UV Light Boxes

[michael9793]

I was trying to find a company that made vacuum tables and came across this company that makes UV boxes for the silk screen industry. I presently have a Edwards Engineering UV box but it will only do 16x20 and I want to do 16x20 but on 24x28 paper for platinum. Maybe bigger. The thing is they have them up to 25x36 with a vacuum bed for $1399.00 made out of aluminum. EE had one that is 20x24 with a Vacuum bed and it is $3500!!!! So here is the site for you guys I'm saving my money and getting the 25x36 and start look big in platinum printing..

Dead Link Removed

 

[gmikol]

Jeez!!! I can practically throw a rock and hit their HQ.

That looks like a pretty well-built unit. Nicer than some of the other ones I've looked at. Uses 8 30W 36" T8 bulbs.

The Edwards uses 16 bulbs (for the 20x24 unit that the OP referenced), so it would definitely print faster (one would guess, by about 1 stop).

If compact is your highest priority, it's probably a good choice. But I'd have to imagine that you could get a used NuArc 26-1k for half that, if you looked around. Right now there's one on Craigslist less than 2 hours from me for $500/obo.

--Greg

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

The silk screening units have the wrong - really wrong - blanket for graphic arts/photographic use. The silk screen units are made to accept a wooden silk-screen frame - the blanket is floppy and oversized.

You should be able to pick up a used nuArc, Douthit, Burgess, Amergraph or other exposure unit for very little money. The small table top units like the nuArc 26-1K fetch a premium because they are small. Big 24x30 and up vacuum frames and their exposure lights often sell for next to nothing. Most print shops got rid of theirs quite some time ago, but call around and you may find someone willing to give a system to you for the act of hauling it away. Caution - these things are big and often require 220V power. Some have lamps/power supplies as big as 6kW. They usually have (and all of them need) light integrators. If you can find a system with a nuArc SM2100 integrator/controller you can do f-stop printing - though it doesn't have dodge & burn capability. My company designed the SM2100 for nuArc back in '89 - 22 years of f-stop timer/integrator experience...

 

[michael9793]

Well first I looked at the blanket in the YouTube video and it does not look floppy. Sec I had a nuarc flip top when I first started and it was hot, big, and long exposures. I have seen the 21-k and again it has a open architecture, which means UV scattered everywhere. Also dodge and burn! I have enough with Florida sun and skin cancer down here don't need to inject more UV's into my cells. I will try to contact the the company about the blanket and printing flat work. Thanks for the info.
Nick what part of Cleveland are you from, I grew up in willoughby.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I have enough with Florida sun and skin cancer down here don't need to inject more UV's into my cells ... Nick what part of Cleveland are you from, I grew up in willoughby.

Well, as I am sure you remember, excess sunlight is never a problem in Cleveland. Sunny days are announced by TV weathermen in the same breathless style as hurricanes in Florida: rare events that need special attention. I used to rush out with my printing frame and make cyanotypes and van dykes when the sun shone - I finally gave up waiting for the sun and built a UV exposure box.

I live in South Euclid, not far from Willoughby [and Willoughby hills, and Wickliffe, and Willowick - seems there was a distinct lack of imagination in naming the Cleveland suburbs; South Euclid is, as one might guess, south of the suburb of Euclid].

 

[michael9793]

I spoke to the company which did some test and said that the cord that is attached to the unit is placed around your work and this will allow for good vacuum. Good luck I'll probably buy mine in a couple of weeks