Let me start by telling you something that you may or may not know: Ultraviolet is a color. You and I can't see it, but it is a color that some birds and insects can see, and perceive as a color. Just as you and I see different shades of red, from pink to burgundy, ultraviolet has different hues, or shades. If you look at a rainbow, you see it go from red, eventually to green in the middle, then violet. Just beyond that violet is "ultraviolet" that those birds and insects see as another band of color. Trust me, it's there.

Not every one of these frequencies are going to cure your UV curing product. As a matter of fact, most curing finishes require a very specific "shade" of ultraviolet in order to cure properly and it varies from product to product. Before you can pick the right lamp, you need to know what frequencies that your finish product will cure at, measured in nanometers, or nm.

The color "red" starts at 700nm, and you can see violet at 400nm. Ultraviolet A (UVA) is from 320nm to 400nm, and Ultraviolet B (UVB) is from 280nm to 320nm. There is a UVC, but the atmosphere filters it out, as do tanning lamps, so it is meaningless in our conversation. Most tanning lamps have the highest output at around 370nm, so will put out tremendous amounts of light between 360nm and 380nm. This is just barely beyond what you can see after violet in that rainbow, and fortunately, most finishes are centered around curing at those frequencies. But not all. There are a few finishes that require UVB in the range of 310nm to 315nm. Fortunately, tanning lamps do provide a reasonable amount of UV in this spectrum, but it varies wildly from one lamp to another. If your finish requires that UVB range, I would recommend a different lamp than if it requires 365nm, which is why it is good to know what the center frequency for curing is, for your particular finish.

The company that sold you the finish product should be able to tell you the curing frequency. Or the manufacturer's website of the finish product itself. Sometimes it is buried in the fine print, particularly if they also sell curing lights, and would rather you just buy their curing lights instead of making your own rig. But they will tell you what it is if you ask, particularly if you make it a requirement before you buy the finish product.

If you have a choice, getting a finish that is centered around the 360nm to 380nm is preferable for our purposes. Next is a finish in the 310nm to 320nm range. We can work with finishes that are in other ranges as well, but it may take us doing a little math to insure you get the best lamp for your particular finish.

The frequency that you need doesn't affect the price of the lamps, other factors do. Picking the right lamp, however, can cut your cure time in half or better. Knowing these facts before you order or call will reduce the chance of you buying the wrong lamps the first time. Likely, they will still work to cure, but they take twice as long as another lamp that costs the same price.