Mill quill light

[sco]

Got fed up with the angle poise light always being in the way or my hand casting a shadow so used one of these;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Angel-Eyes-Round-Ring-1210-18-White-LED-Light-Lamp-Bulb-Headlight-60mm-/390482465919?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5aea91947f

to add some light round the quill on my milling machine.  Made a little ally housing to replace the lower quill bearing cover and house the light;



Installed - excuse the poor camera work;



And switched on;



Total cost £3.50 ;-)

Simon.

[Arbalest]

What are you using to power it Simon? I'm aware some LED packs require a dedicated driver of some sort.

[zeeprogrammer]

I should do something like that. Neat idea.

Is that a toothbrush on the left side? Handy storage for cleaning?

[sco]

The leds are designed for car use so are expecting about 12v - had an old 10v psu kicking about so using that at the moment till a 12v one turns up.

The toothbrush heads are Phillips Sonicare ones which have a built in magnet which makes them very useful for workshop use once worn out.

[Chris J]

Nice.

How bright is the light.

( I know next question is about a bit of string) 

[sco]

Well for £3.50 they are not CREE level of output but will probably get brighter when fed with the full 12v.

[Chris J]

Well for £3.50 they are not CREE level of output but will probably get brighter when fed with the full 12v.

Thanks for answering my impossible question 
I have seen a continuous LED for a camera at 450 lum but they are £20.
Quiet a difference.

[Mosey]

I hesitate to say that I mounted a LED ring on the quill of my mill (heh, that rimes)and it lit everything up except the piece I was working on because the quill and the cutter shaded the point of work. I'm back to a clip-on that is always in the way.
Mosey

[sco]

Good point Mosey - haven't tried it in anger yet so it may suffer from that problem.

[sco]

Just tried it and Mosey is right that the cutter tip is in shadow - it's not completely useless as it does illuminate the general work piece quite well.

Have ordered a key fob torch that uses a Cree XP-G led for another project - will see if that will make a better solution.

[John S]

Bollox.
Ordered some from China last week but may be all right as I want this for a Bridgy clone and had to order 140mm OD ones to fit the last bit of the housing, not quill  as I need head room.

Being this big they might just get by the tool, I use collets most of the time but I imagine that an ER32 collet chuck would also shade it.

My big CNC has a 7" floriscence tub inside the head casting round the quill, it was built like this and it works well when the tube doesn't blow up thru vibration so in this case bigger is better.

[sco]

Sphericals indeed!

Bigger diameter will definitely help.  Might have a go at making a large diameter one from scratch.

[Arbalest]

Perhaps circular is not such a good idea as probably 25% of the light is wasted - unless you can get your head behind the cutter ...