New Light and Fan Box

I had always been disappointed with my light setup at the lathe. Until recently I had a 4ft. fluorescent light with 2 T8 daylight bulbs directly above the lathe and 3 100watt equivalent low voltage bulbs mounted in clip on fixtures from HD. It was adequate but I was constantly moving the clip ons or they would just slip and need to be readjusted. Then I stumbled upon this picture I had saved on my work computer.

I couldn't remember where I had copied it from but then, while researching ways to improve the lighting over the , I saw this tip on Laymar Crafts. This site is packed full of great ideas, tips and articles. I had not thought of looking on that sight because frankly I had forgotten about it. (google is my friend) This new setup up gives me tons of light and also enabled me to improve my lighting elsewhere in the shop via the now unused 4ft. fixture.

This new “fanlight” includes two small blowers mounted between the 4 bulbs. I picked them up at a garage sale for $2 a piece. One fan has a heating coil that will provide much needed heat during the cold months. The other is just a fan that provides air flow during the warmer times in the shop. (OK it gets downright hot in there during the summer) The air flow also acts as a downdraft that helps my shop made air cleaner suck up more dust. Both blowers are plugged into a 6 outlet power strip which I can also plug my sanding and detailing tools into. I also added some washable filters at the return air areas in order to hopefully add to my dust cleaning. Once again, although it's not pretty, the craftsmanship isn't the best and it's made out of scrap this new tool works great and serves a great purpose.

If interested, you can view some more pics of my light/fan box here.