good choices for lighting for engraving

[goodtime7]

Just a novice engraver, but realize that proper lighting is important to optimize any attempts at producing a reasonable result.   Unfortunately, my shop is located in my basement, and I have no natural light options.   Just wondering if I could get some advice, as to what has been worked well for others.   Appreciate any thoughts/ideas   Bruce

[Acer Saccharum]

I think a soft diffused light is best for engraving. Maybe a fluorescent with a diffuser shield of white acrylic or some other plastic might work well.

There are new LED systems that you can dial the brightness, but the LED's produce glare. Again, a diffuser could help.

A halogen is way too bright and hot, and produces way too much glare.

[Mark Elliott]

I have tried halogen but I couldn't get close to the work because of the heat.    Now I use small round swing arm task lamps with a standard Edison base.   For the bulb,  I use a soft white LED bulb with a 6500K temperature.  The lamp I use has a white inner reflector that cuts the heat even more.    If I could afford it,  I would get a binocular microscope with a cold light.      That is what the real serious guys use; the ones a lot better than me.

[Captchee]

 i have an LED ring on my scope works very well  for larger cutting , i use a  arm mounted  magnifying glass with light ring 

[kutter]

I've been using a 2 tube florescent swing arm office type light (18" tubes) up close. I like the 'soft white' tubes,,just a personal choice. Some like the  'cool white',,
Above the bench (about 3ft above the engraving vise) now are two 4ft double tube 'shop lite' fixtures for added light. One just slightly higher than the other,,I really can't remember why I placed them that way now,,probably for convenience more than anything to do with lighting angles or some special super secret engraving thing.
This for 45yrs of engraving.

Some don't like florescent lite at all.
It's pretty cheap to try out. If you don't like it you can use it as general shop lighting.


No natural light in my engraving cave,,one small window to my left faces north. I do get to look out and watch the birds and squirrels and see the weather change. Keeps you from going goofy.
Don't put too much into the 'natural light ' thing. The sun light is variable and keeps on moving around all day on you,,isn't there at night or in the evening (when I like to work).
It's a quaint thought,,but so is using a bottle filled with water for a magnifier,,and we don't see that being practiced too much any more.

I never liked incandescent light due to the glare and mostly the heat from it. Others do like it,,try it and see.
Never got into LED,,might be OK,,try it.