Over time folks have posted pictures of their own fluorescent mineral displays in the Facebook FMS Fluorescent Mineral Group. These are great examples of what you can do at home with some simple cabinetry and a good UV display light. There were several threads discussing the construction and setup - but I'll save that for another blog post.
Use these for hints on building your own display. All you need are a bunch of good fluorescent rocks (you probably have them already), a piece of furniture that can be turned into a display cabinet, and a reasonably powerful display light. Displays can be shortwave, longwave, midwave, or any combination. But please - remember to use a front cover to block the UV from escaping the cabinet; can be harmful to eyes and skin, as well as simply distracting to see shirts and sneakers light up more than the rocks.
Each display is posted along with the original text from FB explaining the display. I'll start with one of my own displays first:
Greenland Fluorescent Minerals
M. Cole - This is my main Greenland collection. Lots of folks imagine that I must have the world's best GL collection (see Howie Green for that). Sadly I do not, as am committed to selling the good specimens to my customers - just wouldn't be fair for me to cherry pick. But I do keep smaller examples of exemplary specimens. Most of these are 3" to 4" in size, and each very bright and unique. They are lit by one of my rebuilt trannies (SW) and a 2nd light (again my build) with MW and LW kickers).
A large display of Worldwide Minerals
This a a display that takes up the entire room, well lit by several powerful lights (and no, it's not a musuem - it's a friend's display). Striking!
Fluorescent Sphere Collection
D. Francis - My Fluorescent Sphere Collection,13-Watt Shortwave Light (UV Tools),15 sec. exposure
Display on a Bookshelf
A. Maleski - Not as nice as some other people's displays but it is a start. I built the shelf and box. It is lit by a 36w shortwave light. I am waiting for my op3 plexiglass. (Webmaster's note: I disagree - very nice, proves you don't need a huge wall to create a dramatic display).
Longwave Fluorescent Display
E. Dawley - Saturday night project - clean and reorg the desktop display with new material. This is a 24x8" shelf under two 20W American DJ BLBs. I left the lamp on during the daylight pic for fun. It takes time to collect a LW display like this, but it is possible.
An Addict's Display
P. Tauger - My Five Displays (or Curse You, Mark Cole! :)) I've finally finished the last of my fluorescent display cabinets. I'd never have had even one if wasn't for Mark Cole's brilliant DIY instructions for working with UV transilluminators (which is either a good thing if you're me or a bad thing if you're my bank -- or my wife :) ).The top cabinet has 4 SW 15-watt tubes and 2 MW 15-watt tubes for a total of 75 watts.The bottom cabinet has three separate display sections.The top section has 4 SW 25-watt tubes and 2 MW 25-watt tubes for a total of 150 watts.The two lower each each have 3 SW 4-watt tubes and 1 MW 4-watt tube for a total of 16-watts each.The third cabinet is switchable between 30 watts of LW and 30 watts of MW.The cabinets themselves are off-the-shelf units from Ikea. I used Masonite for the back of the top cabinet, but got lazy and used heavy-duty cardboard for the other two. I also built risers for the top cabinet. I'll eventually make risers for the other displays.All three use OP3 acrylic, back-painted to hide the transilluminators and their panel lights. The hardware is all standard hardware store hinges and cabinet knobs (for the large 3-section cabinet, I used a piano hinge because of the weight of the acrylic). Magnetic catches keep the acrylic fronts closed.
Combined Longwave and Shortwave Display
B. Pickard - After taking down the display I put on at the DGMS Show, I reassembled it at home and took some better pictures. Much happier with these. Only a few minor color blowouts. Fixed the fluorite that showed up pink instead of the deep blue seen by the eyes (still a little bit blown out, though). Even caught the willemite, hardystonite & esperite! Had some trouble capturing the phosphorescence. Long wave lighting on the left, short wave on the right. Note the specimens in the middle of the display showing different colors under LW vs SW.
A European Fluorescent Mineral Display
H. Belzer - Some of our shortwave minerals (selection) NO - we are now not become megalomaniac :-)imum We have not built a shortwave display and also not output between times so loosely 600-700 Euros (includiing shipping and tax) for a suitable UV shortwave emitters with minimum 40 Watt. NO - we were creative and have a low-cost project started. For this purpose, a simple wooden shelf was built, all painted black, placed on a black blanket, minerals positioned, the camera "stapled" on the stand, the same set at 15 seconds exposure time and press the shutter button. And while the panel is set to "continuous fire" we have diligently "coiled" with our small 13 watt shortwave handlamp. Well - we are satisfied and hope, that this google translation is well done.
A TN Rebel's Glow Rock Display
R. Price - Here is a photo of my current "set-up" with much thanks to Mark Cole for helping me with the light and most specimens as well has Everett Harrington for the Sterling Hill specimens.
Long Lake Zinc Mine Collection
H. Green - Mongrel horde of LLZ. SW. Case 24" across (Webmaster note: I was with Howie when he collected these beauties. He has represented them well with only an iPhone to take the picture. Helps to light it up with a UV death ray transilluminator).
The wide color responses of Scheelite/Powellite
H. Green - examples of the varying responses of scheelite and powellite - shortwave
Greenland Minerals
M. Crawford - As I said in my initial post, I pulled the sorensenite-apatite specimen to put into a new display I just finished, Here are the pictures of my display of Greenland rocks. It was difficult to get the longwave picture. I tried to get rid of the blue reflections and get the colors correct in the longwave picture. They are close.
Portable Displays - S. Hutchcraft and Howie G.
A bit small perhaps, but our first traveling display. "As is" IKEA cabinet, $23. Cut styrofoam shelves, $8; black cloth lining. $3. Spray paint, about $7. OP-3 about $50, cut to size and drilled. Shown is SW. Headed for our first show tomorrow, What do you think? Plan on provide a cheat sheet with names and locales.
Longwave only display by H. Green (below)
My usual "travelin' show", and many of the 26 "of my basement" displays come in a bit cheaper and easier on the set-up, substituting a few bucks of scissor-trimmed marine vinyl and thumbtacks for the OP-3. The a decision- labels accompanying each rock within the case, or a list printed outside the case identifying each rock by it's position in the case. Shown here is my display case at Ultraviolation, where the rocks were identified by the latter method.