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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: Sbrem on July 26, 2011, 03:54:24 PM
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OK, we need some bulbs for our Calmat flash, a QC 20 Compact Gold model. No luck, except that Hirsch found one for us, and it's on the way. We may have to eventually abandon these great flash units for lack of bulbs. Anyone, Pierre?
Steve
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Same boat dude. Posted about it awhile back. Roughly $650 each from Calmat.
It is rather easy to convert to readily available quartz bulbs (Ushio and the like).
Though the performance is nowhere near these carbon-fiber element gold plated
beasts.
Come to think of it, if you're interested, I might have 5 for you. I'm on the fence about
switching over because I still have 5 that work fine.
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Yeah, $700 now. I mentioned your possible offer to my partner, and he likes the idea. We may change over too, the guy we used to deal with when we bought our machine out or Spartanburg, SC is making his own, 3K - 4K, but the replacement bulbs are only $150.00. Let me know if you want to move the bulbs, my email is in the profile. Have a good one.
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The MSI flashes are really good, I have 4 of them, they do the job everyday and are solid workhorses, 2 are 6 years old with original bulbs (except the couple we carelessly broke). Not sure if they have model with casters for the S-type, but the wheels are awesome.
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Casters would be awesome, but the S-Type heads don't roll like that. Drop in only. Which is how I broke a bulb.
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I am on the cheap bulbs from Hirsch (little over $100 if I remember correctly) and my flash times are downright disgusting! All my bulbs are silver so my guess is that's why the times are so long.
'saving pennies for a new flash . . .
pierre
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Look into the gold reflector ones. Not much more than the standard, and if purchased from the
manufacturer, about $80 each for ~1600 watt - 20"LL.
You likely don't need a new flash, just new bulbs. The nuts and bolts of quartz flashes are surprisingly simple.
Hell, I'm building my own.
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Pierre, do they, the silver bulbs fit in the same flash unit, the QC20, and how long are your flash times, roughly? And who is that manufacturer so I could look them up, EB?
Steve
build my own, hmmm...
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Pierre, do they, the silver bulbs fit in the same flash unit, the QC20, and how long are your flash times, roughly? And who is that manufacturer so I could look them up, EB?
Steve
build my own, hmmm...
I bought them from Hirsch, they fit right in the Calmat for the E-type.
On big prints, it can be 12 sec. Normal front (12x12), one stroke through 160 probably about 8 sec, maybe 7. Left chest will go down to 3. Most prints we run are flashing 7-8 seconds.
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There is essentially 2 types (well 3 really) of quartz tubes. The one's we (QC20) have are carbon emitter with gold
reflector. M&R and the like are coming around to these due to the incredibly quick flash times. What makes us (Calmat)
special is that instead of using industry and US standard 240 volt tubes in parallel they used 100 volt tubes in series.
Ugh. So not only are they hard to find, but if one goes out, you're SOL on the other. Luckily you can re-wire 240 volt
standard tubes in parallel pretty easily.
The standard in the industry as far as I know is nichrome coils in clear quartz with external reflectors. Not nearly as
quick per watt as the carbon, but readily available and inexpensive. USHIO is a major manufacturer, and there are others.
Requires more power for the same amount of heat, the reason our flashes are single phase and most in the US are 3 phase.
Here is the manufacturer of some gold reflector types:
http://www.noblelight.net/infrared_heaters/short_wave_single_tube_nir_heaters.shtml (http://www.noblelight.net/infrared_heaters/short_wave_single_tube_nir_heaters.shtml)
DO NOT ASK FOR A TUBE OF EXACT SPECS AS YOUR CALMAT!! They will refer you to them.
As far as building one yourself it's relatively easy. Signal comes from the press to turn on
SSR's controlling the tubes. Divide them in the sections you want with separate relays.
The rest is mostly mechanical, and if you want intensity control, a signal chopper.
The special thing about us MHMers is that instead of a signal from the press lasting as
long as the flash time, they instead use an ON and OFF signal, requiring a thyristor to latch
for the on and unlatch for the off. Maybe all presses do that but it sounds like a way of
locking you into a certain type of flash.
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Thanks EB, a bit to digest, but not so much as to put it off. Pierre, 12 seconds, holy cow. We're at about 3 seconds. My partner has spoken to the guy I mentioned that is building them, and he is going to send us a video of his flash in operation, which of course I'll share. His unit is in the $3500 range (We paid 4500 for the Calmat 8 years ago) and bulbs in the $100 area.
Steve
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Thanks EB, a bit to digest, but not so much as to put it off. Pierre, 12 seconds, holy cow. We're at about 3 seconds. My partner has spoken to the guy I mentioned that is building them, and he is going to send us a video of his flash in operation, which of course I'll share. His unit is in the $3500 range (We paid 4500 for the Calmat 8 years ago) and bulbs in the $100 area.
Steve
my sentiment exactly. We are running 3600 pieces today and the flash is at 5 sec and we are limited to 650/ hour. Long term that averages less than 400 per hour and I am not happy. With a better flash we could run those at 750-850 and just plow through them. I would rather work harder and get it done in six hours than having to go nine.
I have talked to Gaylen about his flash unit. That's why I am saving the pennies. It will be cheaper than getting the proper bulbs.
pierre
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Gaylen's flashes rock, we get 3 second flash times on big prints or small ones (at speed with hot pallets of course), and we normally only run ours at about 75%-80% of full power.
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Gaylen's flashes rock, we get 3 second flash times on big prints or small ones (at speed with hot pallets of course), and we normally only run ours at about 75%-80% of full power.
What is the size of the Gaylen flash? Is there any power difference needed? I have a Calmat flash and wonder if i have to run a new power line. Mine runs off a 3-Phase 40 amp. You think Gaylen would give a discount for board members or if we all buy them at the same time.
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This is not a post to sell you a flash but to possible help you with your understanding of flashes. A good quartz flash cure should gel your ink in around 1-3 seconds if you are using the proper wavelength of IR. It is not the type of bulb so much as it is the wavelength. We have customers gelling the ink in one second once the pallets are warmed up and less than 5 seconds even if the pallets are not. A reference price can be had by looking at our Red Chili flash. A 18X22 on a stand that pulls 34 amps on 3 phase typically runs around $2500. That is also with a money back guarantee as well if you are not satisfied. If here at M&R we sell at that price that should be a good guide for what you should pay for others. Again this is not to sell you on our product. Hope it helps.
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Gaylen's flashes rock, we get 3 second flash times on big prints or small ones (at speed with hot pallets of course), and we normally only run ours at about 75%-80% of full power.
What is the size of the Gaylen flash? Is there any power difference needed? I have a Calmat flash and wonder if i have to run a new power line. Mine runs off a 3-Phase 40 amp. You think Gaylen would give a discount for board members or if we all buy them at the same time.
Mine run off of 40 amp 3 phase breakers, the size of my units I'm not totally sure about, but guessing from home right now I'd say 18 x 22~24, I will check for you tomorrow. As to Gaylen giving a discount for multiple units, you could definitely ask, no harm in that.
Oh yea, his company is Machine Solutions in SC, Phone:(864) 574-7200.
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This is not a post to sell you a flash but to possible help you with your understanding of flashes. A good quartz flash cure should gel your ink in around 1-3 seconds if you are using the proper wavelength of IR. It is not the type of bulb so much as it is the wavelength. We have customers gelling the ink in one second once the pallets are warmed up and less than 5 seconds even if the pallets are not. A reference price can be had by looking at our Red Chili flash. A 18X22 on a stand that pulls 34 amps on 3 phase typically runs around $2500. That is also with a money back guarantee as well if you are not satisfied. If here at M&R we sell at that price that should be a good guide for what you should pay for others. Again this is not to sell you on our product. Hope it helps.
244,
Does it work with a MHM e-Type. How much are the replacement bulbs? From what I understand the only flashes that we can use are the Calmat and the MSI (Gaylen's) flashes.
jon
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Update again, the folks at Calmatech replied to an email that we could buy from them directly, and it would be the cheapest price. I'm waiting to hear from them as to what exactly that price would be.
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This is not a post to sell you a flash but to possible help you with your understanding of flashes. A good quartz flash cure should gel your ink in around 1-3 seconds if you are using the proper wavelength of IR. It is not the type of bulb so much as it is the wavelength. We have customers gelling the ink in one second once the pallets are warmed up and less than 5 seconds even if the pallets are not. A reference price can be had by looking at our Red Chili flash. A 18X22 on a stand that pulls 34 amps on 3 phase typically runs around $2500. That is also with a money back guarantee as well if you are not satisfied. If here at M&R we sell at that price that should be a good guide for what you should pay for others. Again this is not to sell you on our product. Hope it helps.
I have no idea if it works with their press. I would assume it does but I am only guessing. Bulb replacement is $78.00 and should have a 5 year lifetime.
244,
Does it work with a MHM e-Type. How much are the replacement bulbs? From what I understand the only flashes that we can use are the Calmat and the MSI (Gaylen's) flashes.
jon
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Wow at your flash times Pierre. I don't want to add insult to injury, but that is a long time dude. When we get heated up, a thick ub from a 110 takes about 2-2.5, a thin ub from a 175-230, 1-1.5 seconds. Of course the right ink plays a large roll in those flash times. I've had some whites that take 5 seconds to flash even when things are hot, then there are others that are 2 seconds on the same print. I had major issues getting the Xenon white to gel, so no matter how good I thought it was on everything else, I couldn't live with those flash times.
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Rich, I think your numbers are wrong. I don't have a quartz flash, but if you send me one for free, I could prove you wrong. :P
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LOL! They are "almost" free!
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Gaylen's flashes rock, we get 3 second flash times on big prints or small ones (at speed with hot pallets of course), and we normally only run ours at about 75%-80% of full power.
What is the size of the Gaylen flash? Is there any power difference needed? I have a Calmat flash and wonder if i have to run a new power line. Mine runs off a 3-Phase 40 amp. You think Gaylen would give a discount for board members or if we all buy them at the same time.
Ours are 18" wide by 24" deep.
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Thanks Squeegee. Can you PM me what you paid for them. Do they have a website???
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Try these people: www.lexusa.com (http://www.lexusa.com) - Lamp Express USA. They have a minimum, but maybe a few other guys here might be able to go in it together. When we bought from them, I sent them a pic of each end and the dimensions of the bulb. They shipped them to me and they fit perfectly and worked great. We have Calmat flashes as well.
Mark
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Try these people: [url=http://www.lexusa.com]www.lexusa.com[/url] ([url]http://www.lexusa.com[/url]) - Lamp Express USA. They have a minimum, but maybe a few other guys here might be able to go in it together. When we bought from them, I sent them a pic of each end and the dimensions of the bulb. They shipped them to me and they fit perfectly and worked great. We have Calmat flashes as well.
Mark
thanx Mark!
Was that for graphite or metal elements?
How long are your flash times with them?
pierre
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Excuse my ignorance on the subject, but I am not 100% sure. I would guess they are metal but could be wrong.
Once we are up and running are flashes are between 1.5 seconds and 3.0 depending on mesh count and ink deposit thickness. On a normal job we typically run at 2.5.
On an unrelated note, has anyone ever had to replace relays in the Calmat flashes? Two Calmat flashes came with the press when we bought the E-Type and we have already had to replace the relays once in each flash. We know we have to replace the relays when the flash will not turn off after the dwell time is up.
They are not that expensive to buy, not from Hirsch of course, but from Newark Electronics. They are fairly easy to replace but it is obviously a dangerous hazard when the bulbs will not turn off.
Mark
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Thanks Mark, I'll give them a call on Monday. And thanks to everyone for the help on this. Have a great weekend.
Steve
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Thanks Mark, I'll give them a call on Monday. And thanks to everyone for the help on this. Have a great weekend.
Steve
please keep us posted on what you find out!
thanx
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Thanks Squeegee. Can you PM me what you paid for them. Do they have a website???
Just sent you a PM, I don't think they have a website, I can post pics if you want to see mine, let me know.
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Had an email this morning from Calmatech, the bulb I need, MW5002, would run 285 euros, which is around $406.00. I'm waiting for 9:00 am to contact Lexusa.com to see what they can do.
Steve
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I just heard back from Lamp Express. About 4 weeks or less to make them, and around $175.00 per, and I told him that we might be able to make a group purchase, to which he replied that he would be able to shave a little more off the price. So, 1600 watts, 100 volts, about 26" long, gold reflector. Mark, who gave us the Lamp Express link said that they perform great for him, so maybe we have a winner here. If the dimensions are right, who's in?
Steve
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I'm in for one.
2 if the savings is worth it.
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I'd take 10 if they can do $100 since I would have to replace all of them. One or two would not really help me. . .
pierre
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So we're at about 15 right now, let's see if it grows, then I'll get back to them to see what they can do. Thanks guys, I'll keep updating. Still, we have one for $700 already on the way, damn it.
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How did this group shopping ended?
Did you buy from Lexusa? I'm pretty sure original bulbs are made by Heraues (Germany).
Boris
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Never happened. We now have a shine new MSI flash, so the leftover bulbs in the flash it replaced will be used as backups in the remaining Calmat flash, when they go down, another MSI will be purchased.
Steve
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Never happened. We now have a shine new MSI flash, so the leftover bulbs in the flash it replaced will be used as backups in the remaining Calmat flash, when they go down, another MSI will be purchased.
Steve
can you comment on the differences between the two? Is it worth getting it?
pierre
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Never happened. We now have a shine new MSI flash, so the leftover bulbs in the flash it replaced will be used as backups in the remaining Calmat flash, when they go down, another MSI will be purchased.
Steve
can you comment on the differences between the two? Is it worth getting it?
pierre
I just asked my partner, and he says it's not as hot as the Calmat, flash times are slightly up, but it might be the way we use it, as we tend to use heavier underlays than most. I'm not sure if we've done a simulated process since we got it, which have a 230 underbase as a rule...
Steve
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Lex is where I get my bulbs for my flash alot cheaper than getting them from Anatol and they seem to last longer.
Darryl