You could add more or better lights to your garage, or maybe even come up with some cool fixtures to make it more interesting. But for something truly unique, check out these six unusual DIY shop lighting solutions.
DIY Emergency Lighting
As pointed out in Make:‘s project for this little light, you might have emergency lights or candles around, but how would you find them in the first place? This DIY LED light solves the problem by charging when the power is on, and shining when no voltage is detected. When needed, it can be disconnected and carried, which is a very nice feature!
Brownie Pan LED Light Panel
If you’re taking video or pictures of your projects, proper lighting is essential for excellent results. It can also be quite expensive. Although this brownie pan lighting solution isn’t cheap at $100 or so of parts, it will reportedly replace around $500 of equipment.
DIY Garage Skylight
Skylights aren’t exactly unheard of, but after considering this one in a garage, I realized I’d never seen one used in that setting. This video shows the setup. It doesn’t look extremely hard, but modifying your roof still has to be nerve-wracking!
Motion Sensing Presence Lights
For a lazily-efficient use of power, it’s hard to beat having the lights turn off and on without your intervention. These instructions here on Make: show you how to make one using an LED strip, a passive infrared (PIR) sensor, and several other components.
Semi-Off-Grid Solar Lighting
This interesting lighting solution uses a solar charger to run five LED lights in a garage. A full day’s charge will supply enough power for a few hours of lighting under battery power. The garage itself is not off grid, so if more power is needed, the battery pack can be plugged in for more juice.
Laser Cut LED Light Fixture
The author of this Instructable needed a light source to illuminate the space behind his monitor. Something like this would be a good solution for smaller areas, like under a milling machine or inside a CNC router. It’s cut out of several layers with a laser cutter, which helps give it “garage/unconventional credibility.”
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