Is this a dumb idea

Hang a 4ft LED shop light from chains over your lathe at the height and location that works best for you.
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This is something I have been debating on myself recently, and some other re-wiring issues in my basement shop. At the moment, I am pulling out my iPhone at times to use the built in flashlight feature, but there should be a better way. LOL
 
I use an articulated arm lighted magnifier on each of my lathes. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Clamp-on-S...662536?hash=item284e7f60c8:g:fxMAAOSw7rdaY24F
I replaced the incandescent bulbs with A19 LED's . Plenty of light, no heat, and relatively immune to breakage.
I made my own socket from 1/4" black pipe. The lamp is mounted at the right rear of the lathe and will swing to cover the entire working envelope of the lathe.
The magnification is great for detail work and the lamp easily swings out of the way.
 
Magnets won't work. The cover is aluminum.
I have a headlamp that I have used when crawling into dark places on my boat and at other times. The problem that I have found with led headlamps is that the light beam is very directional and has to be pointed directly at what you want illuminated.
The lathe has to stay where it is. My garage is not large and like every garage is filled with stuff. My metal working stuff is in the back left corner of my garage and the woodworking stuff is in the right front corner All of the rest of the wall space has either has builtin shelving or work benches. My MG Midget, currently under going a resurrection, and it's stuff takes up most of the floor space. And even the back left corner has issues. The builder of the home for some unknown dumb reason brought the waterline for the house up through the garage floor roughly 2' from the side wall and 4' from the back wall. The lathe barely has room to fit between this pipe and a side door and my mill/drill barely fits along the back wall between the pipe and the door to the house.
I like the idea of the articulated light because it would be easy to move around to where it is needed. But I wonder if it would be long enough. It is 3 1/2' to 4' from the back right corner of the lathe to the chuck area where the light is needed the most.
I will try placing a piece of plywood to cover the bottom half of the window and see if that helps. I will also try mounting the light that came with the lathe on the left front corner of the bench and see how that works out.

I appreciate everyone's suggestions. Thanks
 
I mounted the light that came with the lathe in the left front corner of the bench and I think that it will work. Seems to be out of the way and lights up the front of the lathe where I need light. Even with full sun coming in the window this morning. The window faces east.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions.
 
Personally I'm not real fond of mounting things on the machine itself-switches or lights- the bench mount light sounds good
Mark
 
I am still experimenting with how I like this lamp and will likely put in a couple more holes in the shelf as required.

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I've just replaced the 50W Halogen bulb in the lathe machine light with a 5W COBB L.E.D. 6500K and the light is soooo much better! I still have the problem with reading the dials so use a small L.E.D. torch. When I get around to it I want to make some small hoods to mount L.E.D.'s in to shine directly onto the dials. I was thinking a piece of perspex with a hood. The light spill fromm the edge would be fine and directional plus it could be curved very easily for mounting.
 
It seems like the OP has solved his problem to his satisfaction, but I just wanted to jump in with a "Me Too" post :beguiled:

A friend pointed me at 4 foot hanging LED fixtures from WalMart for <$20. So far I've bought 6. Four in the garage, one over my model building bench and one over my lathe. Excellent light!

I also keep a small, inexpensive single A-cell LED flashlight by the lathe. As others have posted, it's just the ticket for peeking up bores or spotlighting hard to read dials. My eyes haven't gotten older, they're just making the print smaller...:rolleyes:
 
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