Making Your Flash Cure Bulbs Actually Work Across Any Press
When you’re printing garments, you need that shortwave infrared (SWIR) energy to hit hard and fast. You want the ink set, but you don’t want to bake the shirt into a crisp. The real headache? Trying to find a heating bulb that actually fits and works across the five big press brands. We’ve spent a lot of time figuring this out, and it really comes down to three things: the power, the size, and the plug. The Power Struggle Most industrial dryers have a very specific “sweet spot” for voltage and wattage to get the surface hot in a matter of seconds. We build our tubes to hit those exact marks. Take a 230V or 240V halogen quartz tube. It needs a precise amount of wattage per centimeter. If it’s too low, your ink stays tacky. Too high? You’ve just ruined a garment. We tune our filaments so the heat stays stable and matches what the original manufacturer intended. That means you can just swap the bulb out without having to mess around with your control box or rewire anything. The Fit and the Finish This is where most cheap third-party bulbs fall apart. If it doesn’t fit perfectly, it’s useless. We stick with R7s and SK15 bases because they’re the old reliable of high-temp connections. We also use high-purity quartz glass so the bulbs don’t burn out the moment you turn them on. For those who need it, we have coated options that push the heat directly into the ink rather than wasting it on the platen. The Real-World Stuff Here’s the thing: a bulb isn’t just a plug-and-play part. You have to think about the reflector’s focal point. If a tube is even 5mm too long or too short, it shifts the heat center. That’s how you end up with annoying cold spots on your print. Plus, keep an eye on your housing. Pushing high-wattage lamps generates a ton of heat inside the unit. If you’re running your machine at the absolute limit, make sure your ventilation is clear. You don’t want to be standing there wondering why your thermal cutout just tripped in the middle of a big job.