I am in the market for a lit magnifying work light - apparently the eyes are not what they used to be - Does anyone have a recommendation for a good one. I have heard some people complain that if you are not perfectly lined up when looking through some of them they tend to distort. I want to avoid that issue but I also do not want to break the bank.
Any help would be appreciated
-Bill R
I went for the cheaper one & it has quite a bit of distortion. I use it now mainly for the light. They often get in your way if you are using something w/ a long handle.
I bought a 4 Led light that has a band that goes around your head & a pair of +3 glasses at the Dollar store. That combination works great & you can use the light for night fishing etc. Make sure the light is hinged so you can adjust the angle. I got mine at LLBean for $30. I could have gotten away w/ the $20 ones w/ 3 Leds…Jerry
You’ll get different responses on this. Think about whether you want a table-mount, a swing-mount or maybe an Opti-visor that you wear on your head.
I was at You-Do-It Electronics in Needham, MA, and found a small table-mount unit for $16. I wasn’t in the market for one, but for that price I couldn’t resist it. I’m 63 and wear bifocals. I found that this little lamp was really all I needed. It has improved my modeling, particularly in painting details, because now I can really see to get things like the tires and rims painted carefully.
If you can’t find it here http://www.mcmaster.com/#magnifiers/=8cvg52
then it doesn’t exist. I was fortunate enough to buy 5 of these from the company I used to work for when they went out of business a few years back for $20.00 I offered the best one of which I payed $40 for to a former acquaintance he cried about the price and said it was too much money I kept two and donated the rest to the club, nothing makes an old guy happier then when we can see again. My advice don’t go cheap spend the money and you’ll be glad you did. That is unless you buy your eye glasses at the check out counter at the drug store.
Thanks for the responses. I will take a clost look at McMaster. We already deal with them anyway.
I have the one pictured at “E” in Allegheny’s post - got it from MicroMark. It wasn’t expensive and generally does a good job for me. The important thing with any magnifier is to be sure you position it perpendicular to your line-of-sight or the distortion will drive you up the wall if you’re not aware that you need to reposition it.
Another comment on this particular magnifier is that it used an incandescant bulb which generated a lot of heat. I replaced the bulb with one of those new “curly-que” bulbs - 60 watts. Plenty of light and vitually no heat.
I don’t have the link on this computer, but there is a company that used to come to allt eh locla train shows with a huge selection of tools at great prices. They have various magnifier lamps like this. The web site looks rather bogus but they are a legit company. I got a HUGE magnifier lamp for Christmas from them. It’s rectangular, forget the size of the lens, but compared to my little desktop one I picked up at Harbor Freight it’s GIANT. It has two flourescent bulbs flanking the lens, throws plenty of light. Because it is so large I can actually see what I’m trying to work on. It’s quite heavy and sometimes I fear for the old computer desk I use for a workbench (it’s just laminate on particle board), but soon I will be past the point of no return in my train room and I will have to ditch the old desk and build in a workbench as part of the layout benchwork. That will provide a defintie sturdy surface to clam the light to. I will look up the link to this company when I get home, it’s saved on my home desktop.
–Randy
Randy,
Thanks I will look forward to you posting the link.
Randy
if it’s the guy who does the Greenburg shows and Timonium could it be e hobby tools?
That’s the one. Last show I was at I understood he wasn’t going to do shows anymore. The one I have is on Page 3 after you click Magnifiers on the left.
–Randy
I found one of the larger clamp-on magnifiers at Cabela’s Sporting Goods for a pretty good price. It was a bit more than I expected to spend but it has a great light and good field of view. Well, having a gift card helped too! But I think I would spend the amount myself if I had to do it over. I am fortunate enough to have a Cabela’s nearby so I could avoid shipping - this is a bigger unit than most others. When I don’t need the magnification it makes a great worklight too.
George V.
Another possibility is ebay. I find and buy a lot of stuff at good prices but you have to know what to watch out for.
Rich
You can’t have too much light in your modeling room. I am 61 and have four very bright lights where I build my models plus the opti visor. Makes the models look so much better under normal light and on the layout
The shops where I used to work had lamps with articulated arms on all the workbenches. They were all metal with a circular fluorescent lamp. They were very sturdy and took a lot of abuse. They were out of my price range so I bought an all plastic type with an incandescent bulb. I mounted it at the rear of my bench to keep it out of the road which meant I had to stretch the arm out almost horizontal to get the glass in front of me. That was too much strain on the plastic mounting post and it snapped off. Same thing with a second plastic lamp. Should have spent the money on the all metal type in the first place.
I have been looking for a magnifier lamp for a long time. Have been considering magnifying goggles - but those look just too dorky 
Anyway, one comment that I want to make is that I have purchased one of those magnifier lamps were regular lamp is installed on one end with the lens in front of it. Mine came with the “natural” light mini CF lamp. However, I ended up not liking it and gave to my father - because the lamp is sitting to the side, it casts heavy shadow - making it’s too hard to see any of the details unless under a specific angle.
The circular bulb lamps don’t have this issue - so my search will continue.
Has anyone tried Tamyia workstation - it uses 4 LED and square magnifying lens? Kind of expensive, and I’m not sure how powerful 4 LED would be - but looks cool.
I can’t see that as being worth that much money. The lens is plastic. If the LEDs are bright white types, they are probably too blue. Good concept though.
My big square one from ehobby has two lights, one on either side. No annoying shadows. Slightly bigger lens than the Tamyia workstation, and it’s a good quality glass lense.
–Randy