The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

Alumi-uv cure time with marine 8w led uv basspro flexible 26.5 light. Temp is about 55 degrees in workshop and taking over thirty minutes to cure and still curing now. Alumi-uv stored at 69degrees. Might have to upgrade ithe light. Was just trying to use the uv light for making lures and fishing with it at night. I have little toaster stove for heating product up 100 to 400 degrees thinking about put light and lure in stove on 120 degrees with door open. Heating elements in stove put off uv too?

You do not want to heat the UV up more than 100 degrees. Only reason to heat it is to thin it down to put a thinner coating on your lure. The cooler the temp, the thicker the viscosity.

Light sources, wavelength they omit, and distance from light have the biggest impact on cure time.

Mike

The light source1" from lures wrapped all the way around. I applied alumi-uv then dusted with alumite pearl powder. Try higher power uv light.The stove was a sunbeam with blue light heat source. Thanks good fishing caja

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On all UV curing materials, the quality and wavelengths of the UV are important. I know that Larry is using fluorescent black light bulbs, 4' long, four total bulbs with two back to back. It takes him several minutes, but compared to the time it takes other top coats to cure, this is super fast. I have a manicure UV curing device for curing UV paints on fingernails. It cost me about 20 bucks or so on ebay and it uses 4 light bulbs. I can cure Alumi-UV in about 3 to 5 minutes with this.

Mike talked about wavelengths, and my UV manicure set is about 365 nm. Black Lights are about 400 nm. You will get faster cure from what I can tell with UV around 350 to 375 nm, but obviously black light fluorescent bulbs (which you can buy from Home Depot of Lowes) will work. They sell 4 foot long T12 bulbs for about $17 each at my local Lowes, with a cheap shop fixture to hold them for about $15, so two fixtures plus 4 bulbs is able handle much larger lures them my unit will, but for a lot more money as well.

Mike also talked about distance from the light. If you double the distance from the light source, you don't get half the strength, you get 1/4 the strength. This is a big deal, so curing as close to the light as possible is important.

Of course, just setting the lure outside in bright sun will cure Alumi UV, for the same reason that you get a sun burn. I prefer to do it inside so I am dust free, but ........

I am planning on a curing cabinet similar to Larry's design, but with 4 specialized T8 light bulbs designed as intense grow lights and for wood aging (distressing). If the answers come back right, I should be able to equal or exceed my manicure cure device, but able to handle much larger lures. Who knows.

I have my doubts about a "blue light" heat source. Heat is infrared, not ultraviolet; about as opposite as you can get. Yes, overheating some filaments will give off UV, but the amount of UV is quite small. I would suggest for now that you look into a manicure UV fingernail cure device. When, if, I get the other set-up going, I will post some instructions.

Personally, I would consider my Alumi UV as my go to clear coat. The nail cure device is just sooooo easy to use. I set it on end and dangle the lure into the opening. You could take the bottom off and place two back to back and ............

Thanks for info. Working on custom uv lighting. Pearl mixed with alumi-uv and mirage eyes came out good on tungsten flipping weights. Working on custom jigs and weights with these products. Great products

Please send or post some pics when you have a minute. Would love to see them.

thx
Mike

Sent email but it failed to deliver. I sent message/photo to fb make lure page. Is make lure mike or larry going to bass master classic in Greenville,sc next weekend? Good fishing Caja

Hey Caja Where Are You From.

Shelby, nc hour from Greenville, sc.

I Live Here In Union SC

Cool, planning on river fishing this weekend morning or afternoon then go to classic.

Cool Have Fun At The Classic

Hey Mike,

Do you know if a dental resin curing light would cure aluma-UV? the lights peak at the blue wavelength in the low to mid 400nanometers at pretty high intensity. Of course there are more efficient ways to cure everything all at once, but this is something I have to work with and was wondering if it would be worth a try

thanks a lot,

Pat

Its definitely worth a try. Yes, I believe it is much more concentrated but the wavelength doesn't seem to be too far off. Distance and wattage will be the other two factors that play a role in how effective and fast it will cure the AlumiUV.

Please let me us know as that is a light source we have not tried.

thx,
Mike

Sorry to intrude on your post. Just had a thought.
How well does Alumi-UV work to coat over spinner blades? Anyone try it yet?

Yup, it works pretty well. Dip and drip, then I spin them slowly under uv.
L

Thanks again Larry