Replacement lathe lamp suggestions?

[jon hill 3Participant @jonhill3]

Looking to replace my old rs lathe work lamp as pivits cannot be sufficiently tightened down, and it has a nasty habit of collapsing while the lathe is running!!!

Having made running repairs the caste alloy pivots seem to be fractured and wont prevent movement like they should.

I was thinking of a 2nd hand one say a well constructed lamp such as a memlite, what do other members use? Also where can I source one for ideally less than £50 including postage? Fixer uppers are fine as I have plenty of cable, gromits, bulb holders etc.

If anyone has one please pm me .

Jon

[jon hill 3Participant @jonhill3]

[Iain DownsParticipant @iaindowns78295]

I have a couple of clamp LED lights which came from B&Q for around a tenner each.. They clamp to the shelf above the lathe and give a good light. May not suit you, of course!

Iain

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Memlights seem to be collectors items now and do fetch silly money, best to stick with a modern replacement IMO and an extra low voltage (<=50v) lamp will be safer in use especially if the transformer is a separate unit.

Emgee

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

one simple trick is to stick a length of water proof LED light strip to the splash tray (assuming you have one – Warco WM180 + larger models make it easy with a folded lip on this tray into which the strip can be placed so doesn’t shine into ones eyes – gives quite effective local lighting – a small LED on a flexible stalk can then be used for detailed lighting – obviously larger lathes might need more lighting

[john halfpennyParticipant @johnhalfpenny52803]

LED sewing machine lamp, strong magnetic base and flexible arm. I've just bought two from ebay, and very pleased.

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Ikea JANSJO led stalk lights were bought and suitable mount plates made for several of my machine tools. Less than $20 each and well made. I am not sure if they still sell JANSJO but a quick look in Ikea website may turn up similar newer models. Have not had any issues with vibration affecting them so far (used for years now).

Good value for money , just food for thought. Purpose made machine lights branded as such usually cost much more.

[JAParticipant @ja]

A few years ago I put an LED kitchen cabinet strip light, from B&Q, above my lathe (just over head height). It is about 55cm long and rated at 20W. It works well but I should have used two.

I have looked on B&Q's website but they no longer stock it. In addtion most of their lights use motion sensors to switch them on (not very useful). However ScrewFix sell a sensible range of cabinet strip lights without sensors. I have just bought three for my new bench (details later and elsewhere).

JA

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

Long LED conventional double strip light screwed to shed ceiling,I have the original makers lo volt lamp on my Colchester ,I never use it .

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Posted by Jeff Dayman on 25/02/2021 14:59:23:

Ikea JANSJO led stalk lights were bought and suitable mount plates made for several of my machine tools. Less than $20 each and well made. I am not sure if they still sell JANSJO but a quick look in Ikea website may turn up similar newer models. Have not had any issues with vibration affecting them so far (used for years now).

Good value for money , just food for thought. Purpose made machine lights branded as such usually cost much more.

I saw these recommended and bought one to use on my Myford lathe. I was disappointed by the relatively small spread of light and found I was needing to move them around a lot in order to see what I was looking at. I ended up using an adjustable desk light which gave far broader coverage. The Jansjo light would be OK for additional detail lighting.

George B.

[Adrian R2Participant @adrianr2]

Also interested in recommendations – I bought a no-brand flexible LED reading light to use on my lathe a couple of years back and it generated more radio hiss than my VFD and had to be sent back.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

I'm mostly using Lidl/Aldi LED clip one reading light fixed on "anglepoise" type arms at the moment.
Anglepoise lamps are expensive, but that style of arm is often used on typist's copy/print holders for VDU work; Mine came out of a skip several years ago

Chester Machine Tools have several lights on offer at the moment; I've no idea how good they are.

Bill

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Some of you will have read this before, so apologies.

My lathe came in 2003, with a 24 V 50V Halogen light on a gooseneck, attached. Good light, but had an appetite for bulbs. It runs very hot, but removed the "glass" and filed a couple of 8 mm wide slots in the rim of the reflector, to improve ventilation, before reassembly. Can't remember when I last changed a bulb.

Just as well, since no around here seems to stock 24V 50W QH!

HTH

Howard

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Mentioned above but ** IKEA ** have a range od sensibly priced lamps that can be used as is or converted to suit.

John

[john halfpennyParticipant @johnhalfpenny52803]

Here's the sewing machine lamp I mentioned above. Two for about £15.

[jon hill 3Participant @jonhill3]

I am thinking on building a memlite replica as I have a few lengths of square tube and I could re-purpose my existing lamp shade. If I cant use the shade then I could canabolise an ikea lamp.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

Posted by john halfpenny on 25/02/2021 16:22:32:

Here's the sewing machine lamp I mentioned above. Two for about £15.

I have one of those it is good. Was in my stocking a couple of Xmas' ago so not sure where it came from.

regards

[Dr. MC BlackParticipant @dr-mcblack73214]

Posted by john halfpenny on 25/02/2021 14:59:05:

LED sewing machine lamp, strong magnetic base and flexible arm. I've just bought two from ebay, and very pleased.

I have a couple of these.

The first was under a fiver but the second a little more expensive.

The warning label is in Chinglish and it took a long time to decipher though!

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

“Just as well, since no around here seems to stock 24V 50W QH!

have you tried a local coach operator ? 24V would also be used on lorries etc.

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

Just as well, since no around here seems to stock 24V 50W QH!

What fitting are you wanting Howard ?

I have H1 and H3 (IIRC) in 24V flavour on stock & the last fitting I had that used these died a couple of months ago (metal fatigue in one of the joints) – the machine got an LED replacement, so I have replacement lamps but no fittings to use them in.

Nigel B.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by john halfpenny on 25/02/2021 16:22:32:

Here's the sewing machine lamp I mentioned above. Two for about £15.

I bought 2 of those, direct from China. Electrocution waiting to happen. Inside that metal swan neck are 2 very thin wires with very thin insulation, one is potentially at mains voltage depending on which way the plug is wired. No earth of course. I spent far too much time altering them to run on much lower voltage

[Jouke van der VeenParticipant @joukevanderveen72935]

What about electrically connecting the metal swan neck to your machine? Your machine is certainly earthed and so the swan neck. It gives a better protection and it will not harm.

Edited By Jouke van der Veen on 26/02/2021 10:53:23

[john halfpennyParticipant @johnhalfpenny52803]

Duncan's point is well made, though I hardly have need to move the flexible arm much. I've added an earth to the arm of my lamps.

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

These are some I made earlier! From a pond light from B&Q and a microphone gooseneck from the long gone Maplins. The gooseneck and mount are available from CPC not sure where an equivalent lamp housing might be found, a garden centre possibly.

On the lathe

On the bench drill.

I did a write up on making them available from Journeyman's Workshop might help if you want to go the DIY route. The lamps are fitted with MR16 (12v) LED bulbs and give good local illumination. They are also cool to touch unlike the original halogen bulbs which the LEDs replaced.

John

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