Careful with those UV lamps from the thrift store finds

Found two old UV curing lamps at a garage sale in Denver last weekend, wired them up to test on some shutter curtains and they nearly toasted the adhesive. Check the bulb wattage before you plug anything in, a 15W mismatch can cook the fabric fast. Anyone else had issues with refurbished UV gear frying parts?

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1 Comment

nora_park7d ago

Wait, you said they were "old" UV curing lamps, but were they actual dedicated curing units or regular heat lamps with a UV bulb swapped in? Because I've seen people slap a cheap 365nm bulb into a standard work light and call it a day, and those things throw out way more infrared than a proper setup. Did you check the pilot arc or the reflector temp before you ran them, or did they just start smoking the adhesive right away? Curious if the 15W mismatch was on the bulb side or the ballast side, cause that changes the fix completely.