$150 BRIGHT pool table light and 1st post..

TRIPC

TRIPC

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Hello all. My name is Chris. Long time pool player just getting back into it.
I bought a GC 2 and had the table redone and set up. Simonis 860 fresh set of Centennials and just bought a Schon.

Anyway. I was tossing around the idea of building a light that would light this sucker up to the 9's. Didnt want to spend 700-1500 on a top of the line light.
I went o Lowes and bought 2 $50 4ft 4 bulb lights. Bought a 2X6X8 piece of wood. Wired the 2 lights together and bolted to the wood. Easy enough. Not the most pleasing thing to look but for 150 and about 45 mins of work this is what I have to work with..Im sure down the road I will get one of my buddies to make a nice looking box to hide the lights better but for now this will work. Very Very bright and zero dark spots on table..
 
I had similar lighting with 2 T8 tubes each. When your buddy makes the box to shroud the light ask him to put in a light diffuser.
I liked the light on the playing surface but didn't care for the side glare when sitting around the table. That's a nice looking table.

I don't know if your light is on a switch. The light pulls on the setup I had were hanging off of the far ends. Much easier to reach.
 
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Nice light, I just bought a table too, and I'm currently building a table light as well. Luckily for me I work as a millwork architect and my shop can build me whatever I draw. Im going to make a thread on the cost and materials when im done. I also second the fact that you should buy a silver eggcrate diffuser. They sell them at Home Depot for only $25. They dont have them at Lowes though... :cool:
 
adrianbrah said:
Nice light, I just bought a table too, and I'm currently building a table light as well. Luckily for me I work as a millwork architect and my shop can build me whatever I draw. Im going to make a thread on the cost and materials when im done. I also second the fact that you should buy a silver eggcrate diffuser. They sell them at Home Depot for only $25. They dont have them at Lowes though... :cool:
Click to expand...

The inexpensive egg crate diffusers from home depot are not appropriate and not the same as the ones in the diamond lights. They are only 1/2 inch thick and will show the bulbs from too much angle.

JC
 
Everybody lights a table up by placing the lights right down the middle of the table....why?

The best lighting configuration would be to light the table up from side to side, for example:

a 4ft twin bulb florescent fixture mounted side to side lined up on the first side rail diamond, then another one on the third diamond, fifth diamond, and last of all...on the seventh diamond...that way all the light shed on the playing surface is criss crossing light which eliminates any shadows directly under all the balls....think about it, yet it's the same amount of feet of lighting as ONE light with 4 8ft bulbs, only centered above the table and spread out every 25 inches....leaving nowhere for shadows to hide under the balls;)

Glen
 
Looks like the one I built several years ago

[URL=http://s135.photobucket.com/user/JoeW04/media/CB3.jpg.html][/URL]

Built mine for $100.00 or so. After checking with Brunswick (and their expensive lighting) I went with daylight tubes. Cost a little more but these old eyes appreciated the extra light.

I used two 2 X 4s and then used 1/4" paneling to dress it up.

Jay Helfert suggested hanging it about 30 or so inches off the table. Gives it that old time pool hall look at night. Light is only on the table, everyone else sits in the shadows. It may not look like the light is that low but it is. I had a low beamed ceiling in that room.

The duct tape on the sides prevents light spill -- Its a guy thing :-)

The Vornado fan worked well in my house (heated with wood) for summer and winter.

If you look in the upper right hand corner of the photo you can see the pool player's gallery I was just starting. Every time a guy (and his wife) showed up I would take their picture and put it in a frame on the beam. Helped me remember whose wife went with who. If I won a couple of bucks from one of these guys I would tape it to their photo so they could try and get it back the next time they were over. All in all, we had a ball in that room. The beam eventually filled up with photos.
 
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realkingcobra said:
Everybody lights a table up by placing the lights right down the middle of the table....why?

The best lighting configuration would be to light the table up from side to side, for example:

a 4ft twin bulb florescent fixture mounted side to side lined up on the first side rail diamond, then another one on the third diamond, fifth diamond, and last of all...on the seventh diamond...that way all the light shed on the playing surface is criss crossing light which eliminates any shadows directly under all the balls....think about it, yet it's the same amount of feet of lighting as ONE light with 4 8ft bulbs, only centered above the table and spread out every 25 inches....leaving nowhere for shadows to hide under the balls;)

Glen
Click to expand...
THere is no dark spots on table. I think mounting 3 or 4 light fixtures would be to complex for most people. THis was easy, fast and cheap and works perfect..

JoeW said:
Looks like the one I built several years ago

[URL=http://s135.photobucket.com/user/JoeW04/media/CB3.jpg.html][/URL]

Built mine for $100.00 or so. After checking with Brunswick (and their expensive lighting) I went with daylight tubes. Cost a little more but these old eyes appreciated the extra light.

I used two 2 X 4s and then used 1/4" paneling to dress it up.

Jay Helfert suggested hanging it about 30 or so inches off the table. Gives it that old time pool hall look at night. Light is only on the table, everyone else sits in the shadows. It may not look like the light is that low but it is. I had a low beamed ceiling in that room.

The duct tape on the sides prevents light spill -- Its a guy thing :-)

The Vornado fan worked well in my house (heated with wood) for summer and winter.

If you look in the upper right hand corner of the photo you can see the pool player's gallery I was just starting. Every time a guy (and his wife) showed up I would take their picture and put it in a frame on the beam. Helped me remember whose wife went with who. If I won a couple of bucks from one of these guys I would tape it to their photo so they could try and get it back the next time they were over. All in all, we had a ball in that room. The beam eventually filled up with photos.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pic. I saw it a couple days ago and got my idea from your pic. Thanks again. Nice and simple and very effective
 
TRIPC said:
THere is no dark spots on table. I think mounting 3 or 4 light fixtures would be to complex for most people. THis was easy, fast and cheap and works perfect..
Click to expand...

Is that shadows under the cue ball and rack in your first picture....looks like it's shadows because the light is coming straight down on the balls leaving an eclips shadow under the balls...but I guess I could be wrong, maybe it's just the picture;)
 
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