I added an overhead lightbar to my longarm this evening. Using parts from Home Depot, the total came to about $160. A stock one from Gammill would have been about $800, but I'm cheap. :lol: Anyway, have lots of good light now!

Nice touch! Your room and longarm are wonderful!

Lookin' good! Now you have $640 left for thread.

Very clever and creative :D:D:D

awesome!

What an awesome setup!! Guess another trip to Marshall's is on order now, huh? :lol:

Great lighting Eddie! Happy quilting

By the way your not cheap, you are very cleaver, by getting home depot light you saved hundreds of dollars which can now be spend on fabric and such. I think that was a smart move, my friend.

I love it! Great thinking.

Don't you just LOVE OUTSMARTING major manufacturers by coming up with ways to do things 'less expensively' and get the same results.

A pool store wanted us to purchase a new filter part for $55.00 (they didn't just sell the pipe we needed)- we got a 3 foot piece of pvc pipe for under $3.00 and fixed the problem. Imagine . . . when the thought occurred to me at the store the clerk said 'ahhh that won't work' LOL LMAO still today!

Cheap (thrifty) is good! More money for fabric!

Great idea! I love your space, longarm and lighting! I'm sew envious of you! Can't wait to see your next project!

You are not cheap, you are frugal and very wise, now go fabric shopping, because if I was you that leftover money would be burning a hole in my pocket.

What a great idea!!! You are cheap......you are smart to shop arouond. Just think of the extra money you have to spend on fabric. I would go to Menards for a light bar though.........my son is a department manager there.

Wow, that looks great; and am sure you will love it!!Cheap is good....can't argue with more money for fabric lol.

Very nice set up Eddie! Just when I thought it couldn't get any better you add all that wonderful lighting.

Great idea Eddie!!!

I want lights like that!!

What a great idea. It looks great. You are a handyman as well as a wonderful quilter.

Good job Eddie.

I have a 14 foot table, did you have to add a support to attach the light bar to?

Yes, I used some U-channel to make the upright supports on each side to connect to the lightbar across the top. The U-channel is sold as SuperStrut at Home Depot and can be found back by the electrical conduit area. I attached the uprights to the longarm frame using U-bolts. Here's a few more pics showing closer details.

Thank you for the pictures, it always help to see things.

Thank you for the pictures, it always help to see things.

WOW! How awesome is that! :shock: Never would have thought to do this. Great thinking Eddie. :thumbup: We are all for saving wherever you can, so you can spend the money elsewhere. :wink: You have a wonderful setup. Thanks for sharing the pics. I want DH to see these tomorrow. :wink:

you are my hero! lighting has been an issue in my quilting room since the beginning...that is GREAT! now, to make it happen :thumbup:

Eddie I really like your light bar. How long are the side bars? From the table to the top of the bar is how far? I think I am going to get Hubby to make one for me with a few variations to attach it to my table. I am looking at a gammell like yours but it will be a little while yet so have to modify what I have to attach the side pieces. Thanks

Billy, you are really something else, just look at your quilting room with lights. Maybe you should do this full time. I still don't know where you find the time.. Are you married? Between the yard work and the honey do's it takes me months to make a quilt. I really do not think you gave up golf. Glenn

Great!

The side bars were made from two 5' lengths (a 10' length cut in half). They're about 2.5' tall from the side of the frame to the top.

Thanks for the infor. Passed it on to hubby.

What a great idea!!

Clever, and neat...looks really effective and the savings amazing. I am blessed with a fella who can fix anything and comes up with ingenious solutions too. Couldn't imagine life without a "fixer" in the house!

I found your picture showing that you created a light bar for your gammill long arm. I would like to know how you created the light bar from Home Depot. Did you get a light bar and put two together. Just a hint of how you did it, would help. I just moved my machine to an area that has no lighting. I would like to get a light bar....gammill has one but it is too expensive. My business won't support that expensive item in the times we are living in today. Any help you can offer, would be of great help.

I want that. If you are ever in CT, I will hire you to install one for me. I've been asking my husband to do it for 5 years now.

it helps so much to be able to see what you are doing! great job.

Basically, it is U-channel (found in Home Depot around the electrical conduit supplies) with U-bolts to attach it to the Gammill frame. Then track lighting attached to the U-channel. I used L-brackets to attach the sections of U-channel to each other. It's pretty low tech but works perfectly and at a fraction of the cost of the Gammill one. Below are some close up pics.

Thank you so much....we were wondering about the lighting bar....the pictures described it OK. We will be creating our light bar now...Thanks again.

Thank you so much....we were wondering about the lighting bar....the pictures described it OK. We will be creating our light bar now...Thanks again.

Great idea and really lights things up!

Good idea!!! I'm not sure we can have enough light no matter how many we put up. I'm showing this to my DH :mrgreen: