Keywords:
In article , Don Foreman wrote:
snip
Trouble lights are aptly named: they are nothing but trouble.
They're never in the right place, usually in the way, often hot, and
the damned bulbs are fragile.

I made a head-mounted light using a 1-watt Luxeon LED and a lens
diffuser. It's a lousy flashlight for hiking and cave exploration --
but that isn't what I was after. I wanted it to illuminate
everything within reach of my hands. It does that very well. The
light is very even -- no darkspots or other artifacts. There are no
apparent shadows because the light comes from the middle of my
forehead. The "bulb" runs cool, and it will never break or burn out.

It works well under hoods, underneath cars, under sinks, in machinery
and when doing wiring and plumbing with both hands.

I used the body from a Harbor Freight head light ($2.95 on sale).
Mounted elex, Luxeon, lens and lensholder where the lightbulb and
reflector had been.

Didn't make any drawings......

I agree, a good headlamp is a wonderful gadget, and makes a trouble light
optional for many occasions. The LED approach gives MUCH better battery
life. If you don't want to spend your time building one fromn scratch,
the best one I've found is the "Streamlight Septor LED Headlamp". Do a
search on Froogle, you can get them for ~$28.

I still use a trouble light for some things, like working in the attic.
The one I have that I like the best is a fluorescent model from Home
Depot. The big advantage is that it is cool enough to move around
without fear of burns or fires. It has two tubes, so you can select how
much light you want. I always run it with both, so I don't consider that
a particularly useful option. I'm sure it you drop it from a good
height, it's gonna bust, but I try to be a bit more careful that that,
and withthe headlight, I can usually set it up out of harms way.

Doug White