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Lighting For Your South Bend

taildragger

Plastic
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
I wondered what people are using for machine lighting on their South Bend Lathes. I need to purchase some affordable lighting for my South Bend Heavy 10 and my Bridgeport. I would prefer not to drill into the machines to mount the lights. I am thinking a magnetic light or clamp on. I would like some recommendations from personal experience before I make a purchase.


Thank you in advance for any recommendations.

Taildragger
 
I wondered what people are using for machine lighting on their South Bend Lathes. I need to purchase some affordable lighting for my South Bend Heavy 10 and my Bridgeport. I would prefer not to drill into the machines to mount the lights. I am thinking a magnetic light or clamp on. I would like some recommendations from personal experience before I make a purchase.


Thank you in advance for any recommendations.

Taildragger
One of those super cheap articulated coolant nozzles, the blue and orange ones. Run wires up through it with an LED lamp at the end

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
What's wrong with the factory light? Works great. There is a tapped hole on the rear, right side of the carriage and a lamp stud is screwed into that hole. Then the standard gooseneck lamp with an E27 socket clips on to that. Why reinvent the wheel?
 
I think flex arm lights and the like SUCK. Always in the way when you are cleaning or trying to see what you are doing. The incandescent type are always ready to burn you if you touch them. the best solution is 4 8' fluorescent tubes about 3' above the chuck and centered over the bed. That is what is over my 16x60 SB. Another solution is the 6 tube T8 fixtures I have over the Leblond and the Milltronics ML20. Bridgeports flex arm light is junk as well, I have 2 4' 2 Tube fluorescent fixtures over the Bridgeports about 3' apart 90 degrees to the table, plenty of light with no shadows.
 
I think flex arm lights and the like SUCK. Always in the way when you are cleaning or trying to see what you are doing. The incandescent type are always ready to burn you if you touch them. the best solution is 4 8' fluorescent tubes about 3' above the chuck and centered over the bed. That is what is over my 16x60 SB. Another solution is the 6 tube T8 fixtures I have over the Leblond and the Milltronics ML20. Bridgeports flex arm light is junk as well, I have 2 4' 2 Tube fluorescent fixtures over the Bridgeports about 3' apart 90 degrees to the table, plenty of light with no shadows.

I completely agree with the florescent lamp solution. I do the same, but I still use two machine lamps on my mills both left and right side and an old fashioned machine light on all my lathes and grinding machines. You can never have too much light........this is especially true as we get older.
 
I agree with the overhead lighting for these machines. I ditched the fluorescent shop lights and changed to LED shop lights which seem to have a more intense light. It's a very good arrangement.

My Jet mill came with a gooseneck light attached to the head casting which, while sometimes useful for set-up, always seems to end up in the way or being hit by something. At my son's place, they use a magnetic base gooseneck light for the vertical mill and it's usually in the process of either falling off or being knocked off. Their gunsmith lathes both came with a gooseneck light that rides with the carriage and I find them to be more of a nuisance than a help most of the time.

I'd say get some good, bright overhead lighting and resort to some sort of local spot lighting if you ultimately have to have it for some reason. I'd also add that I'd avoid "hard mounting" such a spot light to the lathe because it will ultimately be in the way at some point.
 
I use some of these lamps at various spots around the shop. JANSJO LED work lamp - black - IKEA or JANSJO LED wall/clamp spotlight - black - IKEA
0098927_PE240312_S3.JPG
0375168_PE553842_S3.JPG


The desk stand light has a longer flex part and is easier to remount without the somewhat heavy base. The light is great, small and bright.

Bill
 
I completely agree with the florescent lamp solution. I do the same, but I still use two machine lamps on my mills both left and right side and an old fashioned machine light on all my lathes and grinding machines. You can never have too much light........this is especially true as we get older.

On the rare occasion that mass amounts of overhead lighting is not enough I have a Stream light stylus pro AAA flashlight that I hold in my teeth. It is bright enough to make you see spots and the battery lasts 6 hours. I hate "machine lights"
 
You can never have too much light........this is especially true as we get older.

So true. I find my thirst for women is slowly being replaced by a thirst for good lighting, lol. I feel like I am using an obscene amount of overhead lighting for the amount of shop space I have, including directly over my lathe. plus I carry a pocket flash light on me everywhere.

I'm even using a magnifying lamp on my bench for reading part numbers, close inspections.
 
On the rare occasion that mass amounts of overhead lighting is not enough I have a Stream light stylus pro AAA flashlight that I hold in my teeth. It is bright enough to make you see spots and the battery lasts 6 hours. I hate "machine lights"

Wow I thought I was the only one that did that, and with the exact same Streamlight.
 
I have a 4' shop light directly above the machine. I use an LED flashlight if I need to see something brighter. I also have can lights in the shop area for general lighting.
 
The color of the light makes a difference on how bright it appears. cool bulbs. bluish, are better for seeing details than warm bulbs. Most LEDs used are cool white which makes them seem brighter. The effect get wider as we age.
Richard
 
I made a stand to hold a cheap adjustable arm light. It can hold the light with it extended as far out as it can get.

DSCI1889.jpg

I was using the collet tray clamp to hold it, but I repurposed it to hold a tool tray that I recently made.

DSCI1890.jpg

Here's my tool tray.

DSCI1891.jpg

Here's the stand by itself.

DSCI1893.jpg

It is held to the bed by three strong magnets that I glued to a piece of 6"x6"x3/4" plate. I drilled and tapped a hole for a piece of 1/2" galvanized pipe that I had lying around. I got the magnets from the bottom of some 6" parts holders that I bought from Harbor Freight.

DSCI1895.jpg
 
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...Ue&pd_rd_r=QB05R3SVT86E5532FAJW&pd_rd_w=vkynS

Lets see how long you wear one of these head lights on a Ohio summer night, Millions of bugs flying around your head!!!

It was a suggestion to use it on the lathe. My lathe is inside.

here is a rechargeable for 25.00
LED Headlamp, 8 Lumen Bright Headlight, 4 Modes with Rechargeable Batteries, Waterproof HeadTorch for Camping, Hiking, Hunting, Fishing, Running - - Amazon.com
 
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I just, like last night, stuck a $40 4' led from Lowe's right over the lathe. Thought about just screwing it to the ceiling about a foot up, but also wanted it as close as I could. This makes the 7th 4' light in my 20*20 garage. I should have put a light over the lathe when I first put the lathe in. Now to figure out something for the mill.
 

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