Caff's Garage Lighting is in, and the 'detailing bay' is now open for business :p

vAs some know I've been obsessing over my garage lighting for some time for my detailing work.

Today my lights finally went in. They consist of:

Dual bank flouros mounted on each side:

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...g/8324d352.jpg

And two of these bad boys mounted on tracks. Metal Halide lights capable of putting out over 4000 lux a piece (the average office is lit to 400 lux) One spot and one spread. The track mount makes them adjustable for position up and down, as well as the swivel/tilt adjust on the light and control gear itself:

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...g/3b0210e3.jpg

Left side:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...g/d21d3998.jpg

Right side:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...g/1b17d38f.jpg

Overall:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...g/9c7bd4b6.jpg

Metal Halide closeup:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...g/278b8d62.jpg

With my very dirty car parked in the garage:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...g/63482d69.jpg



So for all those wonderfully patient people who wanted to get their cars detailed but were waiting for me to get off my arse and install the lights...... we're rockin now :D


Dan

Sicko

Kidding. I'm just jealous. Awesome setup. But you realize you have just added hours to your detailing.

So the idea is, you have 2 spotties and 2 flood lights.

Pricey? Did you partner certify it? 

Fully partner certified ;). In fact, she specced the lights (she's a lighting specialist)

Price wise, the flouros were cheap domestic grade with daylight correction tubes (off eBay actually). The metal halides were wholesale through my wife's lighting contacts, but they're commercial grade Concord lights from the UK so even at wholesale they weren't cheap. All up including fitting it came to roughly a couple of grand or so

The metal halides are unbelievable. Once they warm up (about 5 mins) they're like focusable daylight. I made the mistake of glancing directly at one while taking the photos and saw spots for the next two minutes LOL

Unlike halogens they emit far less heat too. After they've been on for 20 mins I can still touch them to reposition the light. No way you'd be able to do that with halogen. You'd burn your hand off


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Awesome Dan :2thumb:

Pity you don't live in Brisbane :p

when im down there in aug you will have the pleasure of cleaning my dirty AB 3 danksi

Cheers Linda :)

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Originally Posted by Jmac

when im down there in aug you will have the pleasure of cleaning my dirty AB 3 danksi

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LOL :2thumb:




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Hey, Nice setup!! Did u end up going with the Electrician Brown?

You should also get one of these for checking out those hard to reach places: FireSword V. 3000 handheld lumens - pretty sweet :)

Thanks Dennis :)

We ended up going with a contact of one if my wife's co-workers. He was able to work within my timeframe (and he'll do me a cashy deal on the side :whistle:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nsayn

You should also get one of these for checking out those hard to reach places: FireSword V. 3000 handheld lumens - pretty sweet :)

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I've heard a lot of detailers using these types of military style spot lights for inspection work. I need to do a bit more research before buying though. Thanks for the link :)


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Very cool setup :2thumb:

Did I miss the bit where you went from detailing hobby to obsession ? :p

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Originally Posted by naasif

Very cool setup :2thumb:

Did I miss the bit where you went from detailing hobby to obsession ? :p

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Heheheh thanks Naasif. I think I missed that bit too, yet here I am :p


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Nice set up Dan. When are you going to extend your buisness to Sydney?:LOL:

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Originally Posted by AlanC

Nice set up Dan. When are you going to extend your buisness to Sydney?:LOL:

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Hahahah might have to start selling franchises :p

Cheers Al


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It would look even better with my VR RX-8 getting a full detail....methinks a "holiday" is in order soon... :whistle:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vanq

It would look even better with my VR RX-8 getting a full detail....methinks a "holiday" is in order soon... :whistle:

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Can be done mate :2thumb:

Have already decided that I need another set of fluoros lower down the wall to light all the way down the car. For now though the adjustability in the Metal Halides will work well enough

Also a set mounted vertically on each side of the garage door to better light the rear. I may go for another set of tracks mounted vertically here though

Will also look at a couple of Concorde LED "Stadium" lights to add to the tracks with the Metal Halides

http://assets.selector.com/assets/im...43/620x330.jpg


Shit just got real :p

This is the kind of 'shit' in my perfect house. But our old Queenslander doesn't have a proper garage yet. We've just about finished our widened driveway with 600x400 indian stone. I'm trying not to get depressed about what that kind if money could have translated into...i.e. Ultimate Garage!!!

You my boy have my dream set up, well close to it anyway:2thumb:


I spent around 11hrs over two days on the weekend detailing my PT's Black mazda 3 so she could sell it, and as i dont have the use of a real garage anymore as someone elses car has taken over:hand: i had to do it in the carport which has no lighting, shaving the carpet at 7pm was a treat i tell ya lol i was using the good ol' brail technique :p

Im studying personal training atm but my heart will always be in detailing..but i just need to overcome some serious OCD to actually start a profitable business, because i could have spent another week on that car and i still wouldnt have been happy....although everyone else was blown away by how it looked when i gave it back to her...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yeldarb

This is the kind of 'shit' in my perfect house. But our old Queenslander doesn't have a proper garage yet. We've just about finished our widened driveway with 600x400 indian stone. I'm trying not to get depressed about what that kind if money could have translated into...i.e. Ultimate Garage!!!

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I feel your pain Brad. The last place we owned was a 110 y/o federation home with a single carport (I parked out on the street :()

When we sold up last year, we both decided we wanted something new and modern so that we could do this sort of stuff without feeling like we're massively overcapitalising, or having to fix/retrofit a whole lot of other stuff due to the age of the house. The place we found and bought is 3 years old, architect designed, and as those who have seen it will attest, somewhat off the wall in terms of design (it's definitely not your standard square box townhouse)

We've got a lot of other plans for the place that we'll get to in time (data cabling through the house, home automation etc), but we're not in a huge hurry as we'll be staying in this place for a long time..... at least the next 10 years anyway.

It is nice to have a place that you can do this sort of stuff to and not feel like you're trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I'm also very fortunate to be married to someone who loves this sort of stuff almost as much as I do. I have no idea how I'd have sold this concept to someone who 'didn't get it' :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MISSMPS

You my boy have my dream set up, well close to it anyway:2thumb:


I spent around 11hrs over two days on the weekend detailing my PT's Black mazda 3 so she could sell it, and as i dont have the use of a real garage anymore as someone elses car has taken over:hand: i had to do it in the carport which has no lighting, shaving the carpet at 7pm was a treat i tell ya lol i was using the good ol' brail technique :p

Im studying personal training atm but my heart will always be in detailing..but i just need to overcome some serious OCD to actually start a profitable business, because i could have spent another week on that car and i still wouldnt have been happy....although everyone else was blown away by how it looked when i gave it back to her...

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Thanks Missy :2thumb:

Detailing in the dark ain't fun, and like you, I hate feeling rushed just because it's getting dark. I felt exactly the same way about Bruce's car when I did it (mmmmps). I could have spent a day alone on his roof.

That's one of the reasons too why I'd never look to make this a proper business. I just wouldn't make any money as my urge to get things absolutely right erodes any sort of profit I might make. As it is I barely cover my costs (not including the light installation....fark that'd put me well in the red lol)

I do it because I love it.

I love the thought of taking something that's seen better days and making it look like it's just rolled off the showroom floor

I love the looks on people's faces when they come to pick their cars up. When they run their hands over the paint and they realise it feels as good as it looks

I love when people drive away and I can tell they have a massive smile on their face because they've just re-fallen in love with their cars

I'll never be a rich man, but to me there are more important things :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Caffeine Fiend

I feel your pain Brad. The last place we owned was a 110 y/o federation home with a single carport (I parked out on the street :()

When we sold up last year, we both decided we wanted something new and modern so that we could do this sort of stuff without feeling like we're massively overcapitalising, or having to fix/retrofit a whole lot of other stuff due to the age of the house. The place we found and bought is 3 years old, architect designed, and as those who have seen it will attest, somewhat off the wall in terms of design (it's definitely not your standard square box townhouse)

We've got a lot of other plans for the place that we'll get to in time (data cabling through the house, home automation etc), but we're not in a huge hurry as we'll be staying in this place for a long time..... at least the next 10 years anyway.

It is nice to have a place that you can do this sort of stuff to and not feel like you're trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I'm also very fortunate to be married to someone who loves this sort of stuff almost as much as I do. I have no idea how I'd have sold this concept to someone who 'didn't get it' :p




Thanks Missy :2thumb:

Detailing in the dark ain't fun, and like you, I hate feeling rushed just because it's getting dark. I felt exactly the same way about Bruce's car when I did it (mmmmps). I could have spent a day alone on his roof.

That's one of the reasons too why I'd never look to make this a proper business. I just wouldn't make any money as my urge to get things absolutely right erodes any sort of profit I might make. As it is I barely cover my costs (not including the light installation....fark that'd put me well in the red lol)

I do it because I love it.

I love the thought of taking something that's seen better days and making it look like it's just rolled off the showroom floor

I love the looks on people's faces when they come to pick their cars up. When they run their hands over the paint and they realise it feels as good as it looks

I love when people drive away and I can tell they have a massive smile on their face because they've just re-fallen in love with their cars

I'll never be a rich man, but to me there are more important things :)

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I think we were separated at birth :2thumb:

WOW theres another lighting to film a Porn Film :). Black lights could be very useful :):):) esp after filming