…hello,
any of you have experience with normal black light tubes to cure big surfaces? more than 10ft x 23.
I know that better to have the correct type of UV lights but the shops do not sell them here.
I had good experiences with these other lights to cure spot applications of resin.
Yes, less power to cure but it will cure in the end…but that s not good for hot coats or painted boards.
Thanks
Tanning bulbs, Grow Lights even Fluorescent will eventually kick it. The tanning bulbs work best, but Halide or HPS would do it. The bands are differant but it can be done. Just takes longer.
No Tanning shops where you are at?
Their trash will cure a surfboard in 5 minutes vs 3
…McDing, as mentioned, takes too much and is not good for what I do.
Acqua G, yes, no tanning lights to sell; only tanning machines (the expensive ones) to sell or to lease.
Hence my question about the normal black lights; may be if I put double or triple quantity of tubes…but may be the final cure is not rock hard to say something…
Nobody grows Pot indoors down there??
…well, thinking about it I have a motorcycle buddy here that is in that theme; but now is in another town; with other guys seems to opened a bar to smoke with narguiles and other stuff to attract tourists that are in that same vein…
I do not find the phone right now.
…so the guy passed today to pick up a battery charger but said the he use some LED lights that provides enough emit pink, violet and other colors…but that s not good enough to cure resin.
Do you know what UV wavelength is needed to catalyze the resin for curing?
Do you have access to a standard single fluorescent blacklight + base?
If so, you could do some test panel lay-ups of different sizes. Test the distance of the bulb from the resin too. Light intensity drops substantially with only short increases in distance from the source.
Put a flat white surface directly behind the bulb to reflect light back.
Best estimate is to look at how much of the needed UV wavelength is emitted by any given bulb.
Once you have determined if and how much surface one bulb will cure, combine multiple bulbs to get enough watt or lumen output.
UVA 400 nm - 320 nm
UVB 320 nm - 290 nm
UVC 290 nm - 100 nm
Standard blacklights like those used for 1960s fluorescent psychedelic posters are closer to 400 nm.
I believe tanning UV lights may be closer to the 300 nm. This range can burn eyes and skin.
EDIT: Found a brief summary of UV light sources (attached).
Bulbs like those at this link might work.
(Insect bulbs @ 350 nm?)
http://www.topbulb.com/specialty-bulbs/ultraviolet/uv-a-blacklight-no-filter
This 4-ft GE standard type blacklight (blacklight blue – BLB) has a total UV output of 9.0 watt with a peak wavelength of 365 nm:
This 4-ft “unfiltered” type blacklight (BL) produces a total UV output of 9.0 watt with a peak wavelength of 365 nm. It is half the cost of the GE “filtered” blacklight bulb above.
http://www.topbulb.com/f40bl-40w-t12-fluorescent-blacklight
Looks like 4-ft unfiltered fluorescent blacklight (BL) bulbs may have the best and most cost effective UV potential.
…hello, like Aqua glassing is saying, tanning tubes is the way to go and do it full in 3 mins or more is they are used. Normally these ones are between 80-200 watts.
As Mc ding says, eventually all stuff can cure the resin BUT to have a full cure you need the tanning ones; more for bigger surfaces; if not the cure would be kind of green forever; so you perceive it as cured but does not so for a really big boards is not too good due to possible bending or warping in the process; hence my question.
Call fiberglass hawaii in ventura they have the correct bulbs like 20.00 a piece I bet they will ship them to you.
Looks like these are typical tanning bed bulbs:
" F71 Bi-pin 100 Watt" tubes
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/tanning-bed-bulbs
https://www.amazon.com/Wolff-Dark-F71-100W-Tanning/dp/B014DHRSKA
Question is how much UV and peak wavelength does one F71 Bi-pin 100 Watt tube put out?
How much UVA and/or UVB? Not as %.
How many F71 Bi-pin 100 Watt tubes are needed to cure a surfboard?
Can you buy F71 Bi-pin 100 Watt tubes individually?
Would three 40 watt “unfiltered BL” tubes put out as much or more of the needed UV than one F71 Bi-pin 100 Watt?
https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/86203/F-40T12BL.html?gclid=CPCBpY3159ECFdC4wAodVCQMTg
Lots of potential trade offs.
Fixtures will likely cost as much or more than bulbs/tubes.
EDIT:
F71 represents the length of the lamp in inches.
Common lengths used in the tanning industry are F59, F60, F71, F72, F73, and F74.
As a rule of thumb, F59 and F71 lamps will have Bi-Pin ends.
Well all of this got my curiosity up. There is little usable information out there.
So I called Fiberglass Hawaii. Fiberglass HI did not have any specs for their bulb/tube (FR40 T12). However the HI location was very helpful.
Their 4-ft bulb appears to be manufactured for use in reef aquariums.
One aquarium supplier listed the bulb/tube as a T12 454 VHO. I called them but still no specs. She gave me the manufacturers name and number.
I called UV Lighting Co – very helpful guy. Said manufacturers do not list UV lumen output (brightness/intensity).
Indicated the T12 454 VHO (superactinic) tube emitted a 420 nm UV peak – accentuates fluorescent colors. They have 4-ft T12 that emits 350 nm too. He said 420 nm would catalyze UV resin. Said 350 & 365 nm would catalyze UV resin faster. All of this UV is in the UVA range.
He also said the UVB in tanning lights would affect resin color (?).
Because no UV output data is available from suppliers, the number of bulbs needed is a guess. Must be trial and error experimenting.
He thought four, 4-ft tubes would fully catalyze an 8-ft surfboard. Distance of light from surface will matter but full surface illumination is needed.
Said Miro-4 reflector backing is most effective,
UV Lighting Co.
1-800-247-8752
…hello Stoneburner; thanks for your dedication.
So those seems the normal black light tubes that you can see everywhere; but those are not enough powerful to fully cure (without MEKP) I mean they set the resin but not 100% at the times required to the build process.
Have seen similar questions at Sways before. When I realized how little information is available about using UV lights for curing, it set me on a quest. Had to find out.
Not sure about that UV Lighting Co. aquarium tube. They do have an unfiltered T12 that puts out 350 nm.
I do not use UV resin. But if I were going to try UV light tube curing, I would try the “unfiltered” BL tubes. At $4.20 a tube (F40 T12 BL), this type would be an inexpensive experiment. It puts out quite a bit more 368 nm UV than a “filtered” BLB tube (see graph below).
Set up one 4-ft bulb with a 1-ft x 4-ft reflector backing and try it on a 1-ft x 4-ft test panel (foam + FG cloth + UV resin). Vary light distance from surfboard surface to see how that affects curing. The closer you can get the UV tubes and still have full surfboard surface illumination, the better and faster the curing results will be.
My “guess” is four, 4-ft unfiltered BL tubes mounted on a 2-ft x 8-ft reflector backing would cure an 8-ft surfboard when placed at the right distance from the surfboard. Might have to flip it to cure the laps. I suspect a white backer/reflector would be good enough if you cannot afford polished Miro-4 aluminum.
(Once tack free you could always take it outside for a quick blast of solar UV?)
Here’s a set up that works well. The curing box has a door, also reflective lined, and closes up for full curing effect.
Not sure which tubes are used, quite possibly the ones from FGH. Boards have held up well while being surfed consistently the last couple months in Nicargua. The decks are fabric inlay but were built using UV resin start to finish in two days as he was getting ready to jump the plane and I whipped them out & put them on Amtrak before he left that evening.
I will find out regarding the tubes and get back to you.
Bruce- nice shaping on that. Fabric looks great. Hawk I assume. Yeah that’s the kind of setup I had at one time. Put a timer on it. I only had lights on top. Bottom lights are necessary with that quilted foil and if your rack is set high enough. Great waves down there heh?
