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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Surplus UV PCB Exposure Box - Melbourne??
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| Andrew_G Guru  Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 872 |
Hi all, Does anyone have a UV PCB exposure box they want to part with? (I'm just east of Melbourne and am happy to pay for the box and "transport" etc.) I think I am ready to step up to making simple PCBs (probably small single sided) instead of Veroboard. But not yet ready to generate Gerbers for fabrication in china (and I have other "issues" including I'd like to learn how to do it). I've tried, but am not impressed with, iron on resit. The next step is a UV exposure box. I know I could make one but if a TBS member had one that was surplus and working (or readily made so) it might be a win/win. Any interest (or comments)?? Cheers, Andrew |
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| Malibu Senior Member  Joined: 07/07/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 260 |
G'day Andrew, Can't help you with a UV unit (Tossed mine years ago because I do isolation routing on my Roland CNC now) When I started off with UV PCB's, I just got a flouro desk lamp and replaced the tube with a black light tube (15W from memory). Not a perfect spread of light, but easy to setup and use. It will at least give you an idea if that's the way you want to go with the minimum of cost. I've also used my old ROM eraser occasionally, but it was a pretty intense light source, so timing was critical. (Wow, do people still use ROM's?) Hope it helps, John John |
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Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1106 |
I just use a standard desk fluro about 50mm (2") above the positive photo resist board & leave for about 15mins. Boards only about 3" x 4". I don't have much luck with bigger boards. I use 2, PCB layout transparencies on top of each other to get a better contrast & black coverage. A piece of class (photo frame) goes on top to hold them down. Just make sure you have the image the right way up.  May need to print a mirror image to get one printed side directly on the board. ChopperP |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Hi Andrew - I've got a reasonably fancy one I built three or four years ago from a USA design and I'm not using it currently. It's about 500mm square, 240v, MM based auto-timer/controller with 20x4 LCD display and four proper UV tubes with "paralled" reflectors - probably just what you're looking for. If you're just East of Melbourne then I'm not far from you, I'm at Research just outside Eltham. Send me a PM so that I can call you. Greg |
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| Andrew_G Guru Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 872 |
Hi Greg, Many thanks. I've sent an email if that is OK? Regards, Andrew |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Andrew, haven't seen an e-mail as at 10:30pm Sun night. There's a "pm" button (for Private Message) at the bottom of this (and all) posts when you're logged in. Press that and you can send me a mesage through the forum - it has everyone's e-mail address an I'll be notified when I log in. Greg |
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| Andrew_G Guru Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 872 |
Hi Greg, I've sent a PM and will check again tomorrow. Regards, Andrew |
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bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2971 |
Andrew, Back in the days that I used to make my own (circa 1980-1985) I used a standard 24” dual fluorescent batten fitted with ACTINIC BLUE tubes. They worked well.. Why Actinic blue instead of UV?? I read somewhere at the time that the photo resist on the PCBs worked best at that wave length... Things may have changed now.. Anyway with the myriad of Chinese PCB FAB-Houses out there I would never try to make my own again.. Good luck with your efforts. Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
This was my home-made one I used for years, built out of an old microwave oven:  I still use it to UV test things to find out if they break down. A few hours on high.....  PCB's are just so cheap out of PCB houses in China now, that making your own at home is just not worth the effort anymore in my humble opinion. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171 |
hah! I lovethat UV exposure unit grogs! does mean sausages too I bet  On the subject of PCBs, I agree with you but when you do a single piece, you can only get a minimum of ten and them you end up with 3KG of PCB to recover the copper from I still get a buzz from laser etching and then developing my own PCBs... no-where as slick as something from a production house but I'll have it the same day. |
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| Malibu Senior Member Joined: 07/07/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 260 |
Now that's something to like!  Is that a speaker cone instead of a turntable? John |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Yes, I used an old 8" speaker as a chassis thing for elevating the new wooden turntable up closer to the UV tubes. It is connected to the turntable motor, and turns the boards in the UV light just as it used to do when cooking food. This project was published in Silicon Chip magazine about ten years ago or so. It even featured on the cover, which was a nice surprise for me when I got that issue! Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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Azure Guru Joined: 09/11/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 446 |
SC October 2008. Nice article Grogster |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
So it was. Just don't pay TOO much attention to the extreme criticism in the following months, to the point that some readers said that SC should not have published it at all. I used earth wire as a live conductor. It was marked and labelled, and I was the only one to ever work on the unit, but that made some readers loose their balls over it. Probably about November or December that year from what I remember. They WERE right. I should not have done it like that, but I had already wired the bloody thing up before I asked SC if they were interested, and when they said they were, I could not be bothered to rewire it. I suppose I should have. Technically, the criticisms WERE correct, and it was something I should not have done in hindsight. I would never use earth wire as a live conductor ever again, so they did make their point I suppose.  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Azure Guru Joined: 09/11/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 446 |
Now that you mention it I think I remember all that feedback about the wiring using incorrect cable colours. Used to be some people would add a sleeve over the cable but that is also a big no no. |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1667 |
Don't know whether these would qualify or not, but MrsC has quite a few that are always rather cheap. UV Nail Lanp Possible bonus is that it could be a shared asset with other party's who like to "Do Nails". Phil. Edit:- I should add though, according to word in the Beauty World, the LED ones have much more "Friendly" Ultra-Violent rays than those dreadful old flouro ones. (Despite being same wavelength etc...). |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Hi all, Grogs that's certainly a novel use for a loudspeaker and given the price and quality of boards out of China now I understand why it's out of use. Anyway, Andrew_G came around today and he now has the unit I built back in mid 2014 using 90mm split pipe lined with aluminium adhesive tape for reflectors, UV tubes and a MMX150 uMite controller (MMBasic V4.5) with a 4x4 keypad and 4x20 LCD display. Some pictures for everyone below just for fun. I was going to write this up properly for TBS but the cheap and good stuff that came out of China about the same time made it seem a bit pointless. Greg     |
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| CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171 |
still a nice unit. I am glad it has gone to a good home rather than being dumped as obsolete. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Yes, very nice unit. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Yes it is. It pissed a lot of people off that it was wired that way. At the time I was not really worried about it, but with hindsight, I CAN see the point they were trying to make. I certainly would never wire like that again, so lesson learnt. I remember asking a sparkie about this one at the time, and they said ONLY if you sleeve the ENTIRE length in red tubing, but even then, it is still frowned upon - you could just use red or brown. So....my bad..... Live and learn. And on we go.Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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