Good lighting on a machine? This has worked out very, very well on my floor stand, drill press:
Why?
1. It is all LED so power and heat are minimal.
2. The two adjustable lights are a somewhat broad source, about 3 inches in diameter. This helps to soften the light so you can see features in the work better. Point sources of light can be harsh and make viewing of small details more difficult.
3. I have an Edison base, LED bulb in the recess in the head casting where the original, OEM light is located. Using a standard form factor bulb there also provides a somewhat broad source.
4. These three LED lamps are at roughly 120 degree angles around the quill axis. This provides light from three directions so that your hands and other things on the table do not block all of them at any one time. Most of the time, at least two of the lamps are not blocked by any obstacle. This was inspired by my experience with photographic copy stands which often have four lights placed two on each side and two front and two at the back (the light comes from the four corners). This provides very good, flat lighting. I compromised with three since the DP already had the one at the rear.
5. I can adjust the two front lamps as needed, but this is not really needed very often. The three direction light sources work very well.
6. And the two lights were only $15 or $20 at a local home supply store.
I added a duplex outlet on the wood tool shelf that is fastened to the column. It is behind the column. It is wired to the built in switch so that all three lights come on with the front light switch.
I tried some smaller LED lights on my mill and do not like the result. I am presently looking for some lights similar to the ones on the DP for it and plan to use a three position arrangement like the drill press. Or perhaps even four of them in the four corners.
The ring lights around the quill are also good, but can interfere with some accessories, like those clamps for holding a DTI on the rotating OD of the quill. I prefer to keep that area as clear and open as possible. And the light from them drops off as you get away from the quill axis.
A bit more about the value of broad lights: I worked in TV and have seen many lighting problems. Broad lights are a common answer to lighting problems and many studio lights are made this way. Many TV sets are lit with dozens of individual lights, often using two or three lights for each individual position where a person will be. Many professional lights even have "barn doors" and internal stops to limit the extent of the light to exactly where it is needed. This works, but when someone or something moves a foot or two away from that exact spot where those lights are set, the quality of the light goes downhill rapidly. OTOH, I once was a TV news set lit with just two really big, broad lights set on the left and right sides. They were about 15 KW each and about 6 or 8 feet wide. The lighting was totally excellent all the way across a set that was around 25 feet wide. Broad lights work. Broad lights ROCK!
