Stop Fighting With Your PET Blowing Lamps
There is nothing more frustrating than a machine going down during preheating because a replacement IR lamp doesn’t quite fit. Maybe the voltage is off. Maybe the lamp is a fraction of an inch too long. Either way, your production stops. We decided to fix that. We build our infrared lamps to be “drop-in” replacements. Whether you’re running a Sidel, a Krones, or something else, our goal is to make sure our lamps just work with over 95% of the equipment out there. The nitty-gritty on power and size We make these tubes in everything from 220V to 400V. Now, if you go with a 400V high-wattage tube, you get a lot more heat in a smaller space. That’s great for speeding up your cycle times. But a quick heads-up: if you jump up to high-voltage, double-check your transformers and wiring. You don’t want to fry your system because the load is too heavy. As for the fit? We keep our lengths standard. You won’t have to spend your afternoon hacking away at brackets just to get a lamp to slide in. Getting the heat where it actually belongs We use high-purity quartz and halogen gas. Why? Because it pushes the heat into the shortwave spectrum. Instead of just scorching the surface of the PET preform, the heat actually sinks deep into the wall. It’s a much more efficient way to prep the plastic. And since we use R7s and Sk15 connectors—the same ones you’ll find in almost every shop—you can just pull out your burnt-out lamp and plug ours in. No new sockets, no fancy adapters, no headache. A few things to watch out for Shortwave lamps are fast. Really fast. But that intensity comes with a catch. If your cooling fans are acting up or your airflow is blocked, those quartz tubes can get too hot and crack. It happens. Also, do yourself a favor and keep your reflectors clean. Dust is the enemy here. When your reflectors get dirty, the heat doesn’t bounce back into the bottle; it stays in the lamp. That forces the lamp to run hotter than it needs to, which just shortens its life. Keep them shiny, and your lamps will last a lot longer.