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As the subject line suggests, I'm looking for recos on task lighting. Ideally articulated and ideally not costing a mint.

These 58 year old eyes are hurting

Thanks in advance

Steve

I don't have a recommendation. I am still using an old incandescent bulb affair. These days I would look into an LED light kind of like the ones they show under Task Lighting on amazon. They do have some pretty nice looking ones but are they any good? I guess that is your question.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Some one gave me some track lights. I put a strip down the center of the room and can place the lights to shine on the machines and areas I'm working in. I have low ceilings so I can reach up and adjust the cans to point the way I want them.

I'm using a drafting lamp on an articulated arm that I got from Amazon a couple years ago on one of my benches. It has both a circular fluorescent bulb (25 W) and a socket for an incandescent or CFL bulb (60 or 19W) in the center. Each bulb has its own switch so you can have one or the other, or both on. I find that having the choice of light sources is useful since some things show better under one type of light than the other. Both on at the same time gives a pretty good amount of light for close work. I like the handle on the lamp shroud. It makes it very easy to reposition the lamp as needed.

There are several brands of this lamp on Amazon that are essentially the same but with widely different prices so look carefully. Mine also has an outlet in the base/clamp which is useful. Some versions don't have that feature.

This is the only combo lamp like this that I've been able to find at a reasonable price. Be warned though, the switches that control each light source are cheapo. Other than that, I like it.

http://www.amazon.com/Ledu-L445BK-Professional-Fluorescent-Incandescent/dp/B001B097C0/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1420344042&sr=8-22&keywords=drafting+lamp+light

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I'm upgrading to LED throughout the house by attrition. After putting two LEDs on my workbench articulating lamps, I won't go back. I HATED the spiral flouro bulbs, and prayed that was not the future of lighting! I have the "daylight" LEDs, and while they do display colors very nicely, they are a little harsh at the same time. Going to trial the soft whites and see if they provide adequate illumination, while being easier on the peepers.

Just bought 4 of these for my shop and I move them around to wherever I need them at the time. No regrets and the price is right at $19.99 each.

http://www.lowes.com/SearchCatalogDispl ... k+led+lamp

The LED lights they make for aquariums have great color balance. There are some clip on types and many others available. The new LED lights are everywhere now. They light up all the candy bars at the check out isle with these. Great color and very bright! As a bonus they use very little power and give off no heat.

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http://www.cushmanguitars.com/.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

I use a salvaged halogen desk lamp which puts out an enormous amount of light, is articulated and is my favorite task light in the shop. The drawbacks are the heat from the halogen bulb and the inefficiency compared to led, but halogen lamps are becoming very cheap compared to some of the new led's.
I just searched halogen desk lamp on ebay and there alot of very reasonably priced choices.

B

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Steve buddy we have the same age eyes... so I can relate....

What works very well for me is T8 approx. 4000K overheads and task lighting at every work station/bench. For the task lighting we like the old style drafting lights loaded with a 26W GE CFL that produces around 100W of light. The CFLs from GE are a bit on the yellow side which is good in so much as using multiple lights of different color spectrums seems to give me the best view possible.

Since the task lighting is at times in close proximity to the guitar/b*njo/mando etc it's a bonus that the CFLs don't produce the heat of the older incandescent bulbs and they last a long time too.

I'm a sucker for the old style gooseneck ones with the pressed shade. Old ones still get a fair price on ebay with old wiring etc...

I spent some time and realized you could make custom ones from parts for not crazy $$$. The shade is here:
http://www.grandbrass.com/SearchShowIte ... ber=SHPBBR

The same website has the sockets that screw in and goosenecks are available from a few places that also fit in and allow for any size/stiffness.

It is purely an aesthetic thing, I like how they look and the gooseneck makes positioning pretty easy.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I'm also using a halogen desk lamp. It was my father-in-laws... It has a small shade, maybe 2"x 3", and a long arm, which allow the lamp to sit in the corner of a 6' bench, and be extended past the center of the bench. It also has a weighted base, so it's easy to move somewhere else if needed. My eyes aren't quite as old as yours, but close..!

Cheers, M

OttLite FlexArm Plus

I found one at Jo-Anne's Fabric for 50% off. It's very bright, and I like the color of light.

I just started using this a while ago and love it.
With the 3/4" bushing it's easy to move to different parts of the shop.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.a ... 43465&ap=1