I don't remember what we had at one of my first jobs. But it was small box about 8 inches in length and only like 2 inches wide or less? Basically just slid it open and put the chips into it. Then turned it on with a timer for like 20 - 30min I think? Anyway it always did the trick and we used an old amber screen Samsung 286 PC with the eprom software and burner on it to verify and make the chips we needed.

But, I also used to just stick the chips on my dashboard on sunny days and by the end of the day they would be erased as well.

I have one of these Chinese erasers, normally after 3~5mins eproms are erased with it

You need UV-C. The nail dryers emit only UV-A and -B, very little -C.
UV-C is extremely aggressive to living matter, so the nail dryers must not emit it, else it would sunburn the users, and make the room stink of ozone.

You can put it into a southern window; there was a rule-of-thumb that three weeks are sufficient to erase thoroughly.
Normal eprom erasers with their small bulb (4W or so) take about 15 to 30 mins.

There are other possibilities though.
I'd suggest to try out an UV LED. Could be placed directly over the window. (Read datasheet and make sure it is an UV-C LED)

Another way would be to light the EPROM with a HMI studio lamp without protective glass. I guess a common 575W HMI lamp could erase an EPROM in less than 1 minute.

Yet another way would be to cut off the outer glass of a metal halide lamp. Extremely dangerous, not at all recommended. But very effective to kill mold, bacteria and smells by the combo of broadband UV-C and very strong ozone. I once saw a video of a guy disinfecting his flat from pests and mold using a 400W (or was it 1000W?) lamp this way. The light was incredibly bright, blue and harsh. Like the arc when rails are welded. I guess an EPROM eraser using such a lamp could erase an EPROM in seconds 😀

retardware wrote:

The light was incredibly bright, blue and harsh. Like the arc when rails are welded. I guess an EPROM eraser using such a lamp could erase an EPROM in seconds 😀

Speaking of which, you could probably erase it really quickly with the light emitted by arc welding something.

I learned my lesson by sun-burning my hand once when I didn't wear a glove on my one hand when welding.

And full-face coverage mask is needed as well unless you want all of your face except for the place where your welding goggles are to be sun-burnt.

thanks for the good replies, yeah I did like 2-3 hrs and still didn't erase so need a proper eraser. I always thought uv is uv but its not, interesting to learn.

ebay has a few for around $20 so not bad investment

I think I will stay away from from welders already feel guilty after breathing in flux from soldering

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping … .27424c4dRvUlJT

This is what I purchased a couple of months ago. It works and erases EPROMs in 10-15 minutes, Maybe less is also ok, but I did not tried lower settings.

My only concern is, it's outer shell leaks light a lot. I just put it in a far away corner while it is working.

I have been looking at a very similar box looking eraser on ebay about the same price too, good to know it actually works. That will be my next purchase

retardware wrote:

You need UV-C. The nail dryers emit only UV-A and -B, very little -C.
UV-C is extremely aggressive to living matter, so the nail dryers must not emit it, else it would sunburn the users, and make the room stink of ozone.

I heard that the previously considered "harmless" UV-A is equally narmful, since it is said to reach several cm under the skin.. No idea it that's true, though. 🙁

I used a nail dryer to erase EPROMs. It took a few days to work but that's better than nothing. And maybe because it is LED I'm hoping it will be less prone to failure whereas I had bought two erasers using fluorescent bulbs that both died.

cyclone3d wrote:

Speaking of which, you could probably erase it really quickly with the light emitted by arc welding something. […]
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retardware wrote:

The light was incredibly bright, blue and harsh. Like the arc when rails are welded. I guess an EPROM eraser using such a lamp could erase an EPROM in seconds 😀

Speaking of which, you could probably erase it really quickly with the light emitted by arc welding something.

I learned my lesson by sun-burning my hand once when I didn't wear a glove on my one hand when welding.

And full-face coverage mask is needed as well unless you want all of your face except for the place where your welding goggles are to be sun-burnt.

haha true, one coworker had a similar experience, except that he went fishing with sun glasses, monday he came to the office with the sunglass print on his face 🤣

I ended up getting a little uv eraser designed for uv chips from ebay, it wasn't expensive maybe 20usd delivered and it does the job very good, about 5 minutes.