Measure (6) times - cut once

[middle.road]

And still fail.
Ceiling fan installation in shop. Not straight forward, I had an old Hampton Bay 'pipe and ball' type one laying around and needed to mount it up closer to the ceiling.
There's not a whole lot of open real estate on my ceiling so, 54"/2+6" would give me 33". Had to miss the opening to the attic, the hanging 4' light and the original light fixture in the ceiling.
I took down the original light fixture that the PO had installed and put in a single bulb socket.
and a picture is worth a thousand words...

Misses the bottom of a light bulb by about 1.5" - too close for comfort if the fan were to start wobbling.
I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out where I went wrong.

 

[brino]

Doh!

 

[markba633csi]

Ceiling shrinkage?

 

[Nutfarmer]

We have all been there . I am in the process of pulling the head back off an engine because I forgot to install the push rod for the fuel pump.

 

[Nogoingback]

And still fail.
Ceiling fan installation in shop. Not straight forward, I had an old Hampton Bay 'pipe and ball' type one laying around and needed to mount it up closer to the ceiling.
There's not a whole lot of open real estate on my ceiling so, 54"/2+6" would give me 33". Had to miss the opening to the attic, the hanging 4' light and the original light fixture in the ceiling.
I took down the original light fixture that the PO had installed and put in a single bulb socket.
and a picture is worth a thousand words...
View attachment 370163
Misses the bottom of a light bulb by about 1.5" - too close for comfort if the fan were to start wobbling.
I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out where I went wrong.

A miss is as good as a mile...

As an added bonus, you'll get a lovely strobe effect.
You could take that fixture out and put a flush mounted can up there.

 

[extropic]

Nothing wrong with your math, so either the fan isn't 54" or you didn't do 33".

More importantly, why do you have a menu tacked to your shop ceiling?

 

[aliva]

use one of these, might help

Amazon.ca

 

[rabler]

Trim 3” off the blades?

 

[middle.road]

A miss is as good as a mile...

As an added bonus, you'll get a lovely strobe effect.
You could take that fixture out and put a flush mounted can up there.

Definitely a 'wonderful' strobe effect, as I found out just a little while ago when I installed a small LED spot bulb.
Thanks to your reply, which triggered my gray matter, on a shelf (in the back covered in dust) down in the basement are sitting (8) can fixtures.
Guess what is getting installed next?

Nothing wrong with your math, so either the fan isn't 54" or you didn't do 33".

More importantly, why do you have a menu tacked to your shop ceiling?

Poor Man's 'Man Cave' art. Friend of ours worked at the joint when they changed their pricing. They were trashing them and he grabbed it for me since it was heavy thick plastic - figuring I could use it in the shop for something.
Lacking wall space, I screwed it to the ceiling.

Trim 3” off the blades?

That's a viable option. How much you want to bet I mess it up and the fan loses balance?

 

[Dhal22]

Trim 3” off the blades?

Winner!!!