Diffusers for pool table lights

Cuebacca

Cuebacca

________
Silver Member
I have thought about building my own light, but I'm guessing that there is a lot factors that go into designing a top-notch light than it seems at first glance. I will probably either go super cheap and just buy some shop lights, or spend some decent money and have one built or buy a Diamond light. Although I doubt I'll end up building my own light, it would be nice to be well informed so that I can purchase with confidence.

High quality pool table lights have a diffuser panel. I think I had some misconceptions of how a diffuser works, but now I think I understand a little better. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Here are my thoughts.

Much like a lamp shade, a diffuser turns a small light source into a large light source. It effectively creates a source with a larger surface area and a smaller energy density than without the diffuser. The total light energy is the same, but by increasing the surface area of the source, the shadows and glares are better (less), and it is therefore both easier on the eyes easier to aim.

Why not just stretch a piece of fabric across the bottom of the light? Would that be a good cheap alternative, assuming its not a fire hazard? Maybe that would be better than nothing, but I would think a diffuser is much better for two reasons. A lamp shade obsorbs at least a little bit of the light energy, so they are less efficient. Also, a diffuser has much more surface area, so it spreads out the light source better than a shade.

So, what's the best type of diffuser? I would think that a tight grid (smaller squares) is better than a course grid because a tight grid has more surface area. There's probably a limit though, where any tighter would cause some other negative effect.

There's probably also some optimum setting for how far below the bulbs to set the diffuser.

Can anyone tell me the difference between a parabolic diffuser and an egg crate diffuser, and which type is usually used on pool table lights?

I didn't have much luck looking for diffusers on the internet. Here is one company that seems to have a good selection:

http://www.lightingdiffusers.com/Store/SubDepartments.asp?dept_id=2

I bet that whatever Diamond uses is probably very good. Does anyone know the specs or the manufacterer of the diffuser they use?

Well, that's all I can think of for now. I hope someone else besides me finds this interesting. :)
 
Light

I was thinking of building my own light as well. Diamond's site has a .pdf that shows how to assemble thier light. This might help a little.
 
you don't need a diffuser if you get flouresecent INCANDESCENT lighting. that's flourescent lamps with a yellow incandescent tint(like regular bulbs)
 
I'm surprised that lighting is not as big an issue as some make it.

I rather play on a banged up table with lots of runoff that had great lighting, as opposed to vise versa.
 
I made my own table light and it works very well. I used two 4 foot, 4 bulb flourescent shop light fixtures with white metal reflectors and mounted them inside a wooden box frame with two 2 foot by 4 foot grates on the bottom. I was going to just paint the inside of the box white, but the lights wouldn't work when I took them off the metal reflector.

I'm a lousy carpenter, but mine came out nice. I used dowels and found out if you get wood glue on the wood it screws up the staining in that spot. But that's about it. Of course I took forever doing it because I didn't know what I was doing. The grates were about $35 apiece, they eliminate all the glare and light the table very well. The room it's in now doesn't have windows and I took out half the bulbs and can see fine. It's only about 8 inches high, I think, I'll have to check.

The wide diamond light gets in the way of a lot of jump and masse shots.

I wanted to get 8 foot bulbs but I couldn't find anything at a decent price.

unknownpro
 
Thanks everyone, for the replies so far.

bruin70 said:
you don't need a diffuser if you get flouresecent INCANDESCENT lighting. that's flourescent lamps with a yellow incandescent tint(like regular bulbs)
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Good point. It seems like an incandescent would help with the glare and potential eye-pain issues. But, there are additional benefits to diffusers that would still apply to incandescents, right?

It seems to me that if the shape of the bulb is the same as a standard fluorescent tube, which has a relatively small surface area, you would still benefit from a diffuser because of the light spreading effect.

Are there any drawbacks to using incandescents instead of standard fluorscents?

ceebee said:
what size table do you have? I can send you photos of 3 or 4 lights, that I have made. ceebee@sbcglobal.net
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Thanks Ceebee. I have a 9 foot Gold Crown. I sent you an email just now, but I bet other people would like to see your lights too, if you'd like to post the pics here. I enjoyed your Great Break Shot book, by the way. I saw some of your pics in another thread, and they look beautiful.
 
If Interested ...

I have a friend that is very good at building Pool Lights. He built 4 for Shurtz Custom Cues (We call it The Cue Shop or Tight Pockets) for their 4 GCIII's they have in the front of their shop (good 1 pocket games there).

His lights are wood with flourescent lights with diffuser panels on the bottom, and I think 4 x 8. Very nice looking, and good lighting.

I just talked to my friend, Steve Moore, and he said no problem, so
if you are interested in obtaining the plans, cost, etc.., please PM
me and I will give you his email address.

You might want to ask him for pictures of his Shurtz Cues, they are real nice ($1,500-$2,000 range).
 
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Cuebacca said:
,,,,, It seems like an incandescent would help with the glare and potential eye-pain issues. But, there are additional benefits to diffusers that would still apply to incandescents, right?

It seems to me that if the shape of the bulb is the same as a standard fluorescent tube, which has a relatively small surface area, you would still benefit from a diffuser because of the light spreading effect.


.
Click to expand...


i think you mean "flourescent",,,has less eye strain and less glare.

and the shape of a flourescent is long whereas the incandescent(that's your regular home light bulb), is round.

the good thing about flourescent are they last way way longer, as in years, and they have housings with diffusers if you so choose. all you need to do is build a shell. i use a combo "warm white flourescent" and "incandescent flourescent" in my studio. i think every room should have these, but maybe regular bulbs are easier to replace. i think all your "eyestrain-less" lighting come in tubes of some sort. i've never seen an incandescent/no eyestrain bulb.
 
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Snapshot9 said:
I just talked to my friend, Steve Moore, and he said no problem, so if you are interested in obtaining the plans, cost, etc.., please PM me and I will give you his email address.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Scott. I sent you a PM.
 
bruin70 said:
i think you mean "flourescent",,,has less eye strain and less glare.

and the shape of a flourescent is long whereas the incandescent(that's your regular home light bulb), is round.

the good thing about flourescent are they last way way longer, as in years, and they have housings with diffusers if you so choose. all you need to do is build a shell. i use a combo "warm white flourescent" and "incandescent flourescent" in my studio. i think every room should have these, but maybe regular bulbs are easier to replace. i think all your "eyestrain-less" lighting come in tubes of some sort. i've never seen an incandescent/no eyestrain bulb.
Click to expand...

Ooops! When I said "incandescent", I meant "fluorescent incandescent" like the tube you mentioned. I guess I assumed it would be easier on the eyes due to the yellow tint you mentioned. There's probably a good chance that I'm still not understanding correctly, so maybe its better if I just ask, why don't you need diffuser with a "fluorescent incandescent" tube?
 
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