UV lamps again. (maybe Kokua?)

General Discussion
1

Hello i know this have been discussed before, but i couldn’t find exactly what i want to know (yes, i searched the archives).

Today i just received 25 kilos of UV cure resin, but i usually work at night, so now i want to make my UV box to cure my boards. Today i was at the bulb store and they told me that they can find any UV lamp i tell them, but they must know the exact bulb/lamp model, or at least all the information i can give them about the lamps.

I saw some tanning bulbs for about $10.00 each, but i don’t know if they’re the good ones for this kind of work.

Maybe some of you can give me the lamps what are using the pros, or at least, what i need to make it work at home. Kokua i named you because i read that you use to work with UV cure resin.

The Suncure site says that i need 100 watt 8.5 bi-pin or higher tanning bed bulbs, but this doesn’t help a lot to my lamp supplier.

Thanks in advance!

Coque

2

Coque - I just use a couple of standard second hand sunbeds (cost very little), arranged in a V so I get the rails - and I get full cure in about 5 mins.

3

Coque,

A company called thatpetplace.com has the bulbs brand new for around 10.99, the bulb is called Coral Sun 420 by Zoo Med it is a knock off of the actinic TL03 Phillips makes. I use them for my reef tanks and for glassing they work great at half the price of the Phillips.

4

I found myself a sun tan bed for 100€ on the french e-bay website.

Completely put it into pieces and here it comes to a new life:

http://forum.surfermag.com/photopost/data/501/364131.jpg

The bulbs are 180cm long or something close…

I kept the “reflectors” but I’m not really happy with my system.

The fact is that the bulbs are really efficient but they do not cure “far” away parts of the board.

Laminating shortboards goes allright but longboards are to be cured in two steps…

So, next step will be to recreate the machine, putting bulbs in a end to end position.

And making a more “light wraping” system so that top an bottom will cure evenly.

5

Coque- the main thing is the wattage and you want make sure that they are UV “A” .I bought special ballasts for mig rig that wee high wattage and I can cure a boad in 15 min. or less – good luck

6

Coque:

You may have already found this in the archives (see “Mercury Vapor UV”)

A standard outdoor security light which cost about $29.00 over here in the States works great for UV resin curing. The lamps used in these fixtures last a LONG time. Here’s a link for a picture:(http://www.darksky.org/key/keymerc.html)

You can mount one of these overhead and get a large circle of light. I use a small one for ding repairs at night.

Tom S.

7

Thanks everyone for your help. tomorrow i’ll go the lamp shop to buy the lamps, and then i’ll buy the wood to make the box… I’m sure this will be a great improvement that will afford me a lot of time.

THANKS again.

Coque.