dave Jorgenson has his shaping lights mounted in a way that makes sense…
Vertical shelf tracks (with the little slots) and brackets so light boxes can be moved up or down until they’re the way you like 'em. What seems right at first glance might be improved later by shifting up or down an inch or two.
I’ve also seen triple sets of lights connected to switch box so you use 90 degree side lights, 45 degree and overhead either seperate or combined.
Krokus,
Do you shape boards in that room or perform brain surgery? Kidding. I shape in an open car port. The light is hard to control,but the view is killer. I like your little swallowtail, too. Mike
i have single (not double) tubes only and they are fixed to the wall. the shelf over is cut to a width that stops me seeing the lights when standing in the centre of my room. i don’t reckon you want light in your eyes because in light-controlled spaces you want to keep your pupils dilated…that way you see more
i then have a fin that is fixed at 45 degrees to the wall, located immediately under the lights. this pushes the light more horizontally into the room…with less ‘waste’ down the wall.
like someone else said about mirrors…i use polished metal strips clamped to my wall fins to help shed more light where i want it…
and stop it going where i dont.
sniff … I want a shaping bay.
Shipman, Another variation on lighting is to switch each light individually. After some shaping, if you light up one side only you’ll be able to see lots of things that you didn’t see before. (Dang! I thought I had that perfect…now look at it.) Doug
I changed them to the wall. nice and more direct lighting now. thanks.
Doug. yeah I had my other lights were set up so I could do that. it was strange how those shadows would appeared with one side on. I stopped doing that because I would tend to over shape sometimes.