Those are not the exact models that I bought. I just went back through my Amazon order history and what I bought was actually two 10W lamps. There was no concern about power. I just bought whatever was the cheapest. 50W is fine and would likely work much faster. I do my retrobrighting in the garage which gets well over 120 degrees in the summer here in Florida. These lamps are not going to reach those temps, so I wouldn’t worry about it.
So, in short, go with the 50W if you can afford it. I wasn’t sure the UV LEDs would even work so I didn’t want to invest much in the experiment. I should probably upgrade mine as well. If you are going to use an inverted milk crate (plastic ones I bought at Walmart for a couple bucks) the only consideration really is the size of the lamps. I have mine just hanging from the top, but it would probably be better to mount them in the corners to get some light on the sides. When I have done parts that were a bit bigger or too deep, I prop the milkcrate up on 2x4s. I will take a picture later if the description sounds confusing. I really need to revisit it, honestly and find something a little bigger than a milk crate. Scott M. From: Steve Baker Sent: Monday, January 4, 2021 11:57 AM To: m...@bitchin100.com Subject: Re: [M100] Retrobrighting. To do or not to do? Greetings Scott — thanks for sharing, this is really helpful! Just curious about the 30W choice for the UV setup; I see they offer a 50W pair for $10 more and was wondering if the extra power would be too much? Perhaps there’s a risk of overheating and that’s why 30W is recommended? (Put another way, I’m looking to setup a rig like this in the next month or so and wondered if 50W would damage the cases… just thought I’d check with you to see if 30W was the correct way to go or if 50W would be fine too, etc.) Again, thanks! SB -- Greetings from Steve Baker “Gravity brings me down…” On Jan 4, 2021, at 11:32 AM, Scott McDonnell <mcdonnell.j...@comcast.net> wrote: My UV set up is something like these: https://www.amazon.com/Onforu-Waterproof-Blacklight-Lighting-Fluorescent/dp/B07GGV5B7R Two of those zip=tied to the bottom of an inverted milk crate. I place my part to retrobright on a piece of wood and then set this lamp assembly over it. The UV light is not very powerful, so it usually takes days to work. But I have been using it for various projects for over a year now. Scott M. From: Jeffrey Birt Sent: Monday, January 4, 2021 8:44 AM To: m...@bitchin100.com Subject: Re: [M100] Retrobrighting. To do or not to do? Both heat and UV add energy which will speed up a chemical reaction. The UV could have other effects as well. IMHO, heat is probably the easiest to control even if it might take longer. Jeff Birt From: M100 <m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com> On Behalf Of Scott McDonnell Sent: Sunday, January 3, 2021 8:34 PM To: m...@bitchin100.com Subject: Re: [M100] Retrobrighting. To do or not to do? Yeah, the saran wrap has helped a lot. It keeps it from getting dry. I think heat has a much bigger part in the process than UV light. I will sometimes go out periodically and use a hair dryer to help speed up the process. If you think about it, the developer is used on hair and they use heat, not UV to make the bleach process happen.
