Re: home made EPROM erasers

Alan J McCormick wrote:

> On Sat, 16 Jan 1999 18:02:49 -0600 Mark Shostak <shostak@fastlane.net>
> writes:
> >
> >> Since were on the disscusion of EPROM erasers, I
> >> thought I'd share how I made my own, because
> >> I didn't want to spend $40 for a DataRase II.
> >
> >FWIW, I was able to come up with an EPROM eraser
> >that was both powerful and economical (i.e. cheap).
> >I bought an old mercury street lamp for $5 at a flea market.
> >The bulb is contained inside an outer glass filter/casing.
> >Once you (carefully) remove the outer casing, the bulb
> >emits an incredible amount of UV!
>
> I was at the store today and I saw a miniature version of the kind of
> lamp that states on the package to replace the bulb if the outer bulb is
> damaged. From the warnings it sounded like it was to prevent people from
> UV. This might work as an eraser but I didn't pick one up to try out. It
> screws into a nornal light socket and runs on 120v.
>
> Virtu-Al

Wasn't one of those halogen bulbs within an outer bulb
types, was it? Like the Phillips Halogena? In that case
the warning is probably more to prevent a fire hazard.

The old sunlamp bulbs had a mercury vapor lamp
(to provide the UV for the "sun" part) and a regular
filament, used mostly for ballasting.

There is also a small (1" diameter or so) bulb that's
used for sterilization in medical and food service use.
It provides massive UV along with massive ozone.
That one needs a ballast it you want it to not self-
destruct. I found one in a hardware store about
35 years ago, but you won't find them there now.
Received on Fri Jan 22 06:17:25 1999