precisionworks
Flashaholic
My shop gets darker with each passing year (no way my eyes need more light). Shop lighting is upgraded as needed & more task lighting is used than ever before. Every machine has a mag base light & sometimes two but the lathe didn't need one ... until I started groove mods on the SWM V10R. The light is a 1xCR123 & the details are pretty small. IMO the two critical details are the 90° on the face of the ridge & the 135° bevel on the back side (orange arrows below):
If the tip of the insert is stopped short of either feature the end result looks pretty awful. In addition to those details being small sized the tube is covered in a film of vegetable based oil from the Accu-Lube which hides small features. Googled around & found that most of the lights that looked good were $120+ and my budget was $50. Enco surprisingly had nothing on sale. Finally ran across this:
Seller was Windy City Liquidation, not a confidence inspiring name but the price was $60 delivered. The light arrived a few days later, very well packed & brand new. Problem now is that most small lathes have few areas for a mag base - so I made one (see orange arrow above). Mild steel plate from the scrap pile is installed with pop rivets. It may be in the way when the 3-jaw or 4-jaw goes on but it's easy enough to trim. And I can once again see
This is where the light came from: Electrix light closeouts.
If the tip of the insert is stopped short of either feature the end result looks pretty awful. In addition to those details being small sized the tube is covered in a film of vegetable based oil from the Accu-Lube which hides small features. Googled around & found that most of the lights that looked good were $120+ and my budget was $50. Enco surprisingly had nothing on sale. Finally ran across this:
Seller was Windy City Liquidation, not a confidence inspiring name but the price was $60 delivered. The light arrived a few days later, very well packed & brand new. Problem now is that most small lathes have few areas for a mag base - so I made one (see orange arrow above). Mild steel plate from the scrap pile is installed with pop rivets. It may be in the way when the 3-jaw or 4-jaw goes on but it's easy enough to trim. And I can once again see
This is where the light came from: Electrix light closeouts.
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