One of the issues I have always have is that wherever I place my lamp at some stage it is always in the wrong place. No more! I saw this idea on another site and I'm very pleased with the results. I have attached an 'Angel eye halo' around the spindle of the mill to provide the illumination. For anyone who hasn't come across them before they are 12v. LED's arranged in a circle and are available in various diameters from 50mm upwards. The only modification that I had to make was to file a recess to allow the wires to come to the outer edge of the plastic housing. It is fixed to the spindle housing with double sided pads.
Very neat Max! I have been thinking of doing something to improve the spindle/work lighting on my mill. One thought though, does the closing nut of the collet chuck cast some shadow on the cutter? BTW have you tried a bearing nut, they are much easier to tighten securely. Cheers Dave
Dave has asked the question that I should have, I have the same problem but presumably a larger diameter light would help. A collett nut is perhaps one problem but a boring head or face mill is going to be a bigger issue. Nother thing for the v long list. Martin
Brilliant, I have the same issue on my Proxxon pillar drill; they're also pretty good for macro photography.
Not had a chance to play with it yet so not sure. There doesn't appear to be any shadow on the table but I'll try and escape to the garage today to see. Not come across a bearing nut...curses another 'essential and possibly safety related' item I may need to purchase. I can confirm that the 60mm jobbie fits nicely on a BFB 2000.
Great idea. I would like something similar for my Cowells mill. Where did you source the light from please? I've tried google and keep getting BMW head lights! Ian.
Ian, I found that e-bay gave plenty of results; if you put in (for example) 'Halo ring lights + 70mm'* you should find what you want. * They seem to come in 10mm increments so insert the size you want.
That's interesting as my chuck is only 30 or so mm in dia, possibly a different model # can't recall what mine is off the top of my head. Thus I was looking in the 40mm range; mind, the bigger they are the more light you get
The bigger they are the more light you will get spread out and less chance of a shaded area produced by the chuck/collets. Ian
Had a play this afternoon and as suggested there is a shadow around the cutter. However it is what I would call a 'soft' shadow, not ideal but I'm still better off than I was. I'll add a 90mm diameter ring which probably wont eliminate the shadow but it should reduce it. Will also look for a strait LED strip as I have a cunning plan. Remember it's not the chuck diameter you are interested in but how wide the support is that goes around it....unless you want the LED mounted on the rotating part and powered via a slip ring?
What you are describing has probably a technical name... penumbra comes to mind (shadows produced by a light source which has measurable width/length).
