The Curinator - DIY UV Adhesive Curing Light...

[300EVIL]

Hey Everyone,
I recently had a need for using UV curing adhesive on some of my optical components and needed a good, small, pinpoint UV source for my projects. I figured I'd just share what I built. First off, I was using sun tanning lamps, Eprom erase lamps and 405nm diodes, none of which I was truly happy with. So, I built this thing and it does a great job!

I call it the Curinator!

It consists of 5 10mm super bright UV LED's, a couple resistors, a prototyping PCB some wire and a 12V wall wort. All I did was arrange the LED's in a pattern, leaving a little extra lead on the outer LED's. Once lit, The outer four LEDs were bent and focused on the center spot.

Here is a pic showing the LED's un-focused...



Here is the output of all 5 LED's focused...



Here is a pic of the LED array...





And here is how it's wired...





It takes about 30 seconds exposure of a small blob to get it tacky and about 5 minutes to full cure, It won't work for every application but I thought it was cool enough to post for people using UV cure glue. If you want to build one, here's the parts list.

5 - 10mm UV LED's - You can buy them here.
1 - Radio Trash Proto PCB (276-148) Or use whatever..
1 - 470 Ohm 1/4W Resistor
2 - 270 Ohm 1/4W Resistor
Note: you can use a different wiring configuration or PS if you want to. This nifty little Wizard makes it easy.
1 - 12VDC @500mA Wall Wort

Have fun UV curing!

[dnar]

Another EVIL product. I wonder if a defocused 405nm diode would work also?

Speaking of curing, my son asked me the other day in the car "what is this crap we are listening to?"

"The Cure son"

"The Cure for what?"

The younger generation have missed out on so much....

[300EVIL]

Hey Man!
Well, I wasn't terribly impressed with a single defocused 405nm diode. It was either the wavelength was too high or just not enough power. Don't get me wrong though, It did eventually cure the adhesive.

LOL... Damn kids!

[MisterWilling]

I use Loctite 3103 and a 500mw 405 blu-ray handheld. I built it back before I knew anything about laser scanners. It was sitting in a drawer being useless until I bought some of the UV curing glue.

I just unfocused the lens a bit and the glue cures in just a few seconds. Its not the safest solution but I use glasses for 405 when using it. Your creation is very nice, excellent work!

[VDX]

... some years ago I've built a dispenser with 6pcs. 405nm-diodes for UV-resins: http://reprap.org/wiki/Paste_Dispenser

But have some more powerfull UV-sources too (see attached images):

- a TAE-N2-laser with 337nm, pulsing with 100 - 200ps pulses, max. 400kW power (~1mW averaged) and up to 30Hz repetition
- water-cooled 405nm-diodes with 9Watts of power

... and made some successfull UV-curing tests and SLA-3D-printing with bluray-laserdiodes (405nm@200mW).

Viktor

[ImageLight]

Hey Adam,

What have you been doing for laser fun.... Haven't seen you for a while..

Mark

[masterpj]

A friend of mine (dnstje) uses a broken but still light emiting 405 blu-ray laser to cure UV adhesive.

[turbohead]

There is also a commercial product called Bondic:

http://www.amazon.com/Bondic-Anythin...eywords=bondic

[VDX]

... this "Bondic" resin is essentially the same stuff they use in the UV-resin printers (around €70 to €300 per liter) - and now compare the volume prices

Viktor