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'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
Overview Gallery Discussion
dremu said:
It's gauche to talk about money. Especially for projects :D

As to your "flourescents" (baking the lights, are you?) I whole-heartedly love LED's. You can get four-foot LED tubes in various flavors (drop-in to use ballasts, or ballast-less that require a smidge of rewiring) ... see the thread about my shop. They won't add TOO much to your costs (plus could qualify as a "tool" line item) and you can get the nice "cool white" 5000 kelvin ones instead of the yellow-tinged luorescent. That alone is worth 25hp for the eyes, I say.

-- A
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Aaron,

I saw your thread update and was going to ask you about LEDs.... The pricing is dropping and they run well in cold weather (unlike my florescents) but I wonder how many operating hours they offer? I have been swapping out LED bulbs in my backyard landscaping which were "rated" for 20,000 hours but barely seem to survive for a year running less than 12 hours/day. Do LEDs lose brightness over time?

My shop bulbs are 6500K.... and I like the pure white look vs. a more traditional "warm" color (like 4500k or whatever).

At this point, I got about 7 years of use from my first set of bulbs....they are cheap and never really thought much about doing a high-tech swapover.... but who knows? In another 7 years when I'm due for my next "refresh" in the garage maybe I'll give LEDs a try!!! :thinking: (I just hope by then, the truck is finished and I'm just out there doing simple stuff like oil changes)

(Ninja Edit: Florescent / Flourescent.... HA!) Good catch! :waytogo:


-G
 
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I`m envious of the nice bright work areas some of you guys have been showing lately! Looks great! :waytogo:

Defiantly would be more inspiring to be in a well light garage. To me every time I`m in a nice bright shop It makes me feel happy!

I`m working with a few 100 watt bulbs and two stinking hot halo`s :doah::poo:
 
Huh, didn't know you could get fluo's in > 5000K, I'm used to the ~2700K ones which make baby jeebus cry (and make me squint.)

You should know solid state, so no, an LED shouldn't change over time unless the individual diodes are burning out. I wonder if your landscaping ones don't like the temperature or humidity range? (Even if allegedly outdoor-rated, just from an engineering standpoint.) I put LED replacement bulbs inside at the last house a coupla years back with nary a problem. They were all inside, in a fairly constant environment. At the new place I have them inside and out and in the shop, so I guess ask me in a year or two and we'll see how they fared :)

-- A
 
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max 02 said:
I`m envious of the nice bright work areas some of you guys have been showing lately! Looks great! :waytogo:

Defiantly would be more inspiring to be in a well light garage. To me every time I`m in a nice bright shop It makes me feel happy!

I`m working with a few 100 watt bulbs and two stinking hot halo`s :doah::poo:
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Don't underestimate the power of a comfortable, well-lit shop on your attitude and the quality of your work!!! :waytogo:

I don't know if the "freshened up" look of my workshop will help me to power through the dreariest part of the winter, but psychologically it's been a HUGE boost for me.

Total cost of paint and new bulbs was maybe $250.....and about 30 hours of labor (because painting all those corners and crevices is SO tedious) but it has been totally worth it.

When it's time to unpack all the new engine parts and spread them out on a clean workbench, the whole process is going to feel that much more AWESOME!!! :saweet:

Put your truck-related projects on hold briefly and commit yourself to getting the shop set up the way you like it. It's time well-spent.


-G
 
If the LED bulbs are anything like the LED's used on the backlight of modern TV's, the 20,000 hour rating is normally the average time for the brightness to dim by 50%.

For the nerds among us, white LEDs are actually blue LED's with a phosphor type coating on them to make them appear white. That coating can eventually (like 30000 actual hours) burn off and start to turn the LED blue.
 
bp71k5 said:
If the LED bulbs are anything like the LED's used on the backlight of modern TV's, the 20,000 hour rating is normally the average time for the brightness to dim by 50%.

For the nerds among us, white LEDs are actually blue LED's with a phosphor type coating on them to make them appear white. That coating can eventually (like 30000 actual hours) burn off and start to turn the LED blue.
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I thought the white LED's are in fact red, green, and blue LED's bonded to the same substrate, brightness matched. At least I've got some RGB ones that can do white that way. If the white-only ones are coated blue ones, that's a crappy thing, as the blue ones are the least efficient (used to be gallium aluminum arsenide or whatever the hell, donno any more...)

-- A
 
Dungeon....


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dremu said:
I thought the white LED's are in fact red, green, and blue LED's bonded to the same substrate, brightness matched. At least I've got some RGB ones that can do white that way. If the white-only ones are coated blue ones, that's a crappy thing, as the blue ones are the least efficient (used to be gallium aluminum arsenide or whatever the hell, donno any more...)

-- A
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They do make LEDs that way too, but those are really 3 separate devices so I didn't count those. The high end LEDs for household bulbs may in fact do that especially if they need to modify the color to different values to make them appear more "warm".

My original point is that they can drop in brightness over time, but the "half-life" should be a very long time from now.
 
Those flouresent lights appear to be T-12 bulbs, once you go to a T-8 or even a T-5 if the ceiling is high enough you'll then know what light is. Also a T-8 is cheaper to run than a T-12 and a T-5 cheaper yet but T-5 are designed for high ceilings usually around 18'-20' or so.
 
4X4HIGH said:
Those flouresent lights appear to be T-12 bulbs, once you go to a T-8 or even a T-5 if the ceiling is high enough you'll then know what light is. Also a T-8 is cheaper to run than a T-12 and a T-5 cheaper yet but T-5 are designed for high ceilings usually around 18'-20' or so.
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Regular T5's do well in normal height ceilings (10'-12'), T5HO's do better in the taller ceilings (14'+). I've only got 5 four bulb T5HO's in my barn with 14' ceilings and while it could be brighter...there is plenty of light to work in there now. Once they go on sale again I'll pick up the other 5 fixtures. At $100 a pop the budget can only handle so much at a time.
 
4X4HIGH said:
Those flouresent lights appear to be T-12 bulbs, once you go to a T-8 or even a T-5 if the ceiling is high enough you'll then know what light is. Also a T-8 is cheaper to run than a T-12 and a T-5 cheaper yet but T-5 are designed for high ceilings usually around 18'-20' or so.
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T5 and T8 bulbs aren't really a good choice in a cold environment. In California even your "cold" weather is still pretty warm!! :)

T12 is cheap....and I already own the fixtures (obviously) so swapping out some bulbs is a quick and cost-effective way to get back to my build...!!!! :waytogo:



-G
 
Greg72 said:
T5 and T8 bulbs aren't really a good choice in a cold environment. In California even your "cold" weather is still pretty warm!! :)

T12 is cheap....and I already own the fixtures (obviously) so swapping out some bulbs is a quick and cost-effective way to get back to my build...!!!! :waytogo:



-G
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Does you garage get below 0*F ?
 
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