Work bench Light

Moore Bettah Ukuleles

Moore Bettah Ukuleles

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I'm looking for a GOOD quality bench light. I've been through countless swing arm style lamps that are commonly available at home improvement and office supply shops. Some last several months, others only a few weeks. They keep falling apart and just don't last. I've upgraded many with beefier hardware at the joints but sooner or later they all fail. I need something that is fully adjustable and STAYS put. I keep 100 watt bulbs in them but eventually the heat makes the fittings fail. I'm using CFL lights now but the weight seems to be a bit much for these cheap lamps. I had someone offer me a dental examination light but they run about $3000.
I'm thinking it might be best just to build a wall mounted lamp along the lines of those nice articulated binding channel routing fixtures.
Thanks for the help.
 
Most of the stuff you get from retail stores is going to be useless. Take a look in the McMaster-Carr or Grangier Industrial catalogs and you'll probably find what you need. I've never gotten a low-quality product from either company.

I have a fluorescent bench lamp very similar to one McMaster sells that's at least 25 years old that saw daily use for at least 20 of those years and still stays put.

EDIT: I just remembered that you like to keep your use of resources down. Dazor makes a LED bench light that's very similar in design to mine.

--Mark
 
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Thanks Mark, I'll look into those sources. I've done Internet searches before but I mostly ran into home decor kind of lighting. I don't mind using power, I can generate plenty. I've never used flourescent or LED lights. I'm fond of incandescant lights because I can aim the light exactly where I want. In doing inlay work I rely on working with the reflected line I see mostly. That's why even the brightest ambient light won't work for me. The down side of incandescents is the heat they generate.
 
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LEDs run a lot cooler and suck up less energy, however, it's tough to get a good beam. The tints on LEDs also change the color, even for the warmest of LED tints. Incandescent bulbs will give you the best "true" color of your work but you'll need to deal with the heat. I have a 100w maglite conversion that I built that is plenty bright, 4400 lumens, and can start fires with newspaper..but the battery only lasts 8 minutes, simply a useless toy.

Here's some industrial "looking" swing lights. Perhaps the gooseneck lights with less swiveling parts would work better?

http://www.forlights.com/Lighting/Industrial-Lights
 
Uluapnder, You're right about the goosenecks having fewer joints to melt and wear, out but the reach on them tends to be limited and they really don't hold an exact position well. Eight minutes for a flashlight that'll burn my shop down? I'll take a dozen!
Thanks to Mark I think I found the light I need from Mcmaster-Carr. An amazing place, they have everything it seems. From their website:
Clamp-Mount Fluorescent/Incandescent Light with Handle— The two types of bulbs together provide a more natural light. Each bulb has its own switch, so you can use fluorescent light, incandescent light, or both. Has a handle for easy positioning, 6.6-amp three-prong outlet in the base, and a three-prong plug. Fits surfaces up to 2 1/4". $98.00
It will be nice to have three lighting options in one lamp.
Mahalo!
 
Glad I could help.

McMaster is really amazing. I forget the number of items they carry, but it's something on the order of half a million.

--Mark
 
When I worked in the US I had a basement workshop, no natural light and I struggled to get any useful form of lighting into my workshop. Now in the UK they have stopped selling 100w incandescent bulbs - so glad I don't have a lot of inlay work. Don't know if you have one of these Chuck...
 
As I mentioned Pete I use reflected light at a very low angle when doing most of my inlay work so shining a light directly on my work wouldn't help. (I rarely even look directly at my work.) I also use four or five different powers of glasses so that would become cumbersome. I've already ordered the light from McMaster-Carr.
Right now I use 150watt compact flourescent and I'm pretty happy with the bulb itself. The color seems OK but I prefer incandescent.
 
I can't help but imagine you using one of those huge stadium lights making a little soprano ukulele.
 
PoisonDart said:
I'm so glad I live close enough to McMaster to pick up orders same day.

They are fantastic.
Click to expand...

My new light is the best I've ever had in the shop by far--bright and clean! And I can use the incandescent or florescent light independently or together. It cost just around $100 it should outlast all my other ones. The down side is that it cost me $95 to ship it. The post office sticker said it weighed 57 pounds but in fact it weighed less than a third of that. The box was also beat up and barely taped together. Maybe 40 pounds of something fell out of it along the way! In any event, I'd pay $200 for this lamp any day. It's that good. Thanks for everyone's help. Now I can start doing some nice inlays!
 
Pete Howlett said:
Now in the UK they have stopped selling 100w incandescent bulbs -
Click to expand...

Home bargains have packs of 4 for 99p.

I don't think they have been phased out yet, it's just that everyone is now buying low energy bulbs instead. I think eventually that the government do have plans to stop their use. Personally I can't see why they have focussed so heavily on this when the average kettle uses 3000 watts and my electric shower uses 10,500 watts!! If I have calculated correctly, one minute of my shower's electricity would power an 11watt low energy bulb for over 15 hours!

Ian.
 
Standard low energy bulbs don't work on dimmer switches:(..You have to buy the "very expensive" types C/W transformers if you want dimming.
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
My new light is the best I've ever had in the shop by far--bright and clean! And I can use the incandescent or florescent light independently or together. It cost just around $100 it should outlast all my other ones. The down side is that it cost me $95 to ship it. The post office sticker said it weighed 57 pounds but in fact it weighed less than a third of that. The box was also beat up and barely taped together. Maybe 40 pounds of something fell out of it along the way! In any event, I'd pay $200 for this lamp any day. It's that good. Thanks for everyone's help. Now I can start doing some nice inlays!
Click to expand...
Googled workbench light and ended up here. Couldn't find a model matching this description though at McMaster. Do you have a model number on your light? Thanks Chuck
 
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