Pool table

[Pat]

Wow Bird, That should give enough light for brain surgery. I don't know the foot candles recommended for playing pool. When I was energy conservation officer at SUBASE San Diego and ran around with a light meter I used the data so much I could tell you the light required for delicate electronic t-shooting or walking across a parking lot. Been a while ('84.) I will set up the 4 each 8 footers to be in at least two banks of two each and might even switch another separately so I can use any number of tubes, 1 through 4.

I need to get on that before the table arrives as it will sure be in the way otherwise. My plan is to wire up the 4 each 8 footers and make a test. If at night with all 4 tubes on if it isn't definitely bright enough I will put a couple more tubes up but I suspect 4 will do the deed just fine.

The carpet is glued down commercial grade short pile with no pad. I may try some runners under the periphery of the table to give some more cushioning as the concrete floor gets tiring pretty quick as I'm sure you know.

If you are satisfied with your new brighter tubes (just getting new tubes would have been a significant improvement even if the same size instead of an upgrade) then considering I will have 1/2 of your total lineal feet of tubes mounted right over the table, it should be plenty and I may not need/want to go to high output tubes. We'll see (pun intended.)

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Pat, I just realized that I didn't even have a picture of my pool table, so I just went out and shot some pictures with the doors shut to the shop building and no flash, but with the ceiling lights on. This is from the front door to the "shop" looking toward the back door and you can see half the lights.

[Bird]

And this is from the back door toward the front door; the double doors open onto the 12' x 22' breezeway.

[Bird]

And finally just a picture of the table. And without the flash, these pictures are not very good because they make it appear much darker in there than it actually is.

[egon]

Bird; that is one nice looking set up. Did I miss the "Spittoons" or are the players required to spit outside? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Yep, Egon, they've got to go outside to spit. However, there is still an ash tray out there, even though I quit smoking last July. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Bird, Very tidy and certainly looks well lit from what I can tell in the picture. I shot pool in a village in Mexico that didn't have electricity and the pool hall was lit with a bunch of Coleman mantle type pressure fed lanterns. What an experience. There were several hard shadows cast at various random angles across each ball and of course the angles on the shadows were different in different spots around the table.

Well, my lighting plans have changed (been changed.) I went to electrical supply houses, Home Depot, etc. and none of them had single tube 8 footers with electronic ballasts. I ended up buying 2 ea 8 ft fixtures with electronic ballasts and each fixture takes 4 ea 4 ft 32 Watt tubes. Of course I will mount them parallel to one another but will have to experiment a bit to determine how close together to mount them.

I bought a pull chain switch to mount upstream of one of them so the wall switch will turn at least one bank on and then with the pull switch you can select between half or all lamps on. I will "cross wire" the fixtures so that the ballast in one fixture controls two tubes in its fixture and two in the other and vice versa. That way the lighting will not be "lopsided" if you only have one turned on.

Later I will build a box to cover the metal fixtures. Roughly 3 1/2 by 8 1/2 feet or some such. It will probably be abouit 10-12 inches in the vertical dimension. I'll probably not do it in oak to match the table but instead probably native cedar to match the rest of the room. I may make all the sides (3 1/2 feet by 10-12 inches and 8 1/2 feet by 10-12 inches) like picture frames, open in the center and just framed in cedar. I can then use a transparent or at least translucent filler behind which I can place opaque silhouette cut outs. The typical cowboy roping a steer and such scenes like you see in black painted metal decorating ranch gates and such.

The only part of this project with a "time crunch" is rewiring the fixtures and mounting them on the ceiling as the decorative cover can be added later with minimum hassle from the table in the way. I just want to get the fixtures up before the table gets here in 4 days.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
I will "cross wire" the fixtures so that the ballast in one fixture controls two tubes in its fixture and two in the other and vice versa. That way the lighting will not be "lopsided" if you only have one turned on.

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I have two wall switches for the ceiling lights, but if only one is on, it would be lopsided; i.e., the doors are at the east and west ends of the room and one switch works the 4 fixtures on the north side of the room and the other the south side. I almost never turn on just the south bank, but I do turn on just the north bank if I'm doing something at the work bench, the bench grinder, or looking for something in the shelves on that side.