Lawson Expo Light

[jvanick]

what size bulbs are in it?

I have an unopened set of F20T12 Unflitered Blacklight builbs that might help ...

[Sbrem]

I'll have to agree that printing to film instead of casey's translucency is going to greatly improve your halftones, and yes, you can indeed expose with most anything if you are careful enough, but do yourself a favor and look around for some better used exposure equipment, it will just make your life easier so you can get more out. I started out working at a midsized shop that had top of the line, at the time, exposure equipment, (an arc lamp, LOL) and when I saw small tube units, I knew the better exposure equipment did a better job, so we never looked for anything other than Metal Halide when we started our own shop...

Steve

[travis.hoyme]

We purchased this unit new in 2000 and it did come with day light tubes.

[jvanick]

What's the humidity like in your screen room? Do you have a hygrometer? Also, what emulsion are you using?

[travis.hoyme]

I've been working on the controlling the humidity.  We're in an old school building, and there is an old freezer built in the kitchen.  I'm planning on storing my screens in there after we've coated them, and I'm going to put a dehumidifier in there.  I've never really had an issue with exposing screens though until we switched over the the black lights.  I did notice before I switched from day light bulbs to black lights that I was having an issue with under exposing due to the slimy feel to the emulsion after washing out the design.  I've been having to flip the switch on the unit about a half dozen times to get about 8 of the bulbs to light up.  I can't even get them all lit up right now.  It's been 14 years, and I've never changed out the ballasts.  I'm getting ready to switch them out and then I'm going to see if that helps.  Another question that I have is will controlling the humidity where I store the screens help much considering I'll be exposing them out in the room where the humidity isn't controlled?  Do I just need to get an air conditioner in that room or will a larger de-humidifier help?  What would be the best scenario for me?  My screen room is probably a 15' x 30' room with about a 12' H ceiling.  Also the room where we screen print isn't air conditioned or humidty controlled either.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.