The other day I was watching how it’s made on TV and when they showed the finishing process for hardwood flooring it got me thinking about UV curing finishes. I’ve seen UV curing finishes used in high volume production with lots of fancy equipment, but I started to think about whether or not it could be practical for a small shop.
It would be really nice to spray on a coat of finish, and have it cure almost instantly before any dust could settle on it. Has anyone else attempted anything like this? I know the automated stuff is expensive, but would it be possible to construct a low budget system for relatively small pieces? This is just an idea that I’m kicking around, so any thoughts would be appreciated.
Andrew
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Andrew,
A guy I know here in town builds high dollar pool cues on a low volume basis. I think his UV cure setup cost about $3000 above and beyond what is normally needed for spraying clearcoat. I believe most of that cost is in the light.
He absolutely loves it. He listed several advantages, but the one he likes the most is that he can place his spray gun in a dark closet and not have to worry about cleaning lines, nozzles, etc. He can take a day or two off of spraying without having any cleanup.
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