On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:22:49 GMT, "James B. Millard" wrote:
I'm having a small shop built and am getting close to having to decide what
I'm going to do for lighting. the shop is 14'x18' and will house a
workbench a small lathe and mill and whatever else I accumulate...

I was thinking about flourescent lighting but I don't really have any idea
how much or exactly what optimum placement is.

Anybody have any ideas?

Human beings evolved to see best in sunlight. Direct sun is about
10,000 foot candles. Open shade, blue sky, is about 500 foot candles.
It may be too much cost or too much heat load to light your entire
shop to that level. But don't go below about 250 foot candles if you
want to enjoy working in there. Shoot for 500 to 1,000 foot candles
in the places where you really have to see.

When lighting a bench or a machine, don't just put a light over it. Put
one to the back, one to the front, or one to either side, so that no matter
where you stand, lean, or reach, you aren't shadowing the work.

You can't have too much light. Use as many lights as you can. Never
use one light when you can use two, three would be even better.
There's nothing more annoying than getting in your own light so you're
shadowing the work you're trying to see.

Don't forget to put plenty of light over the floor areas where there isn't
a bench or machine either. Most people cheap out here. Bad idea. That's
where you're going to need to see to find the little bits that go "ping"
when you're disassembling something. That's also where the inevitable
big repair or fabrication project is going to wind up.

I'm serious that you need a *lot* of lights to get good illumination
everywhere in the shop. The more you use, the happier you'll be
with the result. My shop is bigger than yours, and I started out with
only 20 tubes. Not enough light. I've added 16 more, and still use
dedicated task lighting on the machines.

Don't cheap out on the fixtures either. Good name brand fixtures
( I use Lithonia Lighting) will put more than double the amount of
light toward the floor than the cheapy "shop lights" sold by the likes
of Home Depot. The tubes and ballasts will last longer too.

On the subject of tubes, spend the extra to get tubes that mimic
natural light. Your eyes will thank you.

Gary