Help w/lighting + notes on opening my shop

LeMarque

LeMarque

New member
It's been quite a while since I last posted - a lot has happened. Took a weeks worth of one on one training, mostly buffing and polishing, then found shop space and ...



What I thought would take two weeks to get open took two + months; it's the service bay of a former new car dealership. Painted the floors, some old bench's and pegboard, etc., etc.



Starting from scratch has been the hardest and most stressful thing I think I've ever done. Obviously I would do some things differently, not do some things and do some things I didn't.



Anyway, the lighting is non existent. The ceilings are at least 20+ feet high and the one or two 8 foot florescents are worthless. So I built two of the following using EcoLux 6500k 4 footers:



P1000981.jpg




They don't work like I had hoped. Since the shop occupies part of what was a 10 bay service area there are no walls for me to add lighting to; so I need something I can roll around.



I do have a "power light" dual halogen set-up, but either I don't know how to aim them or ...? I just can't seem to see swirls that I can without viewing the car in direct sunlight. As an example, I 'restored' some heads on an older Mercedes that looked kinda like this :
abc+005.jpg




I have the Megs Professional Headlight & Spot Repair Kit and have done lights in much worse condition; but when I pulled the car out into the sunlight, there was about a two inch oval that I somehow missed! Or it was the Optimum Poly-Seal I applied?



So, suggestions on how to improve my lighting situation would be greatly appreciated.
 
Very nice looking shop space!



As far as the lighting is concerned, you could probably just hang the lights lower in the bay on long chains.... or go with fixtures designed for high bays.



You can also try mixing in some high bay MH fixtures since those can help with defect spotting in some cases as well.
 
I'm in a similar situation. Walls are too far away from the detail area and ceilings are the same as yours. I have 8-8ft fluorescents 2 rows 4 each(T12). Even with that it seems too dark for interiors or correction work.





I think your on the right track with the mobile light wall. Have you thought of 2 4 row lights and playing with positioning? At the old shop I had a stand with 1 4 row fixture but it was the kind that go in drop ceilings. It did a very good job of casting light.



Where are you positioning the halogen relative to your work. It varies based on color.



Still playing with a set up here. Will follow this. If I come up with something will let you know.



BTW Started from scratch also. I feel your pain. There's still so much more to do.
 
C. Charles Hahn said:
Very nice looking shop space!



As far as the lighting is concerned, you could probably just hang the lights lower in the bay on long chains.... or go with fixtures designed for high bays.



You can also try mixing in some high bay MH fixtures since those can help with defect spotting in some cases as well.
Click to expand...



I searchd for MH and Highbay fixture and turned up a possible tax incentive:



Commercial Lighting Tax Deduction
 
CONCOURS.JOHN said:
I'm in a similar situation. Walls are too far away from the detail area and ceilings are the same as yours. I have 8-8ft fluorescents 2 rows 4 each(T12). Even with that it seems too dark for interiors or correction work.





I think your on the right track with the mobile light wall. Have you thought of 2 4 row lights and playing with positioning? At the old shop I had a stand with 1 4 row fixture but it was the kind that go in drop ceilings. It did a very good job of casting light.



Where are you positioning the halogen relative to your work. It varies based on color.



Still playing with a set up here. Will follow this. If I come up with something will let you know.



BTW Started from scratch also. I feel your pain. There's still so much more to do.
Click to expand...



I'm thinking of extending the top fixture out a couple of feet and angling it down and maybe adding one more lower; maybe even adding a track so I can adjust them individually.



Had a guy come with no experience by looking for a job and one of his comments was "how hard can 'detailing' be?" Felt like throwing him head first out the door :0
 
Usually the rebate/incentives are for the person paying the electric bill. If you can find a local electric supply house some of them offer instant rebates (that's what my company does).



Do you have regular bare strips with no reflectors off the sides? If so find out the brand of lighting you have and contact one of their sales reps and tell them you want the industrial reflectors for your existing strips. This would be a cheap easy way to project more light down. Like the one below. I have noticed a lot of property owners cheap out and get bare strips.



1070_large.jpg




Also if you have T12 lamps you should look into switching out to T8 more light and energy savings all it takes is a little rewiring and a new ballast. (T12's are being discontinued as well)



Another option is grab 2 T5 high bays and chain mount them from 4 points from the ceiling as close to the wall as possible and keep the chains closest to the wall a little longer so they will project across the garage. This will give you a ton of light and the fixtures should be no more then $175 each.



709839_300.jpg
 
My shop has high ceilings as well so I used chains as mentioned to lower them. I hung mine at 12' from the floor as taller vehicles won't make it through my door. This keeps the lighting as close as possible to my working area. I also hung them so they are between the wall and the side of the car to get as much light down the side as well. I use a multitude of portable lights when polishing so I didn't hang any on the walls in this shop.



This is my new shop. Bay is 15x30 with a single MH on the ceiling and 4 - 8' T8 hung 12' from the floor

DSC_0088.jpg




THis was my last shop. 15x30 bay as well. 2 MH on the ceiling and 8 - 8' T8's on the walls.

20.jpg
 
morphiusrt said:
Another option is grab 2 T5 high bays and chain mount them from 4 points from the ceiling as close to the wall as possible and keep the chains closest to the wall a little longer so they will project across the garage. This will give you a ton of light and the fixtures should be no more then $175 each.



709839_300.jpg
Click to expand...



Thanks - I'll look into these
 
detailfanatic said:
My shop has high ceilings as well so I used chains as mentioned to lower them. I hung mine at 12' from the floor as taller vehicles won't make it through my door. This keeps the lighting as close as possible to my working area. I also hung them so they are between the wall and the side of the car to get as much light down the side as well. I use a multitude of portable lights when polishing so I didn't hang any on the walls in this shop.



This is my new shop. Bay is 15x30 with a single MH on the ceiling and 4 - 8' T8 hung 12' from the floor

DSC_0088.jpg




THis was my last shop. 15x30 bay as well. 2 MH on the ceiling and 8 - 8' T8's on the walls.

20.jpg
Click to expand...



Nice looking shops.



Going to talk to an electrician about the cost of hanging lights, an expense I didn't budget for :-(
 
It can get pricey because you are paying him as well as paying to rent a lift for the day. I would rent the lift yourself and hang the lights. Have an electrician come out to hook them up. Way less expensive.
 
detailfanatic said:
It can get pricey because you are paying him as well as paying to rent a lift for the day. I would rent the lift yourself and hang the lights. Have an electrician come out to hook them up. Way less expensive.
Click to expand...



Lucked out there. Got a rolling scaffold on site that rivals Jack's beanstalk,
 
You're off to a good start and your workspace has good size, and clean and organized. Lighting should be a snap and not that big a deal. I would also just hang fluorescents on chains.
 
longsdetailing said:
You're off to a good start and your workspace has good size, and clean and organized. Lighting should be a snap and not that big a deal. I would also just hang fluorescents on chains.
Click to expand...



Thanks for the encouragement. Planing on getting some bids after Memorial day.
 
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