Machsupport Forum

Tangent Corner => Tangent Corner => Topic started by: Laughing Coyote on July 18, 2013, 09:59:41 PM

Title: Thats Bright!
Post by: Laughing Coyote on July 18, 2013, 09:59:41 PM
I couldn't find a place to post that isnt Mach 3 specific so I hope you all dont mind me posting here.  I have been in the market for a bright LED light with a flex stalk for my Bridgeport mill. After several days of searching I always found the ones that have the cheesey clamp and the short stalk and the huge head that always seems to get in the way when you machine. And the price is $60 or more.  Any how I found a desk lamp made by IKEA that is very bright, has a long flexable stalk, light weight, and has a small head so that it can get light in tight spots.  The LED even has a lens cover to keep flying chips out.  It even comes with the base off so you dont even need to mess with it. I have some photos that I will down load to show it on the mill. I works great and now I'm going to get one for my Taig mini CNC mill. It was the IKEA Jansjo desk lamp.  They have them on Ebay for $20 and free shipping.
Thanks

LC

Title: Re: Thats Bright!
Post by: Laughing Coyote on July 18, 2013, 10:55:11 PM
 Pictures of the light.
Title: Re: Thats Bright!
Post by: adprinter on October 31, 2013, 04:09:52 AM
I too had trouble locating a bright white LED light, so I ended up buying an expensive unit: A 9-LED flashlight sold for $2 at the autoparts store. A $5 transformer, to power it with. A couple of feet of speaker wire, and a couple drops of solder, and it works great. I eliminated the body of the flashlight (which originally used 3 AAA batteries), and just soldered the speaker wires directly to the head of the flashlight. Mounted it onto a piece of flexjoint (that plastic stuff normally used for directing coolant). Makes it easy to position where ever desired. Went through two of these flashlights, before learning that a heat sink MUST be used, when soldering the wires to the head (the LED's are VERY sensitive to heat). Total investment: about $10.