Natural Science Forum / Earth Science / Mineralogy / February 2006

Kris,

First of all, DON'T look into the tube when it is on.  You can barbecue your
eyeballs.  You should always wear UV protective goggles when working with these
tubes.  Second, these tubes can give you a nasty sunburn so be careful that you
don't get much exposure to the rays on your skin.

If you are smelling ozone, the tube is probably fine.  I wouldn't worry too much
that you aren't getting much UV from it.  In any case, these tubes only sell for
about $30.

To use the tube, you need to build an enclosure for it, and put a shortwave UV
filter on the front of the enclosure.  The enclosure should not leak any light,
and should contain some sort of reflector behind the tube.  If you use plastic
to build the enclosure, put aluminum tape (the kind they use for ductwork) on
the inside of the plastic so that the UV or ozone doesn't come in contact with
the plastic.  Both UV and ozone can deteriorate plastic.  You can use the
aluminum tape to fashion the reflector as well.  Find the tape that doesn't have
writing on the reflective surface.  You can get the tape at any hardware store
or places like Home Depot or Lowe's.  If you want to go first class, J.C.
Whitney (the auto parts store) (www.jcwhitney.com) has stainless steel tape that
will work better and won't oxidize like aluminum will.

You can get shortwave filters here: http://www.uvsystems.com/  Just find a
shortwave filter who's dimensions fit the front of your enclosure.  You may need
to cut the filter to get it to fit properly.  You need the filter because the
tube puts out too much visible light to see the fluorescence of the minerals. Be
aware, these filters aren't cheap, but you will save lots of $$ by building the
lamp yourself.  You can glue the filter in some sort of holder using black
silicone rubber.

I have built several compact battery powered lamps that have worked out very
well.

Good luck, and be careful.

Steve