Ring lights are made to be installed around a camera lens to give even lighting for photos, but these small lights work well on a mill too. (Click on any image for a larger photo.)
The small 3" florescent ring light shown mounted to Roger Ronnie's mill is made by Stocker & Yale and is called a "Lite Mite". It was designed for use on a microscope. Although Roger found this one used one on eBay at a great price, they are also available new. One supplier we found through a Google search for "Stocker Yale, Lite Mite" is LabTek at http://www.labtek.net/Stocker&Yale.htm. Maybe you'll get lucky and find one on eBay too. They are available in various color temperatures of light from daylight (5100 K) to 3200 K, black light, yellow (photo resist) and high frequency models for less "flicker." The lamps should last about 7000 hours, but as Roger notes they are a bit "spendy" if a replacement is needed--about $38 each.
Roger mounted his light to the bottom of the headstock with two screws. After he mounted it he figured he could have put a little more thought into the mounting system and used some oversize holes with radial slots that would allow him to install and remove the light without taking the screws all the way out, but he says this is still easy to remove if needed.
Some of the newer ring lights for microscopes and cameras are turning to LED illumination instead of florescent. This offers the additional advantage of producing less heat, although the ones we found for cameras and microscopes in searches of the Internet were rather expensive--in the $300.00-$475.00 range.
--Roger Ronnie,
Rapid City, SD
Click on photo to view a larger image.
Bill Maxwell of Brighton, Michigan took a look at Roger's tip above, bought a light and attached it, adding an easy way to remove it. He attached an angle bracket using using the lower motor mount screw and then used three rare earth magnets that he obtained from Lee Valley Supply to attach the light. That way the light just pops on and off without having to deal with any attachment screws. He also repainted the light to match the black finish of the Sherline mill. Bill says he has also now placed some aluminum foil between the light and the mill head to reduce the distraction of the extra light that leaks through that space and is looking for the right scrap of aluminum to machine a better looking piece to fill that gap.
Richard Perry Murlless is a technical writer who submitted a nicely done file in PDF format on how to make your own ring light for about $92 in parts and tools. If you already have a slitting saw and some of the parts like wires and heat-shrink tubing it would be even less. This is a substantial savings over purchasing a new microscope ring light. He even gives you Radio Shack part numbers and material sources in his list. Click on the link below to view his PDF file.
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