uv box

[ECET0purdue]

hello,
iam building the uv box and i did not think it matters about the ballast and bulbs can i just go to the ace and buy the common ballast and bulbs? or is there a certin one i have to have.
thanks,
glen

 

[Alun]

Which UV box do you want to build?

Why create a new thread when you could've posted in the existing thread?

As long as the ballast matches the bulbs it doesn't matter.

 

[jedkiwi]

Basically from my understanding, any UV bulbs will work, but the brighter you get the faster the PCB will develop. Supposedly on 4 20W UV lights, it takes about 10 mins to develop, which is fine unless your into mass-production.

 

[Alun]

Basically from my understanding, any UV bulbs will work,

No, they have to be UVA blacklights for PCB exposures, the tubes used in this project are the wrong type they're germicidal UCV emitting low presure mercury discharge lamps and they should be UVA flourescent tubes.

but the brighter you get the faster the PCB will develop. Supposedly on 4 20W UV lights, it takes about 10 mins to develop, which is fine unless your into mass-production.

True, but generally higher wattage bulbs will light a larger area thus allowing you to develop bigger boards it isn't always the case that higher wattage bulbs are  brighter.

 

[ECET0purdue]

i could not find my other thead? sorry but thanks for the help...

 

[Alun]

Well try clicking on the button (near the top of the page) and enter the words "uv box".

 

[ECET0purdue]

a little late now....... ;D

 

[MP1]

ECET, no problem posting this subject again. The old one is quite a ways back there. Maybe it does need to be mentioned again.

I use the fluorescent blacklight tubes. The fixture is a standard 2 ft length fluorescent light fixture. My imaging setup has 4 of these fixtures sitting in a parallel row. I can image down to 7 mil lines in 1 to 2 minutes. Also, if you use a good image that does not bleed light, you can over expose a bit without much problem.
Hope it helps.

MP

 

[jedkiwi]

Or, the quickest, easiest, anc by far cheapest way to develop PCBs: Use the sun for about 30 seconds.

My friend does this, and he can get a good quality down to 0.4mm.

 

[ECET0purdue]

30 sec... does he live on venus??  i was told like 24 hours

 

[jedkiwi]

In the sun? You kidding?

He accidently left it in the sun for 1.5 mins once, completely overexposed it.