Shop work bench under shelf & light rework

A simple fix, adding some trim to block the direct sight of under shelf light. Originally there was a 24" fluorescent mounted to underside of 12" shelf. When ballast quit awhile back was cheaper to buy a whole standard 48" fixture. That and bulbs are cheaper. However the lights box is a bit deeper so setting at the bench looking right at the bulb. Really hard on the eyes.

When I added the over head cabinet I ended up with some extra 3/4" cove trim. Adding it to the bottom of the shelf’s 1x4 face will block the light. Easy. Well except I had previously added a 12" screwdriver rack. Its just something I whacked out of a piece of particleboard one-day. I assume if I trim up to it the particle will finally split. So it needed to be removed.

I have all this new pegboard but the screwdrivers where they were, was convenient. Decided to run a full piece of 1x2. I can drill it for the screwdrivers and add more holes , slots to hang stuff as needed. Be good when working on large stuff to have another place to set stuff. So adding a simple piece of trim to block light is now actually making a new rack board?



With a 7/8" wood bore bit drilled about 1/4" deep at about 20°. Spaced 1" from edge, 1 1/4" apart. Then drilled thru with a 3/8". Put in a couple of extras. Sanded it out & stained. Easy. While it was drying I peeled off some old stickers, sand the 40 years old face. Then drilled several clearance screw holes thru the 1x4 face. New rack board butts to face at bottom. Ran a bead of glue and clamped to face board. Ran screws from backside of face board into rack.

Nice. Next time I have Jig saw out Ill cut a few 1x2 gussets. Or possibly, as the shelf edge and new 1x2 edge are flush vertically might be easier to just add blocks to faces-hmmm.

And to the whole point of this exercise, added the trim to bottom edge of face board, blocking sight of bulb.



Wow seems twice as bright not squinting against direct sight of bulb.



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