Insulation

It would probably be better and more energy efficient to have a fewer number of 8ft flouri's, and arrange it so that you can switch them in pairs so you can turn off those you don't need.

Localised overhead light is always needed, so arrange one above the lathe but fit a reflector back as well.

Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Luton, UK snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

I will definately be painting walls etc white. But what about the floor?

Blow me. That's more that just a few :-)

tungsten lamps over that part of the

My worries as well, hence asking about spot or other lighting in strategic positions. What about having a fitting.s right over each machine? I think I will experiment by having the fittings on long leads and varying their position. Could become a little expensive, but . . what price eyesight and being able to see what you're machining. I also intend to control them by way of pull switches, and have all my plug points up on the beams so I can use all wall space for storage/shelves, except those points at back of work bench.

All I need to do now is unpack all the cases/boxes in the garage to make space to use my woodworking machines to build shelves to store my collection of magazines and books, but not having any shelves yet, I cannot unpack the cases to make room . . . . . . . . Merry-go-round time! But you have all come up against this problem I'm sure. What solutions have any of you thought up? Could be interesting to hear ;-) Regards GeoffH Norfolk

Hello Andrew, Thanks for the response.

What tubes do you use? Normal or daylight?

Was thinking of using them, but never thought of them getting in the way. More money to spend on the essentials now - tools. Cheers Geoff

Geoff,

When they were installed they were normal tubes, but as they 'go' I'm replacing them with daylights.

Andrew

For general lighting 2x40 watt fluorescent lights and spotlights for the specific areas.

Pale grey lino, sorry PVC. I wanted a smooth impermiable surface for easy sweeping and mopping of spilt oil.

Well only 8 were actually bought for the job. All the other lights became available for re-use when I rewired the house.

watt tungsten lamps over that part of the

B&Q had some low voltage lights on telescopic arms for £5 that I fitted over the lathe. They give a good light but didn't twist to the angles I wanted when facing off or boring out. I haven't found a cheap solution yet.

A good idea though I dislike trailing leads - swarf always manages to wrap around them.

I put all my power sockets at chest height as virtually all hand-held power tools are supplied with short cables. Black and Decker tools are the worst in this respect, which is just one of the reasons I will not buy them any more.

Cliff Coggin Kent UK

At the moment there are a couple of 6' fluorescent tubes (and a third in the attic that a little light trickles through from). Mush to my surprise they seem to light all the room quite well, although I'm sure once I start working on the machines I'll need individual lights on those -and I'll probably put one over the main workbench. I think the main reason that so few lights work so well is that the ceiling is quite a good height (just over 8'). In my last workshop, which was less than half the size two fluorescent tubes gave nowhere near as much light, but the ceiling was lower.

Regards

Kevin

Was there not a concern at one time that Illumination by Fluorescent tubes could cause the hazard of making rotating machinery appear stationary by strobe effect . Industrial Lathes usually seemed to come with a conventional lamp but with small variable speed ones coming onto the market, aimed more at general model makers rather than model engineers is it possible that some one working with one clamped to Kitchen table could have an accident?

G.Harman

Hello Cliff, Thanks for the info.

Did you do anything to the floor before laying the PVC? I'm thinking of applying concrete paint.

Thanks for the heads-up. Must check this before buying.

Only until I've sorted their positions, and then I will cut to length and fix onto beams.

I haven't bought any such tools for yonks so haven't noticed this. But the hand drill that is about 50 years old has a pretty useless lead, and I always have to use the wind up extension. So nothing much has changed in the years by the sound of it. Regards GeoffH Norfolk

I lined my basement witn reject grade ply. One thing to do is to paint it - use the cheapest white acrylic housepaint you can get. It helps a lot with lightening the place up a bit. I also painted the floor with a light grey epoxy paint. Also recommended as it makes cleaning up a lot easier, seals and protects the concrete a bit. Follow the instructions for etching and mixing v. carefully. Geoff