New, very powerful UV source for alt printing available soon

[Philippe Gauthier]

I was talking yesterday to a representative of Standex and Spisheacker, both divisions of DuPont and suppliers of car paint for body shops, and the guy dropped a potentially very interesting piece of information.

Their next generation of car paint, due to be released this fall, will be UV-dried in about 45 seconds. In order to get enough UV power, DuPont apparenty adapted the camera flash technology to output UV rays.

According to the rep, their paint drying flash will emit about 10 flashes in 4-5 seconds, recharge for a few seconds on ordinary 110-120 volt power and emit another series of ten flashes. In all, it can emit 40 flashes in 45 secs. The intensity of the flashes, he says, is to be compared with arc welding. Workers will have to wear special protective clothing to use the device.

The exact date of release and price are not known yet, but release is due before the end of the year. Don't ask me for the exact UV wavelenght either, I don't know it.

Now, imagine that an alt printer gets such a flash and uses it remotly in a closed room. It think that this would be powerful enough to get contacts in just a few seconds!

I'll keep you informed if I learn more about this this fall.

[Scott Walton]

The neighbors might think there will be a nightly/weekly lightning storm... even in a closed room there might be leakage. This would be very interesting though!!!!

[Darin Cozine]

hmmm... its not april 1st...

[Paul Metcalf]

Dodging/Burning will be interesting...

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Sounds a bit dangerous for the darkroom, seems this light is going to be too intense to be of any use. But hey! good of you to keep an eye open for better alternatives...:)

[Philippe Gauthier]

Yes, the idea that it might be too intense to be useful also crossed my mind. But hey, you can use it in a closed box (no overheating with a flash), you can mount the flash further away from the negative (getting more coverage in the process) or you can use some kind of in box filter.

Also, some other paint companies, the guy told me, currently use UV drying paint, but it only dries in 2-3 minutes because the UV source they use is less intense. It's a recent technology, but perhaps some body shops in your area already use it. If these UV units can be acquired for a reasonable price, who knows what they could do for alt printing?

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

You have a good point about over heating. That is one thing about plate makers I dont like. Who know maybe in the future we see PG's Alt exposure magic machine....no?..:-)

[Bill_1856]

Send up the kites, Igor! Bzzzzzzzzttt!!!!

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Send up the kites, Igor! Bzzzzzzzzttt!!!!



LOL.....