UV Lighting

akfotog · May 27, 2014

Hello all, hope this is the right forum. I'll be receiving my first batch of cyanotype chemicals soon, and plan on processing under the long Alaska sun. However, come September thru March, darkness follows, and I'm wondering what type/size UV lighting I'll be needing. I'll be using 4x5 and 8x10 negatives. Have seen a few made special for blueprint work (although bigger than what I really need and a bit spendy). Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Mark_S · May 27, 2014

I enjoy Cyanotype printing, but living in California, my exposure source is the sun, year round, though exposure times in the winter are longer than during the summer.

What you might try, and might be reasonably prices are grow-lamps. I believe that some of the metal-halide grow lamps have a spectrum skewed towards the blue and ultra-violet end of the spectrum. Given that there is a larger market for grow lamps, the price may be more affordable than the specialty alt. Process lamps that exist.

My exposures in sunlight are several minutes, so exposure under a lamp is liable to be quite long.

akfotog · May 27, 2014

Thanks Mark, that does sound light a viable alternative. Will have to research some.

RalphLambrecht · May 27, 2014

I use a regular face tanner.

Dr Croubie · May 27, 2014

RalphLambrecht said:
I use a regular face tanner.

UV tanning beds are progressively becoming illegal to use and operate (for tanning purposes at least) in Australia, not sure about you guys up in USA/Canadanadia or the EU.
Probably means that there'll be a hell of a lot of used ones flooding the market cheaply, with a full-size tanning bed you could make a 4' by 6' print...

sly · May 27, 2014

I use a tanning bed. Got it for $50. I line up my contact frames, and expose a bunch of stuff at once, with sheets of mat board to cover them sequentially, if different times are needed. One of these days I'll make a huge cyanotype.

GLSmyth · May 27, 2014

I made a bank of lights - if I can do it, seriously, anyone can. The advantage is that you don't have to take into consideration the time of day, angle of light, quality of light, and the bane of my pinhole work, clouds.

Cheers -

george

nsurit · May 27, 2014

Here are plans I got from a list member. I've made two of these and they are super. Never mind. File is too large. Send me a private message with your email and I'll send the file. Bill Barber

akfotog · May 28, 2014

PM sent, thanks Bill. Thanks for the ideas everyone, got a few months to figure this out.

SMBooth · May 28, 2014

just get made up fluorescent fittings and swap the tubes for BL tube, these are for insect zappers. 6 x 18watt tube is plenty for 8x10

Mark Fisher · May 28, 2014

Just picked up a NuArc plate burner for $100.....hard to put together a bank of black lights for that money. The problem is that it is big and perhaps more difficult to come across up there, but pretty much any older print shop probably has one that they'd like to get rid of......maybe in Anchorage?

Richardk550 · May 29, 2014

I live in New Mexico at 5500ft/1676m elevation and found the UV during the winter to be too weak and unreliable to use. My exposures were running six to ten times the length of my summer exposure times, and then a cloud of ice (or something) would run in front of the sun and nearly block the UV entirely. Your experience may vary. I built an exposure box using six double-tube, 24" fixtures wired to a single switch - they came without any tubes - and I bought a dozen 24" T8BLB from an online source to put into them. I used T8 tubes because I was unable to find T12 fixtures. There is no fan in my exposure box, though I have read that some people are concerned with heat and believe they need a fan installed. Maybe so, but I have found that, even after running them for hours, the temperature of my exposure box is about 98F/37c.

Best regards and good luck.

Mainecoonmaniac · May 29, 2014

If you don't want to build your own light box, you can buy one. I use actinic tubes for cyanotypes and Ziatypes.

http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Light-6x39w-Actinic-Fixture/dp/B006O2BNXQ

Uncle Goose · Jun 1, 2014

Philips makes TL tubes in the UV spectrum for aquariums, they come in various lengths and shouldn't be difficult to get hold of, just visit any decent shop that either does sell lightbulbs and stuff exclusively or visit a decent aquarium shop. If you need exact type numbers you can easily look them up on google. I have using them for years now without problems and they are pretty cheap.

UV Lighting

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