Danray/Moffet vs. McMaster work light for a B-port?

Looking for a couple replacement work lights for a mill. Would like to avoid buying junk. Sunnex, Waldman, Dazor are top notch, but priced over the top for me. Thinking about something more in the middle like this with the direct mount base, not magnetic - made in USA.

Danray Products LLC: Snake-Arm Lamps

This one appears to be the same light.

(No Bulb included) Task Light, Direct Mount Base – Moffatt Products

Or McMaster has an LED flex arm work light, which is sealed. The "Any-Which-Way-Arm Machine Lights (model C)

McMaster-Carr

Has anyone tried either of these lights? My main concerns are durability, and will the goosenecks slowly move with vibration?

The McMaster comes with an LED. The Danray comes with a standard incandescent bulb socket. Any reason a more durable LED standard socket bulb couldn't be used in the fixture?

The McMaster looks to have an 8" longer gooseneck which would seem to offer more versatility. Neither is IP65 rated, but the McMaster looks more sealed?

Anyone have a review they could offer?

For machine task lighting, I use what looks to me to be the same as that halogen AWW Model-C for 100 bucks, except mine is magnetic-base, not screwdown. It is excellent. It has absolutely reliable stays-put strength. The flexible arm ditto - you bend it as you want it and there it stays, without droop. I like the color temp of the halogen bulb and have never had a bothersome heat problem with it; it provides all the illumination I want; bulb life is more than acceptable. I also use Dazors around the shop and like them a lot.

As to the typical gooseneck lights you see all over in the 20- to 50-buck range, I have never liked them - wimpy-droopy arms most of them, cheesy switches, and inadequate mountings, like that c-clamp bracket in your Danray link. I am sure there are exceptions, but I am willing to pay the price for the solid lighting that I want and know.

-Marty-

I replaced the standard incandescent bulbs in my mill lights with off the shelf LED bulbs.

Randalthor said:

Looking for a couple replacement work lights for a mill. Would like to avoid buying junk. Sunnex, Waldman, Dazor are top notch, but priced over the top for me. Thinking about something more in the middle like this with the direct mount base, not magnetic - made in USA.

Danray Products LLC: Snake-Arm Lamps

This one appears to be the same light.

(No Bulb included) Task Light, Direct Mount Base – Moffatt Products

Or McMaster has an LED flex arm work light, which is sealed. The "Any-Which-Way-Arm Machine Lights (model C)

McMaster-Carr

Has anyone tried either of these lights? My main concerns are durability, and will the goosenecks slowly move with vibration?

The McMaster comes with an LED. The Danray comes with a standard incandescent bulb socket. Any reason a more durable LED standard socket bulb couldn't be used in the fixture?

The McMaster looks to have an 8" longer gooseneck which would seem to offer more versatility. Neither is IP65 rated, but the McMaster looks more sealed?

Anyone have a review they could offer?

Click to expand...

I would recommend getting this instead
VISION 3.5 LED RING LIGHT 126 LEDS CNC R8 KNEE MILL BRIDGEPORT PROTOTRAK IP68 | eBay

Pricey but I have one and it's fantastic

Marty Feldman said:

For machine task lighting, I use what looks to me to be the same as that halogen AWW Model-C for 100 bucks, except mine is magnetic-base, not screwdown. It is excellent. It has absolutely reliable stays-put strength. The flexible arm ditto - you bend it as you want it and there it stays, without droop. I like the color temp of the halogen bulb and have never had a bothersome heat problem with it; it provides all the illumination I want; bulb life is more than acceptable.
-Marty-

Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing out the AWW Model-C is halogen. Read the description too fast. Thanks also for the review on it. Much appreciated.

IWUP said:

I would recommend getting this instead
VISION 3.5 LED RING LIGHT 126 LEDS CNC R8 KNEE MILL BRIDGEPORT PROTOTRAK IP68 | eBay

Pricey but I have one and it's fantastic

Click to expand...

His ring is different than some others in that it goes around the quill, not the spindle. Do you use yours on a B-port?

The reason I ask is that the pic shows a nice fit around the milling machine in the picture, but a B-port doesn't have near the machined flat surface around the quill of some other mills. There's only about 1/4" machined surface in the head casting around the quill, for the magnets to hold. That's without subtracting the clearance allowed between the ring and the quill. The maker appears to allow for 1/16" clearance b/t the ring and quill. That ends up with a 1/16" machined surface left for the ring to attach to, which of course isn't much. Am I missing something?

Randalthor said:

His ring is different than some others in that it goes around the quill, not the spindle. Do you use yours on a B-port?

The reason I ask is that the pic shows a nice fit around the milling machine in the picture, but a B-port doesn't have near the machined flat surface around the quill of some other mills. There's only about 1/4" machined surface in the head casting around the quill, for the magnets to hold. That's without subtracting the clearance allowed between the ring and the quill. The maker appears to allow for 1/16" clearance b/t the ring and quill. That ends up with a 1/16" machined surface left for the ring to attach to, which of course isn't much. Am I missing something?

Click to expand...

I have the 3.5 version on the Bridgeport that stays fixed on the casting not go up and down with the quill, you are correct in saying that there isn't much material on the B'Port head (about .125" to .25") but there's enough magnets and they are plenty strong enough to hold it in place. Taking it off requires a little effort so in saying that it won't be dislodged during normal use. You won't regret buying one, it's way brighter than the other options. I went that way first and they aren't even close.

Randalthor said:

Or McMaster has an LED flex arm work light, which is sealed. The "Any-Which-Way-Arm Machine Lights (model C)

McMaster-Carr

Has anyone tried either of these lights? My main concerns are durability, and will the goosenecks slowly move with vibration?

The McMaster looks to have an 8" longer gooseneck which would seem to offer more versatility. Neither is IP65 rated, but the McMaster looks more sealed?

Anyone have a review they could offer?

Click to expand...

I have one of the McMcaster style magnetic lights with the longer gooseneck. It came with a Prototrak bed mill, the length was handy on the Prototrak. I didn't like it. The neck is pretty tight for that type but still moved and it didn't make enough light and was sort of a PITA. I took it off and made a mount for a new SPI copy of a euro looking halogen light I acquired somewhere. I didn't like that either because the beam was tightly focused and still not bright enough and the arms didn't move the way we needed them to. I took that off and gave it away and mounted a Dazor and now we're happy. I have at least 8 Dazors in the shop with halogen or LED bulbs screwed in them and it's hard to settle for anything else. One mill has 2 of them. You can find them on Ebay for $75-$90 or so if you are patient, sometimes you have to put new sockets and switches in them, but the ones I bought new have needed the same over time, If you don't mind replacing the cord you can get them for even less.

I recently picked up a Tensor LED lighted magnifier from a local discount store for $20, and I find I like using it better than my Dazor magnifier, maybe something from Tensor would be a good choice?

get a real light, by that i mean a led light of at least 30w. remember, as you get older, you need more light. i use offroad driving lights. on the mill i made and adjustable arm that i can swing from right to left if needed. im sure you can use some camera mounts for that. no stupid goosenecks.

Mud said:

I have at least 8 Dazors in the shop with halogen or LED bulbs screwed in them and it's hard to settle for anything else. One mill has 2 of them. You can find them on Ebay for $75-$90 or so if you are patient,

Click to expand...

Thanks.

I took your advice, sort of. I'd forgotten Ebay. I looked for some of the good lights on Ebay - Dazor, Sunnex, etc. and didn't see much which interested me. Then I remembered Milacron had once mentioned in an old post Halogen Lighting Products put out a good quality Waldmann type light for less money. So I checked that on Ebay and found a used one for about a hundred bucks.

It looks about like this

HLP-001A | Halogen Lighting Products Corporation

I think most people are moving to LED's which is probably why the vendor above is selling their halogen lights for half off. I have to admit I'm not thrilled about halogen lighting either because of the heat and expense to run, but they seem to work for folks on the forum, including yourself.

I just bought one light. Maybe for the other side, I can make another light out of the two original Bridgeport lights I have. They are a POS, but better than nothing.

The light I bought is 24V, so I have to buy another DIN power supply and fit it in an already crowded box, which is kind of a bummer.

Since you'll have 24VDC available, look at offroad lights as suggested by dian. I have 2 cheap 27w lights in a VMC and it's so bright in there I have a hard time taking good photos of setups.

I got one of these and it is really nice. Paul Babin is a member here too and a super guy!
Babin Machine Tool

Really wish some of these manufacturers would print some type of lumen rating for these lights. I have found some that looked great in ads and such and get them home and they are a really white color temp that makes them look way brighter than they actually are.

Been looking for one to replace the near unobtainium Bell & Howell projector bulb that is in my Scherr-Tumico ST-1500 Optical Comparator. The bulb in there is 150 watts and works out to 2500 lumens. Bought some 'bright' LEDs only to find they couldn't come close to the lumen output in a small space.

I also need to replace the missing direct view lights on it that have a complex magnified focused light reflecting off mirrors to put the light around the underside of the stage. Those ring light kits look great but for all I know they are only 500 lumens and wouldn't remotely cut it.