Small Milling Machine Angel Eyes

I bought a 100mm diameter Angel Eye led array - essentially a circular LED array that is normally for aftermarket use around car headlights, normally always on as daylight running lights.

Attachment 37903

I then created a simple MDF housing for the light that bolts to the spindle on the same bracket as the magnetic strip for the spindle measurement on a Sieg SX2.7 - more details: Sieg SX2.7 Angel Eyes

Attachment 37904

This housing shields your eyes from the side and bounces the light back onto the spindle.

Attachment 37905

With the 100mm diameter array it creates a uniform light on the end of any milling bit that is just brilliant. There is no flickering that I have observed to date and it is really cheap. I would like to use this MDF holder as a prototype for an aluminium holder and shade as I could make it thin and very light.

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Be nice for a drill press, too. Good for these old eyes to be able to hit that center punch right the first time :-)

I got a few of these for the mill and drill presses but after a test I have not bothered to fit them. I found the light output to be way to low to be worth the bother.
Maybe mine are weaker, but whatever, I was very disappointed.

I just got a set, one by mistake. Both came with two light rings (if that is the proper term?) The 100 mm came with a self adhesive strip on the back side and was a perfect fit on the quill of my mill drill. They were very inexpensive (less than $5.00 each for two). They are quite bright, I need to make a power switch to cut power when not in use. I have it hooked up to a 12v wall wart right now that I plug into a power strip. I want to cut power to the wall wart so it in not on all of the time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by editor@glue-it.com

There is no flickering that I have observed to date and it is really cheap.

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I've found quite a few mains-connected cheap LED lights that flicker, which I find annoying (to say the least).
The built-in LED drivers can have rectifiers/ SMPS's with just about any output frequency,
so the 12 VDC 4W auto ring light above will be flicker-free IF (and only if) the supply delivers "clean" enough DC.
A car LED would have a max design voltage of 14.5 VDC,
and any PWM variable driver would provide a suitable dimmer down to the LED's turn-on voltage.
Nice bonus feature: LED's color spectrum is unaltered when dimming, in contrast to that of incandescent lights.

1) To check I usually take a short high-speed (@ 240 fps) cellphone video with the lamp in question being the only light on in the room.
On slo-mo playback any eventual flicker immediately shows.

2) One simple and cheap remedy is to solder an electrolytic capacitor in parallel to the LED source,
as big as you can fit and with ample voltage headroom, then repeat 1) to check.

Works great if you're annoyed with shop lights that strobe in your videos.
But I don't recommend "fixing" LED retro-fit ersatz mains fluoro tubes at all...
Then - the color rendition of run-of-the-mill LEDs are a completely different question as their spectrum varies wildly...

Caveat: The DC current can get quite high, so check for appropriate (short) cable length and area.
I've found some really flimsy hook-up wires in LED flood lights during my autopsies...
LEDs don't like over-voltage or high temperatures at all...

2 cents

Johan

PS: I use a discount 20W LED outdoor flood light as an indirect* "shop" ceiling bouncer for general, shadow-free illumination,
then a few IKEA Jansjö flexible goosenecks and a few LED strips for the shelves.
* Pointed UPWARDS into the white ceiling for "that soft, low-contrast light quality"

I got a 90mm led lighted magnifier's off ebay for about $12. with ac adaptor.with all the leds' around the lens, it's bright.should do just fine when I get time to take the lens out and mount it to my millquill.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tonyfoale

I got a few of these for the mill and drill presses but after a test I have not bothered to fit them. I found the light output to be way to low to be worth the bother.
Maybe mine are weaker, but whatever, I was very disappointed.

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The one I'm using is approximately 4W and this is quite high for LED lights. It's bright enough that you cannot look at it directly. The test is the difference it makes to the ability to align parts on the table and it really is a transformation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tonyfoale

I got a few of these for the mill and drill presses but after a test I have not bothered to fit them. I found the light output to be way to low to be worth the bother.
Maybe mine are weaker, but whatever, I was very disappointed.

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try more voltage!!!

Do you get a black spot when the quill is extended? I did when I tried a ring light. I found that lighting from both sides obviated this.

Ohhhh, a machine light. Video shot, caught my eye, thinking it was a 'desk lamp" of machine parts.
I've tried ring lights with disappointing result. maybe they've improved. The problem, parallel illumination "focuses" on area directly below, with little divergence. The large chuck shadows the drill point, unless a long bit.
Angling two Tensor-type individual lamps [incandescent or LED] at either side is more effective. The best arrangement seems to be one from the back, and left side, lessening interference to operator.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NortonDommi

Do you get a black spot when the quill is extended? I did when I tried a ring light. I found that lighting from both sides obviated this.

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The light moves with the quill and so doesn't block it. I've tried it with a short 3mm slot drill and it worked a dream, gets even better with longer bits.

The aluminium foil around the inside of the shade should reflect quite a lot of light and extend the size of the light - the light is very even on the table and on the drill bit

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Toolmaker51

Ohhhh, a machine light. Video shot, caught my eye, thinking it was a 'desk lamp" of machine parts.
I've tried ring lights with disappointing result. maybe they've improved. The problem, parallel illumination "focuses" on area directly below, with little divergence. The large chuck shadows the drill point, unless a long bit.
Angling two Tensor-type individual lamps [incandescent or LED] at either side is more effective. The best arrangement seems to be one from the back, and left side, lessening interference to operator.

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I have made a desk lamp using snubs from a dial gauge support - it's on my gallery

The reflective foil extends the illuminated area quite a lot, it's working really well.

Dual post - Please ignore

Cheers
Johan

Umm - I checked your nice desk lamp design and build at your site, Nigel.

One question though:
1) -Isn't the chosen GU 10 lamp at full mains 230 VAC voltage (or is it below 24 V)?
If so: You got yourself a protective earth lead to the lamp's base?
And do you have GFI/ RCD device in your breaker/ fuse box?

A low voltage transformer/ SELV powered, low temp LED could be mounted in just about anything, as in your mill light,
but an all metal, mains powered (with perhaps a hot Halogen?) lamp without a proper and connected* earth lead
could give you a blind date with Darwin when a fault happens.

I'm not sure how code might've changed in the UK since New Years Eve, but I guess you haven't ditched the CE regulations yet? :)

-Just be safe, OK?

Cheers
Johan

*Means NO 2-wire extension cord from outlet to your lamp plug...

Worthwhile considerations of grounding and operating voltage. Here [Midwest US], I'll use 3ph step down transformers for power-feeds, lights, DRO's etc, I hate cords laying around, feed machines from drops. Most are grounded cords; this will have me add GFCI's to cover everything low volt.
Halogen too hot for this kind of thing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Toolmaker51

Most are grounded cords; this will have me add GFCI's to cover everything low volt. .

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AFAIK: For transformers/ SELV low voltage drive units a GFCI won't be as beneficial as it will be in a full mains voltage circuit.
A GFCI works by contionously checking for current leakage to anything else than the neutral conductor
( i. e. Opens breaker if Phase and Neutral current differs more than a predetermined value: usually<20-30 mA),
and would thus only protect a transformer's primary mains circuit - not the Galvanically separated secondary's eventual fault.

As voltages below 60 V are considered "harmless" for humans & animals this is no real drawback.
Remember that though low voltage might be "safe" - a 12 V 50 W halogen lamp draws over 4 amps each -
so keep the low voltage cables short and coarse enough to minimize the fire hazard...

I've actually burned myself at work finding 6 x 50 W halogen lamps in parallel with a "few metres" of molten AWG #18 ...
The student in question was terribly offeded when I called him a "PhD Candidate in Arson".:)

Better knowledgeable and safe than a stupid stiff.

Cheers
Johan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DIYSwede

Umm - I checked your nice desk lamp design and build at your site, Nigel.

One question though:
1) -Isn't the chosen GU 10 lamp at full mains 230 VAC voltage (or is it below 24 V)?
If so: You got yourself a protective earth lead to the lamp's base?
And do you have GFI/ RCD device in your breaker/ fuse box?

A low voltage transformer/ SELV powered, low temp LED could be mounted in just about anything, as in your mill light,
but an all metal, mains powered (with perhaps a hot Halogen?) lamp without a proper and connected* earth lead
could give you a blind date with Darwin when a fault happens.

I'm not sure how code might've changed in the UK since New Years Eve, but I guess you haven't ditched the CE regulations yet? :)

-Just be safe, OK?

Cheers
Johan

*Means NO 2-wire extension cord from outlet to your lamp plug...

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The light is 3 wire and grounded and has an RCD, also, the connections to the holder fly-leads are soldered and insulated - no bolted terminals to come loose.

Must admit though that it would be even better as a 12V or USB powered light. The LED bulb is only around 4W.

Thanks for your reply, Nigel - sorry for perhaps barking up the wrong tree - but safety first!

ATB
Johan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DIYSwede

Thanks for your reply, Nigel - sorry for perhaps barking up the wrong tree - but safety first!

ATB
Johan

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Hi Johan, that's fine, I completely agree safety first. I still might change this to low voltage and modify it slightly as the base is not wide enough to support the light at full reach. The bulb is LED, but a moulded thick glass and so quite heavy. Best regards, Nigel

Sounds like I made 'low-volt' imply under our common 120v single phase.
A better description; User added power-feeds and some decent lights are 120, while DRO, optical readouts, other kinds of lighting have small individual [wall wart] transformers. That would be something like a Bridgeport. I'd attain that via small kv 440 to 120 buck transformer into a quad set of outlets. The outlet serving power feeds gets GFCI, the outlets for warts ground to box, bolted to machine, which naturally grounds through the 4th conductor along with spindle motor.

The others have that stuff built-in. Standing by with megger, phase & rotation checker, and photo-tachometer for those. Added benefit, typical here at HMT.net, improved vocabulary. This time SELV; generally accepted acronym, SELV stands for separated extra-low voltage (separated from earth). Certain electrical specifications vary how they define it, but idea remains.

Just made a simple cross-section with dimensions of this light shade, this is added to the original page on this mill light design.

Attachment 39434

The 10° inner angle and aluminium foil lining the inner surface removes the deadspot - well it works for me