Worth It (2023.1)
In the second post on this series, I want to reflect back on some things, big and small that have made a notable quality of life improvements in my work space.
Worth It Series
This post is part of a series, check out the other posts!
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Lighting
Of all of the variables that contribute to the usability and enjoyment of a shop space, the amount (and quality!) of lighting has got to be universally near the top. Once you’ve experienced it, a well-lit space just becomes one of those ‘well of course’ attributes of a shop — it certainly was for me! Human eyes are magical things and they can adapt to an immense range of lighting conditions, so sometimes it can be really challenging to try and picture what ‘a bit more light’ looks like and/or how it could impact your use of a space.
It’s 2023, so I’m going to assume that we are exclusively looking at LED lighting. I’m going to possibly suggest that for most users, the amount of light in a space is far more important than the ‘quality’ of the light. Of course there are some assumptions and exceptions: i.e., if you are filming in the space, you’ll definitely need to worry more about color temperature, how ‘true’ the lighting is (CRI) and potential issues like flicker and softness.
I can’t stress this enough: if you have multiple bulbs/fixtures, try to get all the bulbs/fixtures in the same color temperature! If you have to mix color temperatures, aim to keep them as close as possible. In my current space, I happen to use 5000K but previously, I’ve used 4000K (even mixed with some 5000K).
Note: any time, I’m talking about “watts” below, I’m referring to “equivalence”. As in: “60W equivalent bulb”
Swap existing bulbs
The obvious (easy) starting solution is to up the brightness of the bulbs in the work space — say, swap out 60W bulbs for 150W (or even brighter?) bulbs.
If you are working in a garage with a higher ceiling, then you’ll want to push the brightness values higher than you might initially think.
Bulb Splitter
A socket splitter is a super accessible way to increase the volume of light in a space by simply adding more bulbs. You can often find 2-to-1 splitters.
At my previous shop (a two-car garage) I had two existing light sockets and added a 7-in-1 bulb splitter to each one. I ran 6x60W + 1x100W. This was probably skirting on the limits of what the cheap splitter can handle, but it was a fantastical amount of light
The one advantage of going with a splitter, is you can pick and choose your color-temperature (or change it down the road) just by swapping out bulbs.
Deformable LEDs
These have definitely blown up in popularity over the last few years and are a potentially more convenient alternative to a socket splitter. They come with ever increasing number of deformable ‘leaves’ (some even have multiple levels of articulation which I think is a bit gimmicky) and they come with some astronomical lumen numbers (which you may want to take with a grain of salt).
One thing to watch out for though is that the overwhelming majority of these deformable lights are 6500K which may be a bit ‘too blue’ depending on what you want. I did find a set that was 5000K.
Shop/Utility Lights
These are commonly found in 4-ft lengths offer a lot of variety:
A wide variety of color temperatures: 2700K, 4000K, 5000K, 6000K and 6500K can be easily found
Can be flush mounted to a ceiling/wall or hung from chains
The cheapest units are meant to be direct plug-in (i.e., need an outlet) and operate with a pull chain
Fancier models allow for direct wiring, daisy chaining as well as remote/motion trigger
Specifically useful to a shop, if the budget allows for it, spend a bit more for vapor sealed lights — you won’t have to worry about dust getting into your lights (ultimately causing a buildup of heat)
If you’re lucky enough to be able to add additional fixtures/sockets, space them out so that you can get good coverage throughout the space. By having a [relatively] even amount of lighting throughout the space, you can opt to shuffle your shop around over the years without having to worry about having a ‘dim patch’ to work around.
Our current space is a 2-car garage with relatively low ceilings, I opted for 8x 4-ft lights (plus the preexisting light socket). If you have a garage door (and plan to work with the door open in the warmer months), keep in mind how the open-door will obstruct light — I opted to have the lights above the door installed on a separate switch.
Our garage originally came with a single light socket connected to a switch inside the house, so I installed a 100W radar motion bulb and leave the switch permanently on. I specifically went with a radar bulb (versus a more traditional PIR sensor) so that the activation would be much more sensitive. I originally went with a PIR bulb and there was about a 50-50 chance that opening the door wouldn’t immediate trigger the bulb; switching to a radar bulb fixes that.
If you’re working in a basement space though, one thing to know about radar bulbs is that they can detect motion through hollow doors and sometimes even through drywall. Our garage has a steel door which mostly prevents the motion trigger from firing.
A whole bunch of pencils...
My wife enjoys watching me in the shop because I waffle back and forth more than anything: I spend more time looking for crap (that I just put down) than getting stuff done. For me, there is one thing I am constantly misplacing: pencils followed very closely masking/painter’s tape.
A few years ago, I finally caved and went and bought two boxes of pencils and a contractor pack of green painter’s tape. I still put my pencil/tape down and instantly forget where it goes all the time but now I don’t waste time looking for it, I just grab another one — I’ll find the wayward items at the end when I do a cleanup. I got a cheap battery operated pencil sharpener from the dollar store so I can keep all the pencils nice and sharp.
This sounds like such a silly entry but I went for years getting annoyed every few minutes because I stopped tracking where a stupid pencil was!
Foot operated switches
Currently, I have two foot-operated switches in my shop; they are momentary-on, so power only flows when someone is pressing on the pedal; I use this in two places:
For the miter saw, I have the shadow-cut-line light triggered by the foot pedal and
My by utility sink, I have a dedicated utility light
In both cases, the foot-operated switch handles situational lighting. Another use case I may explore in the future is having a dedicated dust-collection vacuum hooked up with a foot-operated switch.
GRR-Ripper pushblocks
A few years ago, I bought a GRR-Ripper push-block and over the years, it’s saved me a few times. Looking at some reviews, I can see that people don’t like the fact they have to ‘constantly’ adjust the pushblock to adapt to the shape/dimensions of the material they are cutting. Funny enough, I actually like that it can be adjusted to perfectly fit around a specific piece of material (and really, 99% of the time it’s just a matter of sliding the middle leg a bit out of the way).
My push block has saved me a couple times ;)
A related product, I also bought the GRR-Rip pushblock for use with my jointer; the smart hooks are great for catching material and giving me a mechanical contact point to push material through. The smart-hook is just an auto-retractable heel: when retracted, the pushblock lays flat on the wood (useful for the front-pushblock) but when extended, it catches the back side of the wood to give you a positive, physical contact.
Paint can caps
I buy the stains and sealants that I regularly use in 1-gal cans so having a reusable lid with some way to easily pour is a must. I used the Shur-Line silicone lid with a flip-spout for a few years but I found that the moving parts failed over time: the end cap eventually broke (- which you’d kind of expect since it’s a part that is always being touched) but also the base of the flip-spout eventually cracked — and I never really opened-closed the flip-spout. It’s just like it dried out and cracked over time.
I eventually switched over to using an all-plastic lid from Dynamic and so far (it’s only been a year or so at time of writing), I’ve not run into issues. There are no living hinges on this lid so I don’t expect it to fail in the same way. The twist cap can get gummed up with stain but I for the stains and sealants I use, it peels off easily enough.
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