Question: Why do CureUV.com germicidal UV-C lamps last over 12 months or 9000 hours?

Germicidal UV-C Lamps for All Brands

Answer: The most obvious factors that affect the quality of output over time (effective/usable lamp life) of a low-pressure UV lamp are re-starts and elements erosion of fillers in the UVC lamp. Assuming you have a quality lamp operating environment, lamp strikes and lamp fill quality would be next.

The fewer the lamp strikes (ignitions/re-starts, on/off), the longer effective lamp life you will have. The better the quality of the lamp supplier, the more confidence you can have in the quality of what’s in the lamp when you buy it. If all things are good then a typical UV C lamp will provide a solid 9,000 hours of effective UV-C germicidal output. As a rule of thumb, anything over this 9,000 hour range has a decreasing UV-C lamp effectiveness.

Did you know? Your UV-C bulbs could lose over 90% of their effective usable Ultraviolet (UV) output, but still look fine to the human eye. The part you see when you say “well the lamp is on” is only the visible light, which has no UV function. Only the UV output has function for sterilizing or curing and it is, for the most part, completely invisible to the human eye.

When you install your lamp, document it somewhere so you don’t ever have to guess how many hours your UV-C lamp has been in operation.

To view this FAQ, click here. To print this FAQ, follow this.

Evan Skopp

SPDI and cureUV are excited to introduce a new player on our Sales Team.  He’s Evan Skopp and his California-based firm, Inside Track, is facilitating worldwide sales of our UV finish products to the guitar industry.  If you’re already in the guitar world, you may know Evan either personally or by reputation.  For the last 20 years Evan was Vice President of Seymour Duncan, the world’s leading manufacturer and distributor of electric guitar pickups. (A pickup is essentially the ‘microphone’ of an electric guitar). Evan is Past-President of the Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association and a regular attendee of musical instrument trade shows around the globe.  He’s also a guitarist who has toured the world with the Seymour Duncan Band and has written numerous articles for guitar magazines in the USA and UK.

During Evan’s tenure at Seymour Duncan, he oversaw several departments. But it was OEM Sales—Sales to guitar manufacturers who install Seymour Duncan pickups as original equipment on their guitars—where Evan really excelled.  “As a guitar geek myself, I always loved interacting with the designers and builders.  They’re my rock stars.”  While heading up Seymour Duncan’s OEM Sales efforts, Evan and his team increased OEM sales more than 20-fold.  His philosophy is simple.  “It doesn’t matter if the customer is a one-man shop or one of the biggest guitar factories in the world, they all want quality products at the right price with great customer service that will ultimately help them sell more guitars.”

In 2012, Evan transitioned from an employee of Seymour Duncan to an independent sales rep.  Inside Track continues to handle Seymour Duncan’s OEM sales and also reps other, compatible products to luthiers and guitar factories.  As a result of Evan’s many years interacting with guitar builders and factories, we’re confident Inside Track is the perfect rep firm to handle sales of SPDI’s guitar products.

Total-Cure UV Guitar Finishing Cabinet

Joining Evan at Inside Track is Doreen Daley Skopp, who oversees sales order fulfillment.  Doreen’s career has been a combination of numbers and music.  A self-employed accountant, she has served as financial controller for a variety of corporate for-profit and music-based non-profit organizations.

Inside Track will focus on SPDI’s guitar products.  Whether it’s the Power-Shot 1100 for repair shops and touch-ups, the Power-Shot 2400 for ‘boutique’ guitar builders, the Guitar Finishing Cabinet for serious guitar factories, or any of our UV curable finish products.  SPDI has what guitar builders need to speed up the guitar finishing process, increase output, and be better stewards for our environment.

Evan and Doreen just returned from the 2013 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.  It’s the largest gathering of musical instrument makers and rock stars and is where the big deals get made.  To celebrate Inside Track’s association with SPDI, we’re extending the NAMM Special Discounts an extra 10 days to February 10, 2013.  Act now and you can save up to $1,500 on SPDI UV curable guitar finish products.

From Left to Right: Evan and Doreen Skopp at NAMM 2013; Evan Skopp visits a Guitar factory in Japan; The Seymour Duncan Band performs

“Doreen and I are really excited to work with SPDI’s customers in the musical instruments community.”  If you’re a guitar repairman, a luthier, or if you run Operations for a guitar factory and you want to learn more about how SPDI can help your business; or if you’re an existing SPDI customer and you want to take advantage of the NAMM Specials, please don’t hesitate to contact Inside Track by e-mail or phone: (805) 341-4726 (Pacific Time).

Inside Track

After 18 months of development and testing CureUV is proud to bring you its line of Lensbright Headlight Restoration products.  Now you can instantly accomplish a like new UV hardened surface to your old yellowed worn lenses.  This will improve the look of your vehicle and is proven to drastically increase the brightness and clarity of your lights making nighttime driving safer.

UV Headlight Restoration

I’m sure you have all seen the infomercials and multiple ‘magic’ solutions for headlight restoration available; you may have already tried them and been severely disappointed with the finished result.  This is because the majority of their products merely covers the existing factory coating and tries to mask the dull yellow, faded lens.  And to make matters worse they need re-applying on regular basis!  Time to ditch the messy pastes and waxes! No more!

Here’s how our easy 3 step system works:

1. The LensBright Foaming Headlight Cleaner and sandpaper easily removes the old factory finish.
2. Apply the LensBright Headlight Restorer using either the convenient aerosol or by HVLP Spray gun if you want to quickly do multiple vehicles.
3. Cure in seconds by using the LensBright UV Tripod Fixture or the Handheld UV Spotlight.

For a full list of instructions, see our LensBright Information and Directions Manual (PDF). The results, you now have a quality, strong UV hardened coating to your lights that won’t fade, crack, discolor or need re-application.

Finally here is a guaranteed solution, simple to accomplish with minimal effort and investment on your part.  Check out cureUV.com to see the full line of products and our convenient kits.  Whether you’re a ‘weekend warrior’ or in the automotive industry we have a solution for you.

LensBright Headlight Restoration Product Line

Powerful long lasting LED/UV Flashlights

These handheld, portable, small UV/LED flashlights can be used for a multitude of things.  Instead of carrying around heavy and hot black lights these UV flashlights can be slipped into a pocket allowing easy access.  Crowd and access control: Hands that have been marked using invisible pens or cards that when illuminated with UV becomes visible.   The  LED flashlight with 21 Bulbs can be used on admission cards from night clubs, amusement parks and controlled events .  Other popular uses can be crime scene inspection, currency and bill verification, leak detection, rodent detection, gemstone and mineral inspection.  Optical industries have started using the 9 bulb LED flashlightto demonstrate indoors the photochromic lenses (the darkening of lenses in response to sunlight).  UV Light has also been known to show alterations and changes to documents allowing forgery to be easily spotted.

Looking for something a little more powerful?  The portable, stand alone, low intensity 4 bulb UV flood light that cureUV.com offers can be used to rapidly cure special epoxies, glues and adhesives.   It is perfect for the small finishing and curing projects where industrial UV intensity is not required.  Just remember all of these items are specialty UV devices not used for illuminsation purposes.  As with all UV lights, proper eye protection must be worn at all times.

No waiting 24 hours for stain to dry when it can be easily added to a UV curable coating!

Your customers CAN have furniture & rugs back in place the same day on their newly refinished hardwood floor!

Provides longer life, more scratch resistant & chemical resistant.

Gets your project done in Hours, not Days!

Contact a UV Technology & Coating Specialist Today!

(800) 977-7292

No moving out + No VOC's = Best Wood Floor Finish

Q.  Can you recommend a healthy hardwood flooring option for someone with allergies, kids and pets?  I love my hardwood floor and am looking for green flooring options.  I would rather just have it refinished, but I do not want the lingering smell of chemicals or have it scratch easily.  What would you recommend I look for?

9 Tips for Healthy Wood Flooring

1. VOC’s cause headaches, nose & eye irritation, damage to liver, kidney & central nervous system
2. EPA – Steps To Reduce Exposure
3. Healthier Homes Inside & Out – EPA Webinar
4. Some wood building materials are better than others
5. NWFA – Wood Floor Contractors provide good quality & tend to keep up to date on high tech / green friendly options
6. US Green Building Council – Guide to Green Floor Materials
7. Some finishing products are better than others – will not change color with age, more scratch / chemical resistant & ultmately last longer
8. UV Curable Wood Floor Finish
9. UV Curable Cement & Stone Finish

To find a Green Contractor near you, please call

800-977-7292 

Once again our trusty Power-Shot came through!  Having worked in the granite business myself for a while I know how important it is for companies to get in, do their, job and get out as quickly, and as efficiently for the customer as possible.  Nobody wants their home or business looking like a building site, and the inconvenience and downtown can be very costly for both parties.

The fact that one person can easily carry The Power-Shot  it into a job site plug it into a standard 110V outlet cure their floor, counter or whatever and be out in a matter of minutes makes it very desirable.  We also carry the UV Curable Sealer and a full line of Safety Equipment which can ship directly from our location making us a one stop shop for your needs.

We’re currently, at SPDI, developing a dedicated floor curing system with bigger lamp and mounting capabilities for even the largest flooring projects.  Check back in a couple of weeks and I’ll sneak up some pictures!  Also our coatings and sealer line will be expanding with the work we are doing with…………  Keep an eye on our other blogs as there is a wealth of knowledge available on the coatings side of things from people who know that stuff a lot better than me!

Next time ‘the sky’s the limit’.  The Power Shot and propellers.

UV Problems

No matter what type of UV system you have, big or small it seems everyone runs into the same types of problems or has the same questions. 

So over the coming weeeks the nice people at CureUV are going to educate and compile a how to and FAQ to help you navigate the pitfalls of uv curing.

UV curing systems may seem daunting but they all contain the same basic parts whether they are electronic, magnetic, LED or microwave type.  They will all have a lamp, power supply, reflector of some sort and means of cooling, blower or fans.

All of these have their own unique part to play in the running of your system and all have their own unique set of issues and potential problems to be aware of.  I will tell you this, 99% of the time it is something simple………… We have found over the years of building our own and trouble shooting other manufacturer’s sytems that very rarely is it something catastrophic but more often than not it’s something simple being overlooked.

So our next article will go over in more depth and help educate you in the 4 main types of UV systems and their pros and cons.

If you have any immediate questions or queries feel free to phone us at 1-800-977-7292 or check out our current FAQ page.

What a beautiful way to finish a floor with UV !

How many times do you wait until your lamp and/or reflector has been in the press for a few months time before even thinking about replacing them?  Most lamp manufacturer’s will offer a 1000 hour warranty on the bulb but realistically once a lamp has been running for about 700+ hours the mercury inside is starting to degrade and its about time to consider replacing it.  With a substrate like wood, such as cabinetry, flooring, wood stringed instruments, etc the Ultraviolet Curable finish is so extraordinary that you want to make sure that the item being produced is at its utmost in quality when presenting to your Customer.  I cannot stress this enough, but just as important as replacing the UV light is replacing the shield that goes along with it.  The UV liner plays a very important role as far as bulb longevity.  Your best bet is to get both the lamp and reflector together, as you have more important things to think about like completing the job for your end Customer.  Even the small Handheld UV Curing Systems need to have the UV lamps and reflectors changed out every so often depending on how frequently you use the unit.  So don’t be stuck in the dark - keep stock of your lamps and reflectors  before the lights go out.

No Waiting - Stain, Sealer & Topcoat in 1 Product

Q: What is the difference between UV cured coatings & conventional coatings?

A: UV cured material requires the use of ultraviolet energy to instantly dry / cure the material.  As the UV light hits the coating, the photo-initiators react and cause each molecule to connect.  This results in no solvents flashing off and the Wet Mil Thickness (WMT) will be the same as the Dry Mil Thickness (DMT).  100% Solid UV Coating: 1600sqft/gal @ 1 mil WMT/DMT

Conventional material requires an extended period of time to flash off solvents for a complete cure.  Majority of the finishing products used are between 28%-30% solid content which causes a HUGE decrease in Dry Mil Thickness and overall coverage per gallon.  30% Solid Conventional Coating: requires 3.3 WMT to achieve 1 DMT 

Advantages over solvent based or dual cure coating finishes:

- No mixing and ready to use right out of the container
- Less Shrinkage and 3 times More Coverage per gallon
- UV Coating Dries instantly with no wait time
- Buffing in 1/3 of the time for a lustrous shine and less heat build up
- Superior Scratch Resistance and Chemical Resistance
- No solvent smells and can ship cheaper than flammable type finishes
- 100% Solids – NO VOC’s, Green Technology

It is the perfect balance of Performance and Environmental Sustainability. These products conform to the requirements of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), Greenseal and LEED.

Q: Do UV Coatings have better scratch resistance than non UV dried materials?

A: Yes! One of the primary advantages of UV cured coatings is that the scratch resistance and overall durability is much greater than conventional/solvent based materials. As the UV light hits the coating, the photo-initiators react and cause each molecule to connect. Thus, making the product more scratch resistant (4H), chemically resistant, retain flexibility and maintains a more stable product life span.

Q: What are the benefits of UV Curable Hardwood Floor Refinishing & Prefinishing?

A:  The successful use of ultraviolet (UV) light is used to cure the exceptionally durable finishes on wood products quickly; all the while increasing production and reducing floor space. Our customers say that they increased production by more than 75%.

• Green Technology – NO Solvent smells or VOC’s
• Instant dry, reduced applications & labor
• Finish, Stack & Ship the same day
• Less chance for error
• 100% Solids there is no mixing, Less Shrinkage & 3 times more coverage/gallon
• 2-3 times more chemical & scratch resistant

Passed 48 hour Chemical Resistant Test to things like:

1. Mustard
2. Vinegar
3. Red Wine
4. Coffee
5. Sharpie Pens
6. Denatured Alcohol
7. Acetone

For more information contact a UV Technology & Coating Specialist (561) 243-8442

Get your project finished in Hours not Days!