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Looking for a good LED lathe light

J

Jesse Tutterrow

Joined
May 5, 2017
Messages
137
Likes
17
Location
Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
I would like to add a good LED flexible shaft light to my lathe so I can look for sanding marks and to help with hollowing. Plus whatever else is needed. I am favoring a magnetic base so I can easily move it as needed. I will also move it to other machines or my workbench as needed.

Internet searches reveal intensities from around 200 lumens up to 800 and magnets with less than 100 lb strength up to around 250. With gooseneck shafts from 12 inches to 24.

What specifications do you recommend? Any favorite models I should look at?

Thanks in Advance
 
good question. Been looking for a light to use with a lathe. Picked up the $6 cheap LED desk light at Walmart and "goldberged" a magnet to the base. works but could be brighter.
 
For light around my midi-lathe, I have 2 Ikea LED task lights (now $21 each from Amazon; Ikea 201.696.58 Jansjo Desk Work LED Lamp Light,). I swapped out the bases that came with them with UHMW plastic attached to 3" magnets from Harbor Freight.

They work fine for me. They do have to be positioned somewhat close to the work to be effective; the magnets and goose-necks make it easy to re-position. The heads are small so they don't get in the way. Don't know the lumens.
 
I too have and use the Ikea Jansjo light with DIY magnetic base. I just checked the Ikea web site and they're only 88 lumens. Also only $10 not on sale. It's easy to put the light close to the work surface and increase the effective brightness, but Gerald makes a good point.
 
I bought a mag base light from Amazon, 500 lumens, $63. I have a less lumen light not nearly as good. I really don't want anything less than 500 lumen and will eventually buy one from Woodturners Wonders just as a second light to replace the cheaper lights I have. The one I have is ok, but I think Ken's lights are better. The other thing I did was install a led strip light (from Sams I think 42" about $35) above the lathe and that really helps out a lot.
 
I’ve been wanting one from woodturnerswonders, but can’t justify the price yet. So I bought one from Ron Brown , 170 lumens, 31” goose neck, magnet seems pretty powerful, when the woodworking show was in town. $49, so far It’s worked great. Probably will get one from Ken eventually.
 
If you want an incredibly bright LED light, I can highly recommend this 4400 lumen light from Rockler Woodworking and Hardware. The price ($34.99) seems very reasonable to me. I bought one for my shop and then tried it as a substitute for one of my 500 watt photography hot lights. I liked the results so much that I bought another one and then a couple months later I bought a third one. The first two have very large 14 inch diameter shallow cone shaped reflectors and the diameter on the third one is a smaller 10½ inch diameter parabolic reflector. They are are intensely daylight bright and without the heat of an incandescent light. To hold these lights, I bought some clamp light fixtures on long extension cords at the local ACE Hardware and threw away the aluminum reflectors

I still use my little IKEA lamps for very close up work or looking inside hollow forms.
 
For information I have an app on my phone that gives a measurement of light in Lux which is lumens per sq meter.

Its an android phone and the app I use is sensor box. There are others but the sensor must be on your phone and available to the app.

as a relative measure it would show what you have.

Stu
 
I bought the Luster light from vince's woodn wonders. It's ok, but the neck is too short, the magnetic base is not great; and the cord is way too short.....other than that, it makes a great bandsaw light!
 
A simple 2x2 stand with a chicken coop clamp on light and a led flood is cheap, and it works great!
 
Bill Boehme said:
If you want an incredibly bright LED light, I can highly recommend this 4400 lumen light from Rockler Woodworking and Hardware. The price ($34.99) seems very reasonable to me. I bought one for my shop and then tried it as a substitute for one of my 500 watt photography hot lights. I liked the results so much that I bought another one and then a couple months later I bought a third one. The first two have very large 14 inch diameter shallow cone shaped reflectors and the diameter on the third one is a smaller 10½ inch diameter parabolic reflector. They are are intensely daylight bright and without the heat of an incandescent light. To hold these lights, I bought some clamp light fixtures on long extension cords at the local ACE Hardware and threw away the aluminum reflectors

I still use my little IKEA lamps for very close up work or looking inside hollow forms.
Click to expand...
Bill. I tried to check the link but it is not working....
 
With the LED technology changing rapidly you may want to purchase a spare LED lamp for the fixture you purchase.
By the time you need to replace the LED lamp the design has changed and in most instances the lamp is obsolete.
The LED industry has turned into a mostly throw away industry, I know of only one or two manufacturers that are designing new technology to fit into old series fixtures.
The remainder of the industry wants you to purchase a $1000.00 fixture and 5-years later throw it away and purchase a new one because they don't sell a
replacement LED lamp for the old style fixture. Many of the companies don't even offer a replacement LED lamp for the new LED light fixtures they sell.
Not very green for a product that is supposed to save energy and money for the end user.
 
Harbor Freight has had 4 foot. LED lights for $19.99; no coupon permitted. I got two for the shop, three for the basement. When I first turned them on, it was sunlight bright compared to the old fluorescent lights.
 
I use standard fixtures and the LED lamp of my choice that fits a standard edison base. Much better choice of lamp intensity, color temperature, and (importantly for me) color rendition index than the pre-installed LEDs. Most of the inexpensive LEDs have horrible CRIs that make everything look awful.

I've got a track over my lathe with about 6 spotlights in it that I use for general illumination in addition to the general shop lighting, angling them in such a way as to cast shadows, a medical exam light on a ~4 ft gooseneck mounted to the wall behind the lathe that takes an MR16 spot that I can point wherever most needed (like into narrower openings), and now on the new lathe the articulated arm fixture that attaches to the headstock that takes a PAR30 or regular light bulb, especially useful when I need light from the other direction than the exam light provides.

I like a lot of light and a lot of flexibility to get it where I need it. Old fixtures with new bulbs also have the advantage of being cheap to free.
 
If you go with a Mogul or Edison base style LED lamp you want a lamp that has a good heat sink and the ability to dissipate the heat from the LED modules and away from the power source built into the lamp. Heat kills the LED module and causes early failure of the power supply if they get too hot. Ambient temperature plays a big part with the life of the LED system. The better quality LED retrofit lamps with the screw in base have cooling fins and heat sinks built into the assembly to cool the assembly, the cheaper units do not and fail quicker.
 
Most LED lamps are not rated for using in enclosed fixtures, but I'd expect the ones that are are much more heat tolerant than the plain vanilla bulbs. If they don't say that are OK for enclosed fixtures on the label, they aren't. That's a big source of early failures.
 
John Torchick said:
Harbor Freight has had 4 foot. LED lights for $19.99; no coupon permitted. I got two for the shop, three for the basement. When I first turned them on, it was sunlight bright compared to the old fluorescent lights.
Click to expand...

I bought four foot T12 LED drop in replacements for my fluorescent lamps at my local Ace Hardware. The cost was $12 for a package of two lamps. They were available in several color temperatures. I chose 2700K to match the existing kitchen lighting.
 
I have two of the "Aurora Lamps" from ken Rizza's WoodTurningWonders. They are the best I've seen, and have powerful magnet bases and LED bulbs that are advertised to last over 36 years at 8 hrs per day usage. Yes, a little pricey, but I think worth it for serious turners. The last one I got in a club purchase, where we got over 80 units from him for our members......Ken treated us right on the price!
 
I use a couple of Ikea Janso with added bases and magnets, and one from woodturners wonders (not overly impressed). I tried a cheap floor standing led lamp, easy to move around, that has worked well enough that I bought another one with replaceable e26 type bulbs (std socket) so the wattage and color of the bulb can be changed. Can get these lamps for $25-$30 to try out.
 
I have a HF clamp light over my workbench with a curly Q bulb. I rigged up a desk lamp over my lathe. It pivots and hinges so I can aim the light for best visibility of the piece. I'm going to get ambitious and spray paint the inside of the light to see if that will increase the "brightness."
 
John Hicks said:
I bought the Luster light from vince's woodn wonders. It's ok, but the neck is too short, the magnetic base is not great; and the cord is way too short.....other than that, it makes a great bandsaw light!
Click to expand...

I've found too the magnetic base is problematic. When you move the light the base will sometimes pull away.
 
John Torchick said:
Harbor Freight has had 4 foot. LED lights for $19.99; no coupon permitted. I got two for the shop, three for the basement. When I first turned them on, it was sunlight bright compared to the old fluorescent lights.
Click to expand...

I put up five of those in my basement after their last parking lot sale. I love them. The next time they're on sale I'll add another 5 and remove the old incandescent fixtures.
 
I bought two of the Sun LED Lamps from Penn State Industries when they had a BOGO sale basically for Black Friday. They do offer replacement parts for them. I may get one replacement just to have on hand.

I have one on my headstock and one pointed from the end of the bed of the lathe. They are almost too bright- it will bring up your sanding game for sure, I can easily see scratches from 180 grit sandpaper when the light is tangential to the work. I only use one at a time for sanding though. I’m super happy with them.
 
Gerald Lawrence said:
Check out Woodturners Wonders . Ken has several good lights and all that searching for cheap that does not do the job will be saved, been there done that. https://woodturnerswonders.com/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link! I bought the beacon led light and it arrived yesterday. I’m very impressed with the quality and the service was even more impressive. Ken sent me a nice email thanking me for supporting his store. I also ordered some sanding supplies, again very impressed with the quality and price. He must operate on some very tight margins to offer these great prices.
 
+1 for Ken at Woodturners Wonders. He is a great guy to work with and he is someone that actually believes in Customer Service. I buy all my sanding supplies from Ken. Over the past several years I bought his Rikon 1hp Slow Speed Grinder and 2 CBN wheels and his 800 lumen 30" gooseneck lamp with a 225# magnetic base. I'm about to place a large - at least for me - 2" & 3" sanding disc order since Totally Turning Symposium was cancelled and I couldn't buy at the show from Ken.
 
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