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| Posted on 7/17/07 at 11:17 AM | |
| Home Depot, Lowes and other stores that sell to consumers do not carry 1000 watt lights. You need to go to a store where commercial electricians go. These places are in every town. You walk up to the counter, and someone goes in the back room and gets a light fixture that includes a metal casing, glass cover, bulb and ballast used to light up parking lots and to hang on the outside of buildings. The price should be $45-50. If the salesman suggests a higher price, he is offering you the wrong item. The voltage will be 220 volts. The watts must be 1000, or higher is better. The bulb will be the diameter of a cigar and 4-6" long. A longer bulb can cause under cutting of your image which means the emulsion under the image on your positive is exposed and will not wash out. So in that case you would be unable to wash out fine details like the dot over an i. The light itself will be either halogen or quartz. Metal halide is better, but you won't find one. So don't waste your time looking. The difference in exposure time is slight. Metal halide is more efficient converting electrical power to UV light rays. The quartz and halogen converts some of the power to heat waves, and therefore less power goes into light. A lot of factors affect exposure time, but 1000 watts will take about 3 minutes vs. maybe 30 minutes for that 500 watt bulb you were looking at. Two 500s is not the answer, because you will get under cutting. If the first commercial electrician store does not have the light fixture, go to another store. The lights are available. roger@rjennings.com | ||
  
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