Getting the Heat Right on Your SIG Blomax 6
Keeping the heat steady in a SIG Blomax 6 or a Krones Contiform is a bit of a balancing act. It all comes down to wattage and wavelength. When your original lamps finally give out, you can’t just throw any old bulb in there. You need a replacement that matches the original spectral output. If you don’t, you’ll end up with those annoying thin spots in your PET preforms that ruin a whole batch. The Power Struggle We build our replacement lamps to handle the brutal high-voltage environment of industrial blow molding. Here’s the thing: if the voltage or wattage is off, it’s not just about the lamp burning out early. It messes with the heat flux. Too low? Your bases won’t heat up enough. Too high? You’re risking scorched resin. We’ve specced these tubes to mirror the exact ohms and wattage of the Blomax 6 originals. That way, your PLC’s power controllers stay happy and don’t start throwing errors or trying to overcompensate. Quartz and Connections We use heavy-wall quartz glass because these ovens go through rapid thermal cycling that would shatter cheaper glass. Most of these use R7s or Sk15 connectors. We make sure the fit is tight. Why? Because a loose connection creates an arc, and an arc will fry your socket in a heartbeat. Plus, we apply specific coatings to the quartz to shift the infrared emission. It basically forces the energy into the PET wall instead of wasting it by heating up the machine frame. Making it Work The good news is these are direct replacements. You can wire them up and get back to work without messing with your circuitry. But a word of caution. High-wattage shortwave lamps put out some intense, localized heat. If your ventilation is clogged or your cooling fans are on their last legs, these lamps are going to run too hot and burn out way faster than they should. And please, keep your reflectors clean. A dirty reflector kills your efficiency. It forces the system to run at 100% power just to hit the target temperature, which is a waste of energy and hard on your gear.