OK, I fell a bit behind on posts, but I finished prototyping a layout for my next exposure unit in early October (I work three jobs and there's only so much time in the world). I wanted to make a larger exposure unit for some upcoming projects. The unit on the bottom of the following photos is my original unit and the cardboard layout on the top is the size of the new one. The original is about 28x28 in., the prototype is about 30x38 in.
My original exposure unit would comfortably expose a 20x24 screen, but only expose about 3/4 of a 23x31 screen. I wanted more exposure realty. The bigger screens would allow me to gang up two or more images to a screen to save on prep time for exposing and printing. This process is nothing new, it's just something that I just wanted to get back to now that I'm using larger screens again.
I had to make a mock-up in order to see whether not it would fit in the back seat or a trunk of a car. If I make it any bigger, it won’t fit in a trunk, but it will still fit in the backseat. I think I’ll stay with this size for now. From what I've determined, if I can put the exposure unit in the back seat (with a seat belt on of course), I'll have room on the floor for screens and then printing stations, inks, and other accouterments in the trunk.
I’m trying to be able to get this done soon because of the mandate for more efficient lighting. I like efficient lighting, but for this application I'm mostly working with what I'm familiar with; which is the T12 bulbs.
So, at the moment I’m using 24 inch, T12 fluorescent bulbs. The bulbs are still available however the lighting fixtures are difficult to find. I’m trying to buy some up while I still can. I was thinking of switching over to 36 inch bulbs, but it seems like those are even harder to find unless I go with T8 fixtures and even then they are not always easy to find because of the push for integrated LED light fixtures. From what I've gathered, the newer everyday LED lights don't put out much, if any, UV light. There are LED's that fit within the needed UV parameters, but you have to do some searching. I'll try to post some more information about UV and LED perhaps later on.