Making a METAL HALIDE Exposure Unit
Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:30 am
Where can I find plans to make a high quality exposure unit that uses a bright but very small metal halide lamp at the bottom of a "funnel"? I would like to know the essentials of such a unit. I have read all the posts / articles I could find here but did not get what I needed.
We want to do very detailed high definition printing in a dozen or more layers on glass so we need the accuracy of having a small bright lamp as far from the screen as possible to minimize undercutting when exposing. We want to expose a large screen - outside frame dimensions approximately 34" x 48".
I do NOT want to make one of the simple exposure units that use a series of black light or fluorescent tubes; we want a small very bright light.
Any place I can download plans for a METAL HALIDE exposure unit(or other small lamp)?
If not, what are some of the essentials? What lamps/ballasts? How far should the lamp be from the exposure surface? Should the sides of the funnel be black? White? Mirrored? What color/type of set up light? How much bigger should the glass surface be than my largest frame?
Also... this may be a crazy question, but what about using a camera flash unit and doing a series of flashes to expose the screen (I assume these cannot be "on" for very long without overheating).
Also... this may be a crazy question, but what about using a camera flash unit and doing a series of flashes to expose the screen (I assume these cannot be "on" for very long without overheating).
We want to do very detailed high definition printing in a dozen or more layers on glass so we need the accuracy of having a small bright lamp as far from the screen as possible to minimize undercutting when exposing. We want to expose a large screen - outside frame dimensions approximately 34" x 48".
I do NOT want to make one of the simple exposure units that use a series of black light or fluorescent tubes; we want a small very bright light.
Any place I can download plans for a METAL HALIDE exposure unit(or other small lamp)?
If not, what are some of the essentials? What lamps/ballasts? How far should the lamp be from the exposure surface? Should the sides of the funnel be black? White? Mirrored? What color/type of set up light? How much bigger should the glass surface be than my largest frame?
Also... this may be a crazy question, but what about using a camera flash unit and doing a series of flashes to expose the screen (I assume these cannot be "on" for very long without overheating).
Also... this may be a crazy question, but what about using a camera flash unit and doing a series of flashes to expose the screen (I assume these cannot be "on" for very long without overheating).