Doc Nemo Posted March 24, 2019 Report Share Posted March 24, 2019 Hi, I had a question/concern about the UV cure resin Alumi-UV. I was hoping you all could help, and provide some insight. I recently got into lure making and was interested in a UV-cure resin setup for convenience. I've used two-part epoxy and had success, but just hoping to speed things up. Attached is currently what I'm working with. I am using Alumilite's UV cure resin. I purchased two T5 grow fixtures to make a UV-sandwich for the lures. I was thinking about even adding another on the bottom of the setup and covering with glass in case of dripping. Last night I was testing everything out, and noticed that even after a 2 hour sit, the lures were still wet to the touch. I was sure to flip the position after an hour to ensure all sides got a good does of light. I may have put too thick of a coat on. Also, maybe my lights are too far apart, not strong enough? Once exposed to UV, will the lures eventually cure on their on after removing from light? Any help would be much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted March 24, 2019 Report Share Posted March 24, 2019 For me, the lures need continual exposure to the UV light to cure. I have not used Alumi-UV but I have used Solarez Dual Cure resin for years. Be sure your UV lights are the right frequency for the resin you're using. Just because a light is UV doesn't mean it's what that resin needs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Nemo Posted March 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2019 3 hours ago, mark poulson said: For me, the lures need continual exposure to the UV light to cure. I have not used Alumi-UV but I have used Solarez Dual Cure resin for years. Be sure your UV lights are the right frequency for the resin you're using. Just because a light is UV doesn't mean it's what that resin needs. Thanks! The bulbs I purchased were recommended by the Alumilite site, 365nm range. They are on the smaller side, 24 watts each, 3000k. Who knows, I’ll try a longer cure time tonight on a spare blank. I’ll let you know what I find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 You can always set the lure outside in the sunshine to cure, which works even on a cloudy day. The closer your bulbs are to the lure, the stronger dose of UV they will get. UV cure resins have a specific UV wavelength that cures them fastest and your light may or may not be optimized for it, but probably puts out enough energy in the required spectrum to get the job done, if Alumilite says it will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 I have no experience with UV cured resin, but have built an Eprom burner in the past. From what I have read, cure should be complete in minutes. Keep in mind that if you double the distance from the lamp then the lamp power is reduced x8. I cannot tell the distance of the lamp from the lure, but you should try and reduce the distance to the absolute minimum to get maximum power. I suggest do some tests with scrap wood or even cocktail sticks dipped in the resin, and find the ideal curing distance. Report back whether success or failure. Tell us the distance that works. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 I use a UV cure finger nail light, standing on it's end so the open mouth is up. I use Solarez UV Dual Cure resin, and I rotate my lures every 30 seconds. They cure hard in three minutes. If it begins to take longer, I know it's time to replace the bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Nemo Posted March 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 2 hours ago, Vodkaman said: I have no experience with UV cured resin, but have built an Eprom burner in the past. From what I have read, cure should be complete in minutes. Keep in mind that if you double the distance from the lamp then the lamp power is reduced x8. I cannot tell the distance of the lamp from the lure, but you should try and reduce the distance to the absolute minimum to get maximum power. I suggest do some tests with scrap wood or even cocktail sticks dipped in the resin, and find the ideal curing distance. Report back whether success or failure. Tell us the distance that works. Dave Good point, I will test out distance effects on some popsicle sticks tonight. I did do a test run on a stick last night at the distance I have already setup (~6 inches), and it did fully cure after a couple of hours. I could hypothesize the time could be reduced at 3", given the lamp power would be increased by a factor of 8? Also, the old lures I tested, I think the curing problem may have also been related to the 2-part epoxy top-coat over them already. The residues may have interfered with the curing process, as they sat in sun all day yesterday and remained sticky. I'll update everyone on the distance/popsicle test to be performed tonight. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Nemo Posted March 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 2 hours ago, mark poulson said: I use a UV cure finger nail light, standing on it's end so the open mouth is up. I use Solarez UV Dual Cure resin, and I rotate my lures every 30 seconds. They cure hard in three minutes. If it begins to take longer, I know it's time to replace the bulbs. I've looked into these, I contacted the grow light company about getting stronger bulbs. I could even order some black light bulbs to mimic a nail polish dryer for my fixtures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Nemo Posted March 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 3 hours ago, BobP said: You can always set the lure outside in the sunshine to cure, which works even on a cloudy day. The closer your bulbs are to the lure, the stronger dose of UV they will get. UV cure resins have a specific UV wavelength that cures them fastest and your light may or may not be optimized for it, but probably puts out enough energy in the required spectrum to get the job done, if Alumilite says it will. Thanks, I did put the lures out into the sun, and they still did not cure. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I already had a coat of epoxy on them, which may have interfered with the curing process. To test this, I put a popsicle stick with resin in the UV box I made, and it cured after 2 hours. I'll test some distance effects later this evening. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 I wonder if you needed to mix the Alumni up..I had some Solrez do the same thing to me one time..Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 Yeah, I don’t think a hard cured coating of epoxy under the uv resin would make any difference but I would be concerned if my resin took hours to cure under the proper uv light or in sunshine (which contains all uv light frequencies). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Nemo Posted March 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 On 3/26/2019 at 10:36 AM, Nathan said: I wonder if you needed to mix the Alumni up..I had some Solrez do the same thing to me one time..Nathan I will try that, I would assume its a homogenized mixture. But some extra mixing certainly wouldn't hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Nemo Posted March 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 1 hour ago, BobP said: Yeah, I don’t think a hard cured coating of epoxy under the uv resin would make any difference but I would be concerned if my resin took hours to cure under the proper uv light or in sunshine (which contains all uv light frequencies). I've been using a black light to cure same resin on some rear treble dressings with no issues. Not sure what happened with that first batch of lures. I did find that the light source that I have does work. I played around with different distances and found that the closer I am to the source the faster it cures. I've come to the conclusion that the lights I have are high enough output but bulbs not the best UV frequency for this resin. I will look into getting some black light bulbs for the T5 fixtures in same wavelength as my flashlight. That should do it, hopefully! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Nemo Posted March 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 On 3/25/2019 at 8:28 AM, Vodkaman said: I have no experience with UV cured resin, but have built an Eprom burner in the past. From what I have read, cure should be complete in minutes. Keep in mind that if you double the distance from the lamp then the lamp power is reduced x8. I cannot tell the distance of the lamp from the lure, but you should try and reduce the distance to the absolute minimum to get maximum power. I suggest do some tests with scrap wood or even cocktail sticks dipped in the resin, and find the ideal curing distance. Report back whether success or failure. Tell us the distance that works. Dave So, I found that distance has big effect on curing times with my current setup. At 1 inch from light source, the popsicle stick resin cured in 1 hour. At 4 inches 2 hours, and 8 inches 3 hours. Those are still long curing times for this type of resin, so I'm now looking into getting different bulbs that match frequency of my flashlight, as the black light flashlight cures this resin in less than a minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 Doc - looks like you have found the solution - wavelength. Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 365nm is the wavelength you are looking for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Nemo Posted April 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2019 All, just a follow-up. I ended purchasing their PURE-UV bulbs for my setup. Made a world of difference, as I can fully cure a lure in about 10 minutes tops now 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Young Posted April 10, 2019 Report Share Posted April 10, 2019 I had concerns about the speed of the curing until I realized that you could let it level on the rotissere as long as needed before yu trned on the lights, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Nemo Posted April 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2019 10 hours ago, Chuck Young said: I had concerns about the speed of the curing until I realized that you could let it level on the rotissere as long as needed before yu trned on the lights, Good point, if you put on turner, it'll not only even out resin but reduce the number of bubbles. Although you can't see them, the tiny bubbles accumulate quickly when curing, especially around eyes. I learned about this the hard way, so now each lure is turned for about 10 minutes before I expose them to the light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob H Posted June 26, 2021 Report Share Posted June 26, 2021 Use blacklights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglinarcher Posted June 26, 2021 Report Share Posted June 26, 2021 This is an old thread, but some clarification of this if I can. I use AlumiUV and have used Solerez, and they are all similar as far as I can tell. First, 365 nm is the sweet spot, but most UV sources have a broad enough spectrum to cover that. Still, more power, faster cure. Black lights take a long long time, perhaps hours. The closer to the source, the faster the cure, and as mentioned before, twice the distance is 1/4 the strength, so close is better. Next, aluminum foil is a poor UV reflector, so you will get some improvement, but little. If you use a 350 watt UV source in the 365 nm range, it will cure in seconds. If you put it out in the sun, it can take perhaps an hour, but sometimes much less. Larry Dahlberg uses an off the shelf UV source and turns it for about an hour. Engineerd Angler on YouTube has a home made turner with UV Source and I think he does about the same. I have a fingernail polish UV cure device, about 150 watts (2 each 75 watt bulbs) and I normally put the lure using Solerez in about 3 minutes, rotate it once, put it in for 3 minutes again. With AlumiUV, I do about 5 minutes and rotate it and 5 more minutes. I don't think I need it that long, but I want to make sure it get's deep enough on a thick coat. Note that the fingernail cure device puts the lures a couple of inches away, so I am getting a pretty strong exposure. These options might get you started: https://www.solacure.com/365.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
