HELP! Best lighting for a basement pool table

H

horton129

New member
Hi AZ'ers

I have a basment pool table where the lighting currently produces to much shadowing along the rails and arround balls of course I'd like to correct that. The ceiling is too low to put in a Dyamond Lighting box (table is a Dymond 9') so I am just curious to see if anyone outhere thinks they have found what they would consider "great" lighting solution for their home table? I've been to Home Depot and seen the relatively flat 4 neon bulb in a row, which is what I am currently considering. But I have also seen some of those neon tube lookalike that are in fact LED's. Not sure what would work best, any tricks to have powerfull lighting (which I preffer) but low shadowing?

Thanks.
 
In my opinion, the elimination of the shadows you speak of, can only be done with an even light directed straight down at the table. The diamond light setup uses several fluorescent bulbs and a diffuser that spreads the light well and eliminates these shadows.

If you are handy you can make a great light using standard off the shelf fluorescent components that can be purchased at any home improvement store.

There have been a few threads on this forum about that.


horton129 said:
Hi AZ'ers

I have a basment pool table where the lighting currently produces to much shadowing along the rails and arround balls of course I'd like to correct that. The ceiling is too low to put in a Dyamond Lighting box (table is a Dymond 9') so I am just curious to see if anyone outhere thinks they have found what they would consider "great" lighting solution for their home table? I've been to Home Depot and seen the relatively flat 4 neon bulb in a row, which is what I am currently considering. But I have also seen some of those neon tube lookalike that are in fact LED's. Not sure what would work best, any tricks to have powerfull lighting (which I preffer) but low shadowing?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Lighting

The most effective way to eliminate
shadows is to spread the light source
out. The traditional single light source
down the center of the table is not the
best for eliminating shadows. Consider
spreading your sources towards the edges
of the table.

Obviously recessed lighting with good
reflective cans and/or flood bulbs will work.
The more sources their are the more even
the light will be.

Regular fluorescent bulbs can cause eye
strain after several hours of play especially
if you are going to have a lot of light.
Full spectrum fluorescent bulbs eliminate the
eye strain but are more expensive and much
harder to find. I think they make full spectrum
screw in bulbs as well but I don't have any
experience with them.

If it helps any at all, I too prefer plenty of light
and have 20' of full spectrum fluorescent above
my 9' table. Five 4' bulbs mounted laterally rather
than longitudinally above the table. There aren't
any shadows and no one has ever complained
about too much light. So I guess it's OK.

I hope this helps and good luck.

Jodacus
 
Checkout my light project. I started a thread on it here
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=277096
I have 96 feet of T8 bulbs above my gold crown. The lights are evenly spaced across the entire playing surface. I cannot believe how much more clear the balls look. A big light with lots of bulbs is very nice worth the work and cost.
 
horton129 said:
The ceiling is too low to put in a Dyamond Lighting box
Click to expand...

You could recess the diamond light into the ceiling at least 1/2 its depth, depending on the ceiling materials.

Alternately, you could put the flourescent fixtures directly on the ceiling and them buy the diamond diffusers from diamond to cut glare while delivering the light to the table. Then build a baffle around the outside of the fixtures to hold the diffusers.
 
MitchAlsup said:
You could recess the diamond light into the ceiling at least 1/2 its depth, depending on the ceiling materials.

Alternately, you could put the flourescent fixtures directly on the ceiling and them buy the diamond diffusers from diamond to cut glare while delivering the light to the table. Then build a baffle around the outside of the fixtures to hold the diffusers.
Click to expand...

You can buy parabolic diffuser from most lighting stores.
 
When using fluorescent type lighting, make sure to spend some additional dollars on the better bulbs that produce the purest white light and not the normal yellow light. This will go a long way in reducing eye strain and brightening things up.
 
I have low ceilings as well so i hung a 4ft flourescent light with T8 bulbs. works great and only cost $17.
 
Or you could just stick with what you have so when you go out to play a tournament you won't suffer from how the hell can I shoot in the dark syndrome. To prepare for some venues it's best to just turn off your table light and shoot with a coal miner's hard hat lamp or infrared night vision glasses.

JC
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top