by Jimmy

Created on: June 26, 2009   Last Updated: June 28, 2009

Proper lighting in your workshop is as important as any tool you have in the rack. If you are fortunate, the sun illuminates your workshop perfectly, but you must be careful not to have to allow too much daylight directly into your shop, because with that light comes a lot of heat and even worse, distracting glare, especially during the summer months. Shades and proper ventilation will help to combat this natural consequence, along with use of reflective light, instead of direct light, from an adjacent structure perhaps, or a southern meadow where the tree line is much further than the shadow line cast, with careful observation, and perhaps professional consultation, use of this inexhaustible natural commodity, will go a long way in making your workshop a productive and economical place to work.

After you've considered all the natural lighting available in your unique situation, it's time to wire up your workshop, because let's face, the sun isn't always shining, and you may have a project that's vital today, but you only have the evening hours to work on it.

For the bulk of your lighting needs, fluorescent lights are your best choice. Not only are fluorescent lights more economically to operate, than incandescent bulbs, they out last them significantly, in terms of life span, and they also throw off a lot less heat, while covering a much broader area with one fixture. Simply put, fluorescent lights give you more bang for the buck.

Whenever possible it's always best to place the light directly overhead of your workbench, and your fixed shop equipment. Although this isn't always possible, it is the best location, because placing the light too far behind you, will generate a shadow from your body, precisely where you need the light to shine, although using four feet long fluorescents bulbs will negate some of this ill effect, and placing the light too far in front of you, may cause a glare that will impede the optimum effect of having lights at all, especially when you have your (safety) glasses on.

Sometimes you're working on a project that is partially assembled or otherwise insufficiently lighted with a typical lighting source, that's when having portable lighting available in your workshop, becomes invaluable. There is a variety of different stand alone, and clamp on lighting systems, to choose from, that have evolved to become, a handyman's dream. Many different types of bulbs are available, from light emitting diodes (LED), to fluorescent, incandescent, and the extremely bright halogen. Incidentally they operate from coolest to hottest in the exact same order.

Lastly you can purchase tools with their own lighting attached in the most optimum place for safety and illumination. Typically you'll find band saws, and milling machines with this type of handy, safe, and shielded lighting, purposely designed for that particular machine. Additionally you will find the newest generation of tools producing laser light, not to illuminate the work area, but to illuminate the exact location of the cut you are preparing to make. This highly specialized light, is lined up exactly with the trajectory of the blade, and has made very accurate cutters, out of very average people. Safety and good lighting go hand in hand in the workshop.

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