best artificial light for showing swirls and such

S

swirl mark

New member
hey fellas, what artificial light do you use that best replicates the suns ability to show flaws (swirls, trails). flourescent is not cutting it. i get tired of having to back cars out to check to make sure i have the perfect finish. also, sometimes i get the urge to buff late at night. thanks
 
This one really is worth the dreaded search as we've discussed it in depth a few times. Fluorescent is great for general illumination, but pretty awful for spotting marring (somebody whose opinion I respect says it works fairly well on white paint though).



Halogens are OK...but nothing super; I have a pair of them, 1,000W and 1,2000 w IIRC, and yeah I use them for general illumination when polishing, but not for final inspections.



After hearing so much about xenons here, I played around with my painter's xenon and to be brutally honest I wasn't too impressed by it- I could just *barely* see some (admitedly very light) marring that I *know* is there. The same marring is *very* obvious in my shop, where I have high-wattage incandecents for jobs like that. Xenons might be better than halogens, hard to say, but IMO they're not the last word on the subject.



Best IMO is incandescent in an otherwise dark room. Zero surprises, even on silver. But you gotta really work with different viewing and illumination angles to get everything just right. I get things looking great under halogens, then turn off everything and get out the incandescent trouble light to see what still needs work.
 
Check out the new - high bay fluorescents. They kick out a whole different light using very small, T5 bulbs. I did a posting in the 'Garage' on them. I also replaced a regular, T12 fluro with 4-bulb fixture that Lowes threw on the 'sale' table for $20. It uses 20w, halogen with built-in reflectors ..like you see in a jeweler's store. I have this set right over the hood of the car and can adjust the direction of any of the four bulbs. I still prefer the 'color' of the T5 over anything I've used before. They are expensive at about $170 a 4-bulb, 48" fixture.



If nothing else, change your Cool White fluorescents to SP65 bulbs that more represent natural daylight. Cheers,
 
great ideas. thanks guys. i think i will experiment a bit and see what works for me. i have used the lights off technique before, that does seem to work well. it was a while back and i kinda forgt about it. i used my makita flashlight though.
 
Halogen for me...

Swirl-Lines.jpg
 
Personally bought the Brinkmann Xenon and found it didn't do much damage. 1000 W Halogens are very easy and cheap to get, so my go to. Fluorescents for shop environment.



Otherwise play with different angles with the Halo's. Would never detail without em.
 
I've looked all over their site and only see the instruction manual for the light that I have. They have a Xenon/LED but not the Halogen/LED. I got it from Walmart over a year ago.
 
SpoiledMan said:
They have a Xenon/LED but not the Halogen/LED. I got it from Walmart over a year ago.
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yeah, i noticed walmart has them for about $20 (the one you have pictured), but didn't know of it would show defects like the one below. if anyone is looking for the one pictured below, pepboys has them for $29.99...



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SpoiledMan said:
I've looked all over their site and only see the instruction manual for the light that I have. They have a Xenon/LED but not the Halogen/LED. I got it from Walmart over a year ago.
Click to expand...

Could you please let me know the model number? I could try to find it on the Web if I know the model.
 
bigal3 said:
yeah, i noticed walmart has them for about $20 (the one you have pictured), but didn't know of it would show defects like the one below.
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I got mine at Tuesday mornings for $14.99. Some people reported finding them at Big Lots for few dollars less.
 
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