I have looked through the archives to see what had beed posted on curing UV resin in a curing box. I got some very valuable information but there were a lot of questions unaswered. In particular I was curious if any one has a curing box that just uses a standard bulb and ballast (40w 6’ tube and ballast). I have cured small areas by placing the board close to these bulbs and found that it does cure the resin but takes 15 minutes. If I really crowd, the box, say a bulb every four inches for the entire width of the box, will the resin cure? I have looked at the tanning bulbs but they are hard to come by. Has anyone got a box that works great that wouldn’t mind sharing what they are using for hardware? Any info. would be greatly appreciated.
I have looked through the archives to see what had beed posted on curing > UV resin in a curing box. I got some very valuable information but there > were a lot of questions unaswered. In particular I was curious if any one > has a curing box that just uses a standard bulb and ballast (40w 6’ tube > and ballast). I have cured small areas by placing the board close to these > bulbs and found that it does cure the resin but takes 15 minutes. If I > really crowd, the box, say a bulb every four inches for the entire width > of the box, will the resin cure? I have looked at the tanning bulbs but > they are hard to come by. Has anyone got a box that works great that > wouldn’t mind sharing what they are using for hardware? Any info. would be > greatly appreciated. I too have used standard cool white toobs to cure UV resin. It’s worth a try. Given equal intensities, a certain percentage of emitted photons will penetrate to a given resin depth, no matter whether the light comes from one tube or three. UV resin cures most efficiently at the UV tanning light range, less efficiently as wavelengths get longer. Cool white emits a smaller percentage of tanning UV, and more, longer wavelength light which is less efficient at curing UV resin. The cool white tubes will work, and cost less to build and maintain. I just can’t guarantee short cure times. If you try it, please let us know your cure times. Several communities are removing their old mercury vapor street lights. If you could get your hands on some of those larger MV ballasts, they would be excellent. Use non-phosphored bulbs in them. MV arcs emit large amounts of UV light. Street lights distribute light in oval patterns, just right for hanging over a surfboard.