LED Exposure Units

By bearded lady Verified Member on May. 06, 2015
Forums: 
General Discussions

Has anyone been using the LED exposure units? Opinions?

Location: 
United States
Submitted by Printwizard on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 14:18

I am kind of curious. The fluoro units were dogs and didnt really take on. The specialist manufacturers of Amergraph and Richmond Graphics dont make or look at these. The physics of light suggest that single point is less undercutting and also more directed stronger light.
Glass looses UV strength actually quite significantly in lower strengths, and the bulbs are close to the glass. So maybe you have 3,000 bulbs, but they are very small in output, and maybe you are making a screen where the small frame is say only 20% of the size of the exposure unit = it is sitting over 600 lights only therefore is receiving light at 20% strength of the units output. If every bulb was rated at one watt, the unit may be 3KW, but in effect the exposing area of the screen is in effect only 600 watts - the effect of the glass. Where if it was on Richmond single point bulb it would likely be getting 75% of the 10kw strength. The exposure may still be quick, but I question the hardness, and how the bulbs deteriorate. LED has a dropoff with wavelengths and as well the rating is affected by turning the unit / power on and off. I would love to see the science on these!

Submitted by nascarstan on Fri, 05/08/2015 - 11:20

We have an M&R Starlite and it is the best investment we have made in the screen dept.
We burn most white mesh screens in 3 seconds and yellow mesh screens in about 40 seconds.
With this unit we cut down our screenmaking by 40 to 50% per day and we burn on the average 75 to 100 screen per day.
You can't go wrong with one of these.

Submitted by dh42503 on Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:33

I am huge fan of M&R equipment, But we bought two of Lawson LED exposure due to the price. We use one unit for our DTS and one that we use for film. They work great! Lawson holds two screens 23x31. You can't go wrong with either units.

Submitted by lrsbranding on Sat, 05/09/2015 - 09:49

We're using a Vastex retrofit insert in our old fluorescent unit and having excellent results.

Submitted by bearded lady on Sat, 05/09/2015 - 15:24

Thanks for the input!!!

I print posters and have screens that get up to 42x50. I've been waiting for a manufacturer to start making a large enough LED unit and noticed that Lawson has one now. I've never used Lawson equipment so it's good to hear you like yours. The price on the lawson 42x50 was 40% cheaper than the same size Nuarc/M&R metal halide unit- New.

I called a local supplier who sells for Vastex and he told me he has over 50 customers using LED units- all are super happy with them. He called Vastex for me and while they're planning to make larger units- they are not close to manufacturing at this time.

I am sooooooo stoked on how little electricity these units draw.

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