Improved Lighting For My Scroll Saw

[OCtoolguy]

After reading on through the entire thread, I found the answer to my original question so I have edited it out. I will add though that I found a similar flex LED light at IKEA for about $8 each. I only bought one but now I think I'll go back and buy another one. This looks like a great idea and I will be installing something similar on my Hegner. Here is a picture of what I bought although mine was painted white and sold for a couple dollars less.

 

They also have ones with a base instead of the clip for a couple dollars less.

Edited April 10, 2018 by octoolguy

[CharleyL]

Ray,

I'm glad that you found this older post and are planning to follow my advice. Using two sources of light was a game changer for me. Using LED lamps makes the lamp temperature much safer than the quartz halogen lamps that I was using before these. I was frequently burning my face, head, and hands when I was using them. Long cutting sessions when using them also gave the backs of my hands a sunburn. The LED lights barely get warm, even when on all day, so no more burns from them at all. Their design, with the multiple LEDs producing the light in each one makes the light much more even with less shadowing than the single point source lights too, and having two good light sources, one on each side of the blade, almost completely eliminates blade shadows, a problem that the original DeWalt light made worse than no light at all when I tried to use it. My DeWalt light is now mounted to my son's 2 wheel grinder. It does a much better job there than it did on my scroll saw.

I'm still using the same Lowes LED lights and metal bracket that I made for them on my DeWalt 788 saw. In fact, I have purchased more of these lights and now use one on each of my band saws, my belt sanders, and I have a few that I move around the shop when I want more light for something. I also bought three of the other version of these lights, those with the weighted bases, to use on my display tables when I have a booth at shows, if the show lights in my location aren't bright enough . 

The Lowes LED lights that I used on my scroll saw now have a different shaped lamp head, but they still seem to be the same design otherwise, so those considering LED lights should still be able to apply these lights to their scroll saws in much the same way that I posted earlier in this thread. Getting even light from two sources, one on each side of the blade is what is most important, no matter what lighting choice you make. Using light weight LED lights mounted to the upper arm of the saw adds so little weight that my Jim Dandy brand arm lift didn't even need a spring adjustment when I added the lights and bracket to my saw.The arm still stays in any position that I want, when lifting it.  Having the lights go up at the same time that you lift the saw arm gives more access for blade threading/changing too. Then they are back in position and ready for cutting when you drop the arm again too.

To make my aluminum bracket, I just bent the 1/16" thick piece of aluminum using my upper saw arm as the form to shape it. I left extra metal on both ends of the piece so that I could bend the right angle on each end of it at the same position (about 1/8" above the bottom of the saw arm) and then trim off the excess from each end of it. I then used 1/8" thick aluminum to make the light mounting bracket, since it did not require bending and it needed to be a little more rigid to hold the lights. Both pieces of aluminum were also bought from Lowes.

My bracket design requires un-wiring of the lamp head and removing the spring clamps from the bottom of the goose neck, then attaching the goose neck to the bracket, and finally installing and re-connecting the wires in the lamp head. This is easy if you have a small soldering iron and some "electronic suitable" flux core solder. The two wires must be connected correctly, so I always leave a short 1/2" long piece of the wires on the lamp PC board. This lets me re-attach the wires in the correct places, by letting me see where the wire with the white line on it's side came from and where the solid black wire came from. These LED lights run from small DC power supplies in the wall plug and the polarity of the wiring is important. If re-connected improperly the LED lights will not work. 

 

@WLDraper

Why do you say that modifying the new lights from Lowes that you used "Is not possible"?

I have looked at these lights in Lowes and they are the same design that I used, except for the shape of the rear side of the lamp head. Removing a couple of screws in the face lens and the lens and PC board containing the LEDs will lift out of the lamp head. Cut the two wires free from the PC board about 1/2" from the PC board, leaving enough of the wire on the PC board to be able to see which wire is all black and which wire has the white line on it. Pull the wire down and out of the goose neck and the spring clamp. Remove the nut on the end of the goose neck that holds the spring clamp on and remove the spring clamp. To re-assemble, attach the goose neck of the lamp assembly to the new metal bracket using the same nut an lock washer, then thread the wire up through the goose neck and into the lamp head. Now re-attach the wires, using a small soldering iron and electronis flux core solder, making certain to match the wire with the white line tracer to the place where the stub of the wire with the white line is located. Do the same with the black wire, attaching it where the stub of the black wire is located. The stubs of wire can be discarded as you do this, but only remove each one as you attach the correct wire to that location. Now re-install the lamp LED PC board and plastic lens using the two screws, and the lamp is ready to use.

Your wooden bracket looks good, and if it works for you, great. But I didn't want the original clamps, their weight, and the space that they occupied.  My only issue is with your statement that modifying the lights "is not possible", because they can, and it's relatively easy to do.

Charley  

Edited April 8, 2018 by CharleyL

[WLDraper]

Of course you are right Charlie.  To be truthful (and admit a little embarrassment!), when I looked at the lens, I didn't realize that the two screws on the face, were in fact, screws!  No question that if you want to make your recommended modifications, it is straight forward and would probably end up with a more elegant installation.  Sorry for the confusion--

[ImaginationUnincorporated]

I bought several sewing machine lights for other tools and things. On a whim, I stuck one to the hold down on my Hegner and, for around ten bucks, low and behold . . . .

These appear to have rare earth magnets, based on the pull I note attaching and removing them, so if you have some iron around you saw, you could attach it and be off and running.

Ran a bunch of items and it didn't launch, so. . . .

NOTE:  I bought two versions. The two on my little lathe have more lights and toss more light. 

Edited August 26, 2019 by ImaginationUnincorporated

[OCtoolguy]

15 hours ago, ImaginationUnincorporated said:

I bought several sewing machine lights for other tools and things. On a whim, I stuck one to the hold down on my Hegner and, for around ten bucks, low and behold . . . .

These appear to have rare earth magnets, based on the pull I note attaching and removing them, so if you have some iron around you saw, you could attach it and be off and running.

Ran a bunch of items and it didn't launch, so. . . .

NOTE:  I bought two versions. The two on my little lathe have more lights and toss more light. 

Would your mind sharing your source and cost?

By the way, I see we share the same birthday. I'm just a bit older. 1943.

Edited August 26, 2019 by octoolguy

[ImaginationUnincorporated]

[Re birthdays] That's okay, Ray, just talk slow for me and I'll catch up, eventually.

I believe I got the five I have off Amazon Prime. By way of prime, they were around $10.99. Here are a couple pages from that site:

https://www.amazon.com/harmiey-Gooseneck-Magnetic-Mounting-Workbenches/dp/B07FSPJKWQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=sewing+machine+light&qid=1566837550&s=gateway&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sewing+machine+light&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

_______________________________
SIDE NOTE: We don't have an Ikea anywhere near here and the closest real town is an hour out.

Edited August 26, 2019 by ImaginationUnincorporated

[Foxfold]

Oooh I've just seen this, as the 'original' post was before my time in the Village.  Many thanks for bringing it up to date. I think these would be a great addition to my 'ensemble' so I've just bought 2 of them

[ImaginationUnincorporated]

Go with the ones with the most leds. Beside the little one, which are in my photos above, they are significantly brighter.

[Foxfold]

2 hours ago, ImaginationUnincorporated said:

Go with the ones with the most leds. Beside the little one, which are in my photos above, they are significantly brighter.

I bought the one with 30 leds, I couldn't find one with more although several of them had far less.

[CharleyL]

You should all try two lights, which ever type of light that you decide to buy. Those sewing machine lights are cheaper and weren't available back when I was adding LED lights to my saws. Good luck with them.

Two LED lights, one on each side of the blade, and positioned "just right" will just about eliminate the blade shadows and flicker, and make following the line with the blade so much easier. I keep my light heads 4-5" above the saw table, and angled down toward the cutting point at about a 45 degree angle. When positioned slightly toward you and ahead of the cutting point seems to work best for me. If placed down lower I am forever hitting the lights with my hands. Before the LED lights that I now use, I had two halogen drafting board lights mounted on my scroll saw. The bright white color and amount of light was great, but I kept burning my forehead on the lights, and my hands were getting Sunburned whenever I cut for long hours. The LED lights are smaller, just as bright, bright white, and they don't get hot. 

I haven't been woodworking much since the first of this year, because I'm building myself a photo/video studio in a 17' X 26' spare 2nd master bedroom located on the 2nd floor of my house and outfitting it with backdrops, lights, cameras, new computers, etc. I've been in and out of photography and photo retouching since high school and I had owned a photo retouching business in the late 1990's through 2008, but I never had a complete studio of my own where I could also do portraits and advertising work. Completion of my new studio is now just around the corner, and I'll be getting back to doing some woodworking again, just in time to take some great photos of my Christmas woodworking projects and do some quality portrait work. I'll also be helping my son and his wife with making some advertising and training videos for their business.  This won't be a full time photo business as I'm now 77 and fully retired with no interest at all in working full time again (I actually retired 5 different times). It's just another serious hobby and "Bucket List" item, something that I've always wanted, and now have.  

Charley 

[Joe W.]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088YTZ7GZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got these two lights today in the mail. 
Mounted them on both side of the DW88 and they completely stopped my profanity caused from shadows hiding the pattern lines I was trying to see. 
Life is good!  

[rjweb]

Give us a review when you use for a few days, thx RJ 

[Joe W.]

 

See link above.

Gave these two lamps a workout on my DW788 the past couple of days.
Distance from the magnetic base to the beginning of the LED lights is 8 inches.  I placed the magnetic base just behind the black power switch/speed dial cover.
The flexible arm and lights are long enough to enable adjusting the light heads to completely eliminate any shadows, and small enough to not be in the way.
A side benefit is being able to easily move one or both of them to other locations if desired.
I did not to make a support bracket for the lights as they have a magnetic base, but for anyone who wanted to, the lights come with adhesive mounting Discs that would enable that option.
And with only 2W of power consumption each, that leaves more money for scroll saw blades!

[stoney]

On 4/7/2018 at 8:24 PM, octoolguy said:

After reading on through the entire thread, I found the answer to my original question so I have edited it out. I will add though that I found a similar flex LED light at IKEA for about $8 each. I only bought one but now I think I'll go back and buy another one. This looks like a great idea and I will be installing something similar on my Hegner. Here is a picture of what I bought although mine was painted white and sold for a couple dollars less.

 

They also have ones with a base instead of the clip for a couple dollars less.

Ray I have one of them mounted on my saw and can pull it down practically right on top of the work piece on either side of the blade and it works great.

[OCtoolguy]

This is another old topic that has come back to life.

[Joe W.]

On 1/19/2016 at 1:00 PM, CharleyL said:

When cutting tiny work, like my reindeer ear rings, I do use magnification, but I'm using a wearable head band magnifier, so the lenses move with me. When I tried the magnifier/light combination I found that when I moved my head the outer areas of the magnifier lens produced distortion that bothered my eyes. The head band magnifiers don't have this distortion.

I decided to give these a try and they came in the mail today - too funny - just as I finished cutting out the ant pattern!  Tried them out for a few minutes before the evening meal and I think I'm going to like them.  Will give them a try on the next small work.  I wear glasses, but using the headband makes it comfortable to wear.  More later.

[Eugene Downes]

This light mounts to the the back of my saw. It does not use any clamp but mounts into a hole at the back of the stand and can be turned or pointed any direction you want. Completely adjustable.