NEW! Faster Search Option

Lighting for Finish/Spray Room

Lighting for Finish/Spray Room (post #168006)

KReidy on Mon, 07/04/2011 - 10:54

Workshop

Happy 4th to All!

I am doing the mechanical/lighting plans for a new shop and I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for lighting in a small finishing room. Any input is humbly appreciated!

Thanks!

Ken

Albuquerque

Spectrum dilema (post #168006, reply #1 of 6)

by BruceS in reply to KReidy [original] on Mon, 07/04/2011 - 14:43

Thats a loaded question !! You may wish to install many different types of lighting ! And use the type of lighting that will be in a pieces final destination. Something stained and finished under a flourescent light is sure going to change colour and appearence under an incandescent lamp. Now the LED's are tossing in another light spectrum.

Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

Bruce S.

Ken , Part of your answer (post #168006, reply #2 of 6)

by oldusty in reply to KReidy [original] on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 06:31

Ken , Part of your answer may depend on what materials you will use for your finishes , solvent based or water based

or maybe Shellac . Typically explosion proof fixtures are used in many spray booths but you said small finish room , not sure if you will spray or brush and wipe your finishes ?

I have seen Fluorescent and incandescent explosion proof fixtures but it seems the majority of spray booths I have seen utilize the fluorescents .

The type of lighting should not effect the color of your work , some color looks different depending on the type of lighting perhaps if you do any color or staining work in another room before the top coats in the finish room .

regards dusty

Anidotal (post #168006, reply #3 of 6)

by PSeverin in reply to KReidy [original] on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 16:22

The closer you can get to natural daylight the better you will see and the less light it will take. There was a story told by lighting reps of a spray booth for Chrysler cars where every available surface was covered with fluorescent fixtures and they still couldn't see. They ended up with an industrial solution of a remote spinning sodium bulb and light tubes delivering less, but almost perfect daylight to the booth. Suddenly they could see and it was a hell of a lot cooler.

A friend who specialized in lighting says under skylights you can see well with 30 f.c. where as in old classrooms the required illumination was something like 100 f.c. with the old fluorescent tubes.

I'd steer you toward the new high end LED bulbs that produce near perfect daylight illumination. LED are tested and graded for quality with the best chips used in the expensive light bulbs. The ones you find at big box stores that will not produce the quality light you may need. Anyway shining one of the flood light of a new LED high quality bulb on the surfaces of our office impressed me.

Peter

Lighting (post #168006, reply #4 of 6)

by Westchester in reply to PSeverin [original] on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 13:56

Ken

Since you're still in the design stage - how about a window in the spray area ?

Supplemented with different color bulbs for lighting. Have an electrican work out the details for safe wiring in a spray area

Lighting (post #168006, reply #5 of 6)

by KReidy in reply to PSeverin [original] on Sun, 07/10/2011 - 09:51

Thanks for the input.

Natural light is going to be hard to direct into this room. LED might be a way to go, I need to research this more. The rest of the shop is natural color lamps in T5 fixtures. Maybe a combination of directional incandescent and recessed fluorescents in the ceiling might be a way to go. I really appreciate all of your insight.

Ken

Raking light can be very (post #168006, reply #6 of 6)

by DonStephan in reply to KReidy [original] on Sun, 07/10/2011 - 16:59

Raking light can be very helpful when spraying, to highlight runs and the quality of the finish, but general overhead light also needed. I've yet to find an effective way to provide raking light without it's being in the spray path.