Best shop investment

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Couple pics of the best shop investment I have ever made. Proper lighting is a must and now I understand that. Used daylight deluxe bulbs. 5 of the 4 footers are wired on the back side of the return for the main lights. So I can turn them off at any location, when the rest go off, but on only at one location. Ran the wire in conduit, seeing as how I might need to know that someday. I used these lights from Home Depot.
http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-F...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

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Nice work Steve. :thumb: Really makes a difference having the light where you need it and being consistent. I've been replacing some of the old fixtures in my shop with the ones my nephew got for me. The T8's with the newer ballasts really make a difference too, no more waiting for the lights to stop flickering, come on quick too.
 
That's the next thing I have to do. My lighting stinks. Way too many shadows and dark spots. I need to put them on a series as well. Now I have to plug most in separately. My problem is a low ceiling as well. I have to fit them up in between joists.

I like the way you have them set up. That should brighten things up a bit. Good price on the lights as well :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
Good investment Steve and good work too.:thumb: You got a fair bit of practice with the bending of conduit there. ;):D Do i see a few bends that were er uh er short and took a bend in the wrong direction.:D:rofl::wave::thumb: Just teasing.
 
More info. First I have a 4 way switch system for the lights. At the last switch you have the return going to power the device. I stubbed that return wire and powered the second set. I only added one switch for that set, so off and on with it only for second set. Can still use 4 way to shut all lights down.

Hope that cleared it up.
 
Steve how high are your ceilings? Are you concerned about hitting the bulbs with a long piece of lumber? I put pot lights in my shop because I was concerned about hitting the lights but now find my lights are no where near what I need. I was thinking of putting these type in but with 8 ft ceilings I was not sure this was the best type to use..
 
I think I remember seeing lights like yours with a wire cage around them. That would probably be better for me with a lower ceiling. Now all I have to do is remember where I saw them. Thanks.
 
FYI - The offset bends going into the fixtures have always been my personal downfall.

The toughest bit of bending I've ever done successfully is shown below. Doing the offset around the 4" transition from 12" block to 8" block was a challenge.

The far bend in the second picture isn't perfect but not bad enough to redo it.

Cheers

Jim

PS: The 2 conduits are parallel, the camera angle doesn't show it properly . . .
 

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Great job Steve! :thumb:

Lights make all the difference. Rennie has some nice lighting in his shop and it really looks great.

Trying to get some light sup myself, and the ones I have put up so far really make a huge difference. :thumb:
 
For tubing, I like to use 30 degree bends for offsets, the math is easy. Start the second bend 2x the offset distance from the start of the first bend, and it always works out right. For 4" offset, mark the pipe 8" apart. Start the first 30 degree bend at 0", bend it back 30 degrees at 8." I'm only familiar with running tubing, but it should work on conduit.
 
The offset numbers we got are as follows.

10 deg for height 1" or less use 6 time the rise
22 1/2 deg for height 1"- 3" use 2.5 time the rise
30 deg for height 3" - 8" use 2 time the rise
45 deg for height 8" plus use 1.41 time the rise

Works pretty good in the looks and figures department. My teacher is an old retired electrician. He does two things well. Tells you, you need to hurry up, or you will go hungry. And, has a tom of real world, what works knowledge.
 
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