I would like to built my own UV light box by using TL-lamps. In meantime I’ve done some ‘research’ on the www. Based on this ‘research’ I’m getting some ideas about the amount of power is needed, lamps, availability in Europe for the several items I need to built the unit, … there are still some questions that aren’t solved and still turning in my head.
In the forum I didn’t found some tips and advice about building your own UV-light box. Therefore this topic. Does you have some information (web-pages, experiences, books, …) how to built your own UV-light box.
And when the UV light box is built, it’s just starting. You’ve to do some test, printing, evaluating, calibration, … Meaning that form the moment that you’ve a light box it’s not plug and play. Than the interesting part starts.
I have built 3 UV printers, one with T12 4 foot UV florescent tubes , one with 2 foot T8 tubes and a larger one with a UV LED array.
If you are interested in the UV Blacklight bulbs, use the T8 tubes instead of the T12 tubes as they are more efficient. You can get them in 2 or 4 foot lengths. The T8 may be more expensive and harder to get than the T12. Check with your local electrical supply store. They may have to order the bulbs in for you. You can also buy the tube holders and the ballasts. The staff at the should be able to tell you what size ballasts you need and how many bulbs you can run on one ballast. The bulbs should be arranged no wider than 1/2 inch apart. I build mine with the bulbs overhead and a pull out drawer below . My small fluorescent unit is about 24 by 20 inches and uses 17 or 18 bulbs. If you want to use T12 bulbs, you can find plans for a UV printer in Luis Nadeau’s book Modern Carbon Printing on Amazon. I used it as a plan for my first one, an then modified the design quite a bit to build my
T8 unit. If you need further information or pictures, email me at [email protected]