When the electrical failed in the external workroom at my parents’ house where I keep my thickness planer, my choices were clear: learn electrician stuff or build an improvised lighting rig.  No stranger to DIY illumination solutions, I chose the latter.

Not bad, for using only what was on hand.

I had nearly forgotten about these LED floodlights. Each is 15W and approximately 1.5lbs. They aren’t great for directional lighting (they’re meant for use with a diffuser), but the four together provide enough illumination to thickness plane and rummage around without tripping over myself.

The board holding them together is a scrap of 1/2″ x 3″ red oak, with six 1/4″ holes drilled through it to accept the four lights and two threaded eyes (leftovers from the original arbor rig in my apartment).  I thought about using a scrap 2×4, but that seemed overkill and I didn’t have one available in my apartment, anyway.  If the board does sag over time, I can always replace it with something more rigid.

The essence of apartment woodworking, all in one camera frame.

The line is 3/8″ marine rope from the boating center.  Whatever line I don’t use for hanging this rig will go back to its original purpose: a stay for the lid on the traveling tool tote.  Lastly, the power cords are bound together with some hook and loop zip ties and run to a one-to-four power cord splitter.

I love these little DIY rigs because they solve real problems with the minimum of materials.  Plus I get to play gaffer and pretend like I know movie stuff.  Best of all, I should be able to see again while I’m thickness planing.

I’ll take a picture on site over the weekend and post it to twitter.

JPG