DIY UV Curing Box

General Discussion
1

I’m looking to make my own UV Curing box/oven. I have done some research and have seen a lot of different designs and concepts. The design that interests me the most is one that is a box, with a door or lid that has a low RPM turntable inside it. I also like the idea of implementing a timer so that I can cure overnight without worries of over-curing. What i’m having trouble with is exactly what UV light source to have in the box, the only options I am seeing is either having a UV LED strip lined on the inside of the box or having a UV LED LAMP.

The only thing I can’t figure out is how to get the 1.25mW/cm^2 that Formlabs recommends in their white paper. they say 10W LED array, but doesn’t say how many LED’s are in the array or how large the LED actually is.

Also, how essential is having an external heating device in the chamber? I know the Form Cure has all of this but i’m definitely not spending $800 on that.

If anyone could share their DIY project that would be great!

2

Both of those light sources look like they have the right wavelength, I would opt for the led strip as it will be easier to get even distribution than with a single panel source.

Temperature : I have no numbers to provide but we found a pretty dramatic difference between our home-made curing box without heating and the Cure. Formlabs says it helps curing deeper inside the part.

As for power, the distribution is a bit tricky to calculate and really with hobby-grade light sources the only way to be sure is really to measure it. That being said, I read from formlabs that “overcuring” isn’t really a thing as once the part is fully reticulated it won’t change… I guess is will only take UV damage like any other material, but at the level we are working at I don’t think this will be an issue. I’d simply use all 5m of the LED strip.