Do doses from separate lamps really add?

For a dose-limited cure, yes: the photoinitiator does not care whether the energy arrived in one pass or four. Where peak irradiance governs, only the strongest station counts.

What happens when one lamp fails?

The line keeps running at reduced dose. Parts look identical and no alarm is guaranteed, so per-station monitoring or a lamp-out interlock is what catches it.

Should I replace all four lamps at once?

Usually yes. A set changed together stays matched and decays predictably, while replacing lamps one at a time leaves a permanently mismatched set.

My part rotates between stations. Does this work?

Not for one point. If stations illuminate different faces, their doses do not add at any location, so measure the surface you care about.

UV Curing calculator

UV Multi-Lamp Dose Calculator: Total, Spread and Failure Risk

Add the dose from four lamp stations and see what a total alone hides. Enter each station measured alone, in one band, at the same probe position and pass speed.

What this calculator does

Add four lamp station doses, show the spread between them, and the total left if the strongest fails.

Formula used

Total cumulative dose = station 1 + station 2 + station 3 + station 4
Strongest single station = MAX(station 1, station 2, station 3, station 4)
Weakest single station = MIN(station 1, station 2, station 3, station 4)
Total if the strongest fails = total − strongest
Station spread (%) = (strongest − weakest) ÷ mean × 100

Inputs explained

Lamp Station 1 Dose: Dose from station 1 alone, other stations off, one band.
Lamp Station 2 Dose: Dose from station 2 alone, same probe, band and pass speed.
Lamp Station 3 Dose: Dose from station 3 alone, measured the same way.
Lamp Station 4 Dose: Dose from station 4 alone. Enter zero for an unused station.

How to use the result

Best suited to checking dose after a lamp change, finding a station that has drifted or fouled, planning for a single lamp failure.
Adding doses is invalid where peak irradiance limits cure, as with surface oxygen inhibition. Assumes each station illuminates the same face, which a rotating or indexing line does not. Says nothing about uniformity across the width of any one station.

Common questions

Do doses from separate lamps really add? For a dose-limited cure, yes: the photoinitiator does not care whether the energy arrived in one pass or four. Where peak irradiance governs, only the strongest station counts.
What happens when one lamp fails? The line keeps running at reduced dose. Parts look identical and no alarm is guaranteed, so per-station monitoring or a lamp-out interlock is what catches it.
Should I replace all four lamps at once? Usually yes. A set changed together stays matched and decays predictably, while replacing lamps one at a time leaves a permanently mismatched set.
My part rotates between stations. Does this work? Not for one point. If stations illuminate different faces, their doses do not add at any location, so measure the surface you care about.

Last reviewed 2026-10-01.