suzukir122
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So at my apartment, I'm making plans on setting up about four 3 foot floating shelves in my downstairs and upstairs living room. These would be set up for my F30T12 fixtures I will be buying soon, using them as up-lighting. So far, I plan on getting these:
1. Ryobi Whole Stud Detector
2. Laser Leveler
3. Cordless Drill with screws
4. Wooden boards for shelving...
5. Tape measurer...
6. Hand saw if needed...
If I end up finding 36" wooden boards or premade shelves already cut to three feet, I'll use those instead. No clue if this plan will be successful, but it's definitely something I've been thinking about for quite some time now. I'll also be contacting my landlord to see if I'm allowed to set up shelving, etc. If not... well... this entire idea will be scrapped.
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Interests: 1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent) 2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic 3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds 4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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suzukir122
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So I talked to my landlord today and she says that I'm allowed to install the shelves, as long as I fix all the damages done! This means my lighting idea will officially be taking shape! Today was a rare good day!... I've always been a fan of high vaulted ceilings up-lit by strong T12 lighting, so I can't wait for the final result once I'm done with it. Some of the toughest parts will be finding 3 foot shelves, as well as drilling them in and trusting that they'll stay in place.
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Interests: 1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent) 2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic 3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds 4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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joseph_125
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Shelves are pretty easy to put up. Just make sure to put the supports over a stud and they'll be nice and sturdy. Studs are generally on 16" centres so a 3ft wide shelf should hit two of them.
You probably don't need the hand saw, Home Depot and Lowe's will generally cut wood to length for you when you buy it. If not, there's probably precut shelves that are 3ft.
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suzukir122
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I've also found plenty of shelves online as well that claim to be 3 footers, so we shall see. One of the first things I need before I start this project is a stud finder. The Ryobi whole stud finder is one of the best ones I've seen online, at least as of now. I will definitely make sure each shelf is screwed into studs, even though all of those shelves will be in tandem with one another, as well as the fixtures. Another thing that's got me confused... I'm not sure if I should get shelves with supports, or shelves that I'd drill in. Shelves with supports honestly sounds like a much better idea.
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Interests: 1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent) 2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic 3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds 4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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Bulbman256
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Mad Max
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Collecting light bulbs since 2012, a madman since birth.
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suzukir122
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Yeah that pic, @Bulbman256, did inspire me quite a while back. I'll be dealing with eight two lamp fixtures though, and unfortunately I won't have the ability to climb on my shelves. haha... I wish. I will be dealing with high ceiling as well though, so there's that. After finding shelves, my next biggest challenge will be finding F30T12 fixtures, OR... converting the T8 versions into T12 versions. I'd need help finding T8 fixtures that can fit F30T12/F40T12 ballasts, and T12 sockets.
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Interests: 1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent) 2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic 3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds 4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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joseph_125
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I usually prefer the traditional exposed metal supports for my shelves. You can mount them anywhere on the board which helps a lot in making sure each support is on a stud. The floating shelves with hidden hardware look pretty sleek but I wonder if they can be adjusted to land on the studs.
It might be a bit more work but if you can equip your strips with dimming ballasts, you can dim the lights down for mood lighting later in the evening too. They make magnetic dimming ballasts but getting one to operate now might require some work tracking down the correct dimmer for them.
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suzukir122
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My only form of dimming will be switching group lights off in the Geeni app. I'll of course purchase magnetic dimming ballasts someday, but not for this idea lol I'm thinking about getting the internal support floating shelves. I forget what those are called, but the ones where you push the shelves into the support holders.
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Interests: 1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent) 2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic 3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds 4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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Mandolin Girl
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Funnily enough, they're called floating shelves... Have a look at this comment for what I used to fix the shelf uprights.
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« Last Edit: May 28, 2022, 09:15:35 AM by Mandolin Girl »
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suzukir122
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@Mandolin Girl, I'm not sure how I would get that into the wall, but I'm trying to keep damage as minimal as I can to prevent damage fees once I move. lol Once I move, everything will be removed/taken down.
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Interests: 1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent) 2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic 3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds 4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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funkybulb
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U can make a nice shelf out of cinder blocks and some 2 x 12s As cinder blocks are heavy and dont have make any holes in the wall.
If u do make it out of 2x4 and plywood sure to hit studs and also look Behind the wall on other side. To nake sure u dont hit plumbing or Electrical. Other than that when your done. And moving need fill in The holes with chulking or toothpaste let it dry. All they have to do is do fresh coat of paint and they can do that as part of make ready for next person to move in.
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No LED gadgets, spins too slowly. Gotta love preheat and MV. let the lights keep my meter spinning.
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suzukir122
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So this idea is still in the works. I originally changed my plan towards purchasing six footer HO fixtures, with three six footer HO fixtures in a tandem (in my upstairs loft) being the primary goal/decision maker if measurements proved that I could do that. Well... tape measurements proved that I can't do that. The loft wall is literally a few inches shy of 18 feet. So since I plan on keeping this High Output R.S, I've decided to reduce the lengths to five footer HO fixtures instead... ... I'm dead. I do not believe that I'll find five footer HO fixtures online, but the search for them has begun. This will be tough.
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Interests: 1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent) 2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic 3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds 4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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wide-lite 1000
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Could you just use 4-4' HO fixtures ? 4' HO tubes are a lot easier to find .
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Collector,Hoarder,Pack-rat! Clear mercury Rules!!
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suzukir122
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@Wide-lite 1000, I thought about that as well. With the way that loft is set up, 16 feet would look out of proportion, as much as I hate to say it. Same with the downstairs living room... there are a couple areas where I could easily set up five footer fixtures there as well. I found a few F60T12 tubes online, although I won't buy them now. I can't find any fixtures for them though... if all else fails, I'll give in and look for four footer HO fixtures and tubes instead.
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Interests: 1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent) 2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic 3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds 4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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joseph_125
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The plus side with using HO tubes is I believe you can get some half foot lengths too, I have some F42T12 HO lamps, they're around 3'6" nominal.
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