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

[Saleenman607]

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

[Flatfour]

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]

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....... :nixweiss

Regards.......Jack

[MorBid]

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]

Good Idea........start with the least abrasive....(cost) :nervous2:

[Accumulator]

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 :nixweiss ). 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]

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]

Great suggestions......THANKS.. I`m running to sears now...... :bolt

[Conundrum]

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)?

[imported_GregCavi]

vote = halogens



Greg

[Accumulator]

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.