Well mercury vapor bulbs are a popular choice for lighting amongst reptile owners because they offer a decent amount of UVB that is needed by a number of reptile species for proper vitamin D3 production but I don't know that it would be enough for curing the photo resist. For that you might want to look at the UV bulbs used in aquarium and pond UV sterilizers. They put out considerably more UV to the point that they can be hazardous if not totally enclosed.
----- Original Message -----
From: John Craddock
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 10:35 PM
Subject: RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] UV Light Sources
I read somewhere on the web that a mercury vapour lamp with the outer uv blocking envelope removed gives a very good source of uv light for photo-pcb resist curing. Obviously removing the outer envelope would require that the uv exposure box be totally enclosed when the system is operating. Can any one confirm that this is comparable or better than the black-light fluorescent approach?
TIA
Regards
John C
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