Proper Lighting..........

Saleenman607 · 05-06-06, 10:25

Hello .......Would someone be so kind as to inform me the proper lighting set-up for polishing/waxing in ones garage? Flourecent, halogen, incandecent ?
Thanks and regards..........Jack

Wally · 05-06-06, 03:05

I have a 500 Watt halogen light, what I discovered today was that it shows actually more paint defect then needed. In other words : looking to the finished car in halogen light was worser then in direct sunlight.

This was the car : http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=70970

Saleenman607 · 05-06-06, 04:32

Would flourecent be better than halogen? Thought I heard someone mention this before. I was looking at a twin stand halogen worklight from Home Depot for appx. $35 compared to a twin stand flourecent @appx. $105. Big difference in price if no difference in light improvement.......

Regards.......Jack

MorBid · 05-07-06, 12:29

I think we all use those twin stand Halogen's (heck I have 3 sets) and Wally is right in that working under Halogen's will drive you nut's cause you can see every stinkin defect. Even one's that will not show in direct sunlight.

Get the Halogen's to start off with.

Saleenman607 · 05-07-06, 06:34

Good Idea........start with the least abrasive....(cost)

Accumulator · 05-07-06, 07:14

There are some in-depth threads about this, probabl worth doing the dreaded search on.

Short version:

Fluorescent is good for general illumination but only shows the *worst* marring (though it somehow works better on white paint

). I find it useless for swirl-spotting and I have dozens of 8' tubes in my shop (nice and bright, but I only see really *terrible* marring in this light).

Halogen is good for general illumination while polishing, shows a lot more than fluourescent.

High wattage incandescent, used in an otherwise dark room, is the *best* for seeing marring. Some of the other threads explain the science behind this ("distant point-source illumination" IIRC). Good for inspecting but not as good to work in.

Natural sunlight is good for spotting marring, especially rotary-holograms, which basically *only* show up in this light.

So I have five different light sources in my shop and I use them all on details where I'm trying to really do a good job.

wildboar · 05-07-06, 07:26

Sears just ran a sale on their twin head tripod 1000 watt halogen for $19... so there are some deals to be had on the halogen setups.

Saleenman607 · 05-07-06, 09:30

Great suggestions......THANKS..

I'm running to sears now......

Conundrum · 01-29-07, 10:06

Sorry to bring back an old thread (figured its better than create a new one)...but whats everyone's opinion on this light:

Canadian Tire

I could get a 2x500W light, however its slightly more expensive (in other words, would 2x250W be enough)?

GregCavi · 01-29-07, 10:49

vote = halogens

Greg

Accumulator · 01-29-07, 12:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conundrum

Sorry to bring back an old thread (figured its better than create a new one)...I could get a 2x500W light, however its slightly more expensive (in other words, would 2x250W be enough)?

I'd go for more wattage. When I use halogens I almost always turn on all the bulbs. I especially like units that let you select how much light you get by choosing between 1-2-3-4 bulbs on at the same time (these have two bulbs/switches in each "light head" and two heads).

But I *still* maintain that for inspecting/marring-spotting you can't beat incandescents in an otherwise dark shop. As I work on-and-off on the M3, I use halogens most of the time. But after I've polished a while and *think* it looks good, I turn them off and inspect with incandescents...and I see marring that was simply invisible under the halogens. And I have two sets of multi-bulb halogens so I'm covering all the bases with regard to wattage, positioning, etc. Still can't beat the incandescents.