LED UV Light Box: Build Your Own for Under $150

[john dean]

I have to say that Sandy's clarification about the "good" leds and the cheaper roll out units makes sense to me.

By the way, my use of the phrase forgot more than most of the rest us know put together, was meant as a compliment not sarcasm. But whatever. But I'm not a novice either. I've been a very serious printmaker for 40 years, and although I haven't written any books or given workshops on 19th century processes, I did study for four years with Todd Walker, who was a major expert in the 1960s-1980's on all the alternative processes including woodbury type, carbro, gum, offset lithography, multicolor silkscreen and all the rest. - until he switched to computers after the mac was invented. I see leds as being the future for sure and I think it is great and exciting that people are beginning to consider them for photo printing. Last night we took a walk in our dark neighborhood and I pulled out my new micro led mag light that is tiny and uses only two AA batteries. That little thing has the illumination of my car headlight. And this is one of the cheap ones. Other units are far brighter. This is where lighting is going, fast. I'm going to look into the cost of the more durable led bulbs and if they are that much more expensive right now, I'll put the fluorescents in until the prices come down, then I'll convert to led. It wouldn't surprise me if the fluorescents are phased out in a couple of years the way this tech is taking hold. In the meantime I just want consistent exposures without any surprises. It sounds to me that Sandy has done more serious tests than anyone else who is doing this professionally. Platinum is too expensive to have to deal with inconsistent exposures from month to month. Thanks for all this great info. I knew there had to be someone who had done the tests.

[sanking]

John,

I often run into folks from the Atlanta area who praise your work so I know you are not a novice in terms of print making.

There is no question but that LED technology is an important development and sure to replace tubes in many cases. If you look now on ebay you will find many UV light boxes based on tubes that are imported from China. Most of these are made in a plant in Hangzhou. I met the owner of the plant last fall at a symposium at the Nanjing Institute of the Arts, which was equipped with several of his UV printers made with the higher quality LEDs. The units performed very well, about what I would have expected from a closely spaced bank of BL tubes. There is no doubt but that in a year or two all of the units coming from China will be equipped with the LEDs instead of tubes.

For a really high end LED light source, have a look at this one designed by Calvin Grier. Calvin is an American photographer based in Valencia, Spain, and an up and coming high end carbon printer. His unit is a point source type light designed to solve some of the adhesion problems in the highlights associated with carbon printing, but the design is potentially applicable to other forms of alternative printing. http://thewetprint.com/en/2016/09/16...part-1-design/

BTW, LED tubes are already being manufactured as drop-in replacements for T8 fluorescent tubes. I have not located any UV LED tubes yet, but they are almost sure to come so this should allow for retrofit of existing banks of BL tubes if one desires. However, from a practical point of view a bank of closely spaced BL tubes is a highly efficient light source for alternative printing, though for best results diffuse light sources should really be used with a vacuum, especially for prints over about 8X10" in size.

Sandy

[john dean]

Thanks for that very useful info Sandy. I will look into those links.
You have done a lot more homework than I had realized.

Yea, there are a lot of considerations for the short term and the long term. Using a fixture that could be used for both led lights and fluorescents is a real possibility. I do wonder though if these will be available a couple of years down the road. But then everything is changing so fast. There may never be a permanent standard for light sources anymore. I just have to build a box that I can adapt to whatever is available.

One of the things I want to do is make large monochrome gum prints. I would like to have the ability to do 30x40s. So that means a big heavy unit in a studio with little space.

The four things I'm going to be considering are:

1. how well does the light source work

2. how long will the bulbs last before showing inconsistent exposures.

3. how big and heavy will the thing be

4. and last but not least, how can I keep mercury out of the land fill, the soil and the ground water. This a major consideration to me as it is poisoning the whole world, and a good reason to encourage the elimination of fluorescent tubes.


Lot to think about.

john

[williaty]

Regarding #4, UV-emitting LEDs are not total-lifecycle less polluting than linear fluorescent tubes. Semiconductor manufacturing is, sadly, a very Earth-hostile process. So each light source has a different way in which it harms the environment but neither are good for it.

[john dean]

Do these strip leds contain mercury? From what I've read, mercury is just about the most dangerous chemical used in electronics, especially crt monitors , etc. For one thing it causes neurological damage, cancer, and god knows what else.

[williaty]

Do these strip leds contain mercury? From what I've read, mercury is just about the most dangerous chemical used in electronics, especially crt monitors , etc. For one thing it causes neurological damage, cancer, and god knows what else.

Mercury is not even close to to the most toxic element used in electronics manufacturing. The rare earth elements take that title (which is what semiconductors use to dope silicon to get the various desirable properties like emitting light). From their mining runoff, to the smoke and fumes from refining, to the solvent effluent used to lithograph them onto circuit boards, it's a nasty, nasty process.

Not to mention the huge amount of oil consumed, and waste produced, in making the plastic parts of the LED tapes.


The sad truth is that every time we flip a switch on any of our light sources, something dies. Either from the manufacturing process or the energy used to light it up. There are simply no ecologically sound light sources out there once you get past burning wood.

[Fr. Mark]

Supposedly, anti coal mining activist and author Wendell Berry just goes to bed when it gets dark rather than use electric lights. Sometimes that doesn't sound so crazy.

[denverjims]

Supposedly, anti coal mining activist and author Wendell Berry just goes to bed when it gets dark rather than use electric lights. Sometimes that doesn't sound so crazy.

This whole thread seems to be turning dark...

[Michael Kadillak]

This whole thread seems to be turning dark...

Agree. We live in an imperfect world that contradicts the responsibility to the planet by a certain segment of the population that begins with a subset of unfounded conclusions. The analytical incapability of an intelligent society to properly assess all of the consequences toward a least damaging result is to me one of the most perplexing paradigms of todays culture. Surely we can ascertain the solution to the original objective of the post.

[Paul Cunningham]

Penance. Now that the waterproof vinyl-like material has yellowed, I'm peeling it off. Slow going.