# Mill work light brightness question



## dan2116 (Apr 19, 2017)

Have been looking at posts of machine work lights but wanted to ask what lumin range is best for a led light on a PM25-MV or like mill. Thank you


----------



## RJSakowski (Apr 19, 2017)

I have between 800 and 900 lumens on my machines but it depends on how far from the work the illumination is and how well focused it is.  My distances run from3 to 15 inches from the work.


----------



## dan2116 (Apr 19, 2017)

Thank you RJ. I was looking at a small led light sold by Northern tool ( 1050 lumens ) and do not know what is enough light and or too much.  Think I will give them a try. Thanks again for your help.


----------



## Rustrp (Apr 19, 2017)

I'm not a big fan of LED lighting because the engineers are still working on the daylight/natural sunlight formula. I'm more in tune with the correct lighting as I get older due to the quality of my eysight. I'm fortunate to have good eyesight but I do use reading glasses for up close and personal, so anything that produces light closest to sunlight (indirect) is what I like the best. I think all the energy saving lighting trends available today are good for making sure can find your way around without bumping ito things, but to date I haven't found anything but a flourescent bulb or tube that's suitable for close work. I'm speaking of the ones with a sunlight color rating.


----------



## pineyfolks (Apr 19, 2017)

I've got these on my machines. I bolted them on without the base. They do make a clamp on model too. For $10 you can't beat them. The hardest thing to do is eliminate shadows around the mill and these work pretty well since they're small enough and have along enough flex shaft to position them about anywhere.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/


----------



## higgite (Apr 19, 2017)

I have 2 of these 20 LED magnetic lights from Amazon on my bench mill. One on each side of the mill head to eliminate shadows. I have no idea how many lumens, but plenty more than enough. They also make a 10 LED model.

Tom


----------



## dan2116 (Apr 19, 2017)

I ran onto a halo light with magnets that is placed on the bottom of the quill . Looks like it would work very well.


----------



## ddickey (Apr 20, 2017)

higgite said:


> I have 2 of these 20 LED magnetic lights from Amazon on my bench mill. One on each side of the mill head to eliminate shadows. I have no idea how many lumens, but plenty more than enough. They also make a 10 LED model.
> 
> Tom


I have one of those too but find the light to soft. I believe I have the ten LED though.


----------



## woodchucker (Jun 14, 2017)

higgite said:


> I have 2 of these 20 LED magnetic lights from Amazon on my bench mill. One on each side of the mill head to eliminate shadows. I have no idea how many lumens, but plenty more than enough. They also make a 10 LED model.
> 
> Tom


I bought a 30 light unit looks like this.
I don't think it is that bright.  Less than I would have expected.
Instead I recently added an articulating lamp with a 100w led equiv. I don't think the LED is giving 100w equiv since my light meter (photo light meter) barely moves betwee a 60w  and 100w . But I think the daylight helped more.


----------



## Buffalo20 (Jun 14, 2017)

I standardized on, 2 of the 600 lumen, LED bulbs (par 15)  from Home Depot (Phillips) and Lowe's (Sylvania), with the standard bulb connection, then use a goose-neck lamp on both sides of the spindle.


----------



## AGCB97 (Jun 14, 2017)

Your eyes are the same age as mine! They need lots of light. I put 2 LED spot lights on each of my mill and lathe. These ARE THE 3 1/2" DIAMETER ONES AND USED THE ROTATOR TYPE MOUNTS FOR THEM. Get all the light you can get. Search online for a decent price on multiples.
Aaron


----------



## RJSakowski (Jun 14, 2017)

A19 LED lamps, 60 watt equivalent, about 750 lumens, are available for  under $2.  I accidentally popped the spherical diffuser off when I dropped my trouble light.  I measured the light output from the altered light at more than 5000 lux (lumens/m^2) @ 14", more than 5x what I measured from a 60 watt incandescent bulb and 4x what was measured from an unaltered light.  The bulb that I was using was a Zilotek 60 watt equivalent.

LED's have a natural illumination angle of 120º so that instead of light that is dispersed in a 360º angle , the light is concentrated in a tight cone.  In the LED world, this is expressed as efficacy which is a measure of useful light.  The result is that I had an intense and uniform illumination of my work surface with no interfering scattered light.  It also had a shorter profile which lessened the chance of interference with my work or fixturing.

The one issue that had to be dealt with was that the raw LED's were now exposed, creating the possibility of an electrical short or damage to the LED.  This can be eliminated by machining a snap-on clear lens to replace the OEM diffuser.


----------



## RJSakowski (Jun 14, 2017)

woochucker said:


> I bought a 30 light unit looks like this.
> I don't think it is that bright.  Less than I would have expected.
> Instead I recently added an articulating lamp with a 100w led equiv. I don't think the LED is giving 100w equiv since my light meter (photo light meter) barely moves betwee a 60w  and 100w . But I think the daylight helped more.


If you were using a photographic light meter, I believe that they peak in the green part of the spectrum.  white LED's have relatively low output in the green region, especially the daylight types.  I made my measurements with an app on my smart phone which I think favors the blue region.  I found that the 100 watt equivalent LED put out more the twice the light that a 150 watt equivalent compact fluorescent did which prompted me to replace all the CFL's in my shop with LED's.


----------



## Eddyde (Jun 14, 2017)

Here's a link to a light I modified to fit on my mill:
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/pimp-my-mill.40057/


----------



## jbolt (Jun 15, 2017)

Eddyde said:


> Here's a link to a light I modified to fit on my mill:
> http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/pimp-my-mill.40057/



 +1 what Eddyde posted. Works really well.


----------



## Cobra (Jun 15, 2017)

I have always subscribed to the belief that there can never be too much light.
I use two 1400 lumen LED lamps on arms mounted on either side of the column and a 156 LED Halo lamp around the spindle.
The halo light evens out any shadows from the side lamps.


----------



## kd4gij (Jun 15, 2017)




----------



## Alittlerusty (Jun 15, 2017)

I've been carrying one bulb back and forth between the mill and the lathe think it's a 75  watt lol


----------

