That bench is great. Its good that you have made it as long as it is, that way you can have a few jobs on the go. I suggest some LED strips under the shelf for illumination. I run 2 strips on mine, as well as some 240v fluros as backup.
I have a 12v solar setup in my shed that runs the LEDs, the stereo and a few other things.

ben

Next task is to get some power points installed around the place. I'm afraid the single GPO by the door just won't cut it.

You could borrow a few from the work bench.

On a serious note, it looks good. I dare say it'll be the envy of a fair few of us.

Its good that you have made it as long as it is, that way you can have a few jobs on the go

Yes, that's the idea. As many of my projects get delayed waiting for parts (or inspiration), I have dreamed of having sufficient space to be able to work on a number of projects simultaneously without having to move stuff on and off the bench.

I suggest some LED strips under the shelf for illumination.

Yes, thanks, I have something similar in mind. When I first moved in the place seemed very dark but painting the floor has made a huge difference with its associated reflected light. My neigbours at the site always notice the floor first and say they wish they had painted theirs, too.

I've had mixed results with LED work lights. If they are passed through a substantial diffuser, they seem to be fine. If the individual LEDs are shining directly on the work, I seem to get some blurring effect that makes focussing on detail difficult, particularly through a lens. Not sure what the physics would be, but I guess maybe some polarisation in the emitted light? LED units powered from AC via half-wave rectifiers seem to give less trouble, especially if half the LEDs are positive to active and the other half positive to neutral so that they are active out of phase. Quality of power supply may be a factor.

Maven

LED units powered from AC via half-wave rectifiers seem to give less trouble, especially if half the LEDs are positive to active and the other half positive to neutral so that they are active out of phase. Quality of power supply may be a factor.

Thanks for the tip.

One thing to watch for with any non-incandescent light source is the stroboscopic effect that makes power tools like bench grinders and lathes appear to be stationary. With fluorescent lights the trick was to fit a condenser in series with one tube to knock it out of phase with the other and this removed this effect because the shimmering of the tubes that is usually only noticeable when one isn't looking directly at the tubes is cancelled out on one tube by the other. Of course, this will only work in a fitting with two tubes.

I am not sure how the stroboscopic effect would be dealt with in a LED fitting.

Okay, the workshop is now wired for power. Did a deal with a sparky mate where I ran the conduit, pulled the wires, and mounted the points (a full day's yakka up a ladder and about 100 holes drilled in concrete and brick) and he did the final test and connect.

Now, it's go time!