New Light

One of the fluorescent light fixtures quit working in my shop. I swapped all of them out a few years ago and put in ones that took the T-8 bulbs and were supposed to be good for cold temperatures. When the one quit I tried replacing the bulbs but no go, just stopped working. I went to Menard's and was going to buy a replacement unit like I had but decided to try a LED fixture instead. The fluorescent fixture was $15.00 and came without bulbs, the LED was $35.00 ready to go. By the time I bought two new bulbs the price difference was less than $10.00 so I figured I'd give the LED a try. It's a nice bright white color - 4000K. It's supposed to put out as much light as the fluorescent I replaced. Actually seems a little brighter and its supposed to last a lot longer and use less juice.

I've got a couple of halogen lights in the shop as well. One over the lathe and one over the welding bench. I'm going to see about some type of similar LED for over the lathe. The current light is pretty close to my head and generates a lot of heat - nice in the winter, not so much in the summer. Also the color temperature is more yellow than the white given off by the LED, The older I get the more light I need to work comfortably, especially on fine detail stuff like what one encounters often times on lathe work.

Beautiful weather yesterday and forecast for the next few days. It got up to damn near 50 degrees with sunshine. The weatherman said Christmas is supposed to be warmer than Halloween and Thanksgiving Day for the first time in 65 years. That's OK by me. I took the Himalayan out for a spin after going to the gym yesterday. I wore my new helmet. Still a bit nippy for an open face helmet but I like the fit. It should be just the ticket for commuting this summer.

Going out for breakfast with Cuzzin Ricky this morning and walking 3-4 miles later today. I'm going to work on a few things out in the shop in between along with getting the final preparations taken care of for Christmas.