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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: Prosperi-Tees on July 06, 2016, 09:22:10 PM

Title: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Prosperi-Tees on July 06, 2016, 09:22:10 PM
Does such an animal exist?
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: ebscreen on July 06, 2016, 09:38:56 PM
Kurtis the main Roq tech was designing one a few months back.
 I think they may be out now, I thought I saw a blurb from Mrs Sexton.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: SI on July 06, 2016, 09:53:21 PM
The ROQ flash or whatever they call it, was at NBM and I brought it home with me to test for a week after the show.  Has a foot pedal trigger or an optical sensor.  It was single phase, I didnt measure the amperage it took, but it worked amazing that much I can vouch for.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: SI on July 06, 2016, 09:55:09 PM
HotROQ is the proper name, 50Amps

http://www.screenprinting.com/hot-roq-quartz-flash-dryer-9000-watt-1-phase-18-24 (http://www.screenprinting.com/hot-roq-quartz-flash-dryer-9000-watt-1-phase-18-24)
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Prosperi-Tees on July 06, 2016, 09:58:03 PM
Yeah that seems pretty standard. Was just wondering if any could be used in a garage environment with normal home amperage and 50 amps is way too much.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: SI on July 06, 2016, 10:02:01 PM
My shop  is in my garage and I run two 70 Amp flashes. plus a 80 amp electric dryer.  All it takes is upgrading your electrical service.    The Anatol flash I had ran at 45 Amps, I have not seen a quartz flash running lower amps than that.  The issue you have is quartz flash lamps are normally 1000 W or more, add enough to effectively cure flash a shirt and the amperage starts to climb.  We added a second 200A panel and upgraded 380 Meter base for $400 in the home shop. 
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Prosperi-Tees on July 06, 2016, 10:16:17 PM
If my home has a 100 amp panel, what would be needed to run another in the garage which could be dedicated just to screen printing? Sounds expensive to me. How did you do that for $400? Do the work yourself?
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: SI on July 06, 2016, 10:31:39 PM
Yes I was an industrial electrician for the last 20 years before getting laid off in January.  If you have a 100Amp panel now, you should have a 200 amp meter base.  It would be a case of buying a 200 amp breaker panel, which should cost around $110-130.  And having your power cut to the house for a day while the old 100 amp is removed and the new one is installed.  This will give you 100 amps to the house, then you can run a 100 amp breaker and wire to your garage giving you 100 amps there.  If you went this route you would be out the cost of the 200 amp breaker panel, and 100 amp panel for the garage (heck you could use your old house 100 Amp) and the wire.

Then a 50 amp or whatever size required breaker needed for your new flash.  Depending on the length of cable you could DIY this for $200 safely.

Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Prosperi-Tees on July 06, 2016, 10:51:18 PM
Makes sense. Thank you.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Steve Harpold on July 07, 2016, 12:01:20 AM
Does such an animal exist?

Yes, Brown makes one of these as well.
208/240 25 amps single phase
As always let me know how I can help
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Prosperi-Tees on July 07, 2016, 12:21:36 AM
Does such an animal exist?

Yes, Brown makes one of these as well.
208/240 25 amps single phase
As always let me know how I can help
Could it flash a 20" long print?
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Doug S on July 07, 2016, 08:00:47 AM
If I were to get my energy service upgraded to 3 phase would I have to change anything in my existing equipment or would it automatically run with it being wired for single phase?
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Gilligan on July 07, 2016, 10:19:56 AM
You are kind of asking for something that can't physically exist.  "Large" Flash that uses "Little amps" and is "single phase".  All of those things are going against each other.

Single phase raises the "amperage", and making it large also increases the amperage.

Flash back would probably be the only thing I could see that would make sense.  Fewer bulbs so less amperage.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: bimmridder on July 07, 2016, 10:28:36 AM
And there are two Flashbacks for sale on the M&R site.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Prosperi-Tees on July 07, 2016, 10:41:58 AM
I wonder if the flashbacks on stands could be used on a manual. Do they have foot pedal or optical eye activation?
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: jvanick on July 07, 2016, 10:57:24 AM
I wonder if the flashbacks on stands could be used on a manual. Do they have foot pedal or optical eye activation?

the old ones don't have any kind of activation other than the signals that come from the press...

to make it work, you'd need:

24vdc power supply
 foot pedal (which you'd have to hold while the flash travels outwards I believe -- can't remember how the solenoids and relays inside the flashback are wired).

you'd also need an air compressor to run the band cylinder... (likely 4-5cfm)

Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: jvanick on July 07, 2016, 10:59:01 AM
something you could look into would be finding a Quartz Express QE1600 (it would only be about a 14x16 flash area tho).. but it does run at 30amps and after a potential bit of re-wiring and swapping out the cheap components found in some of them would work just fine.

I had one on our manual which I then moved to our Javelin before we got a flashback, and it worked well enough.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Doug S on July 07, 2016, 11:19:24 AM
You are kind of asking for something that can't physically exist.  "Large" Flash that uses "Little amps" and is "single phase".  All of those things are going against each other.

Single phase raises the "amperage", and making it large also increases the amperage.

Flash back would probably be the only thing I could see that would make sense.  Fewer bulbs so less amperage.

I know that was really a dumb question but I'm electrically illiterate.  I was just wondering in case I wanted to upgrade presses and go with quartz flashes.  Right now we are all single-phase with the capability to go to 3 phase.  Most of the presses above what I have are 3 phase. 
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Gilligan on July 07, 2016, 11:45:22 AM
What is your question Doug?

3 phase really helps when it comes to motors.

It helps "reduce" the amperage, but you don't really reduce, you just spread it around.  So you end up having to run more copper which might negate any savings on a larger breaker you might have.

I like 3 phase for Air conditioners and compressors... other than that it doesn't REALLY matter to me, though I'm often not given a choice with some equipment.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Doug S on July 07, 2016, 11:59:17 AM
What is your question Doug?

3 phase really helps when it comes to motors.

It helps "reduce" the amperage, but you don't really reduce, you just spread it around.  So you end up having to run more copper which might negate any savings on a larger breaker you might have.

I like 3 phase for Air conditioners and compressors... other than that it doesn't REALLY matter to me, though I'm often not given a choice with some equipment.

I currently have a sportsman, infrared flashes, chiller, compressor and a gas dryer that are all wired single-phase because that is all we have in the building.  I called the electric company and they told me that I could go 3 ph at my location.  I was just wondering if I went ahead with the transition in advance of getting a new press, dryer and flashes, would I have to have my existing press and other equipment rewired to have them work or would they operate without rewiring for the 3 phase?  Sorry for the confusion.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Gilligan on July 07, 2016, 12:21:45 PM
In MOST cases no.  I don't know your particular equipment.

Also in MY case my 220v is technically 208v when run single phase.  This just means more amp draw for 220v stuff... not all gear will like that voltage difference though.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: jvanick on July 07, 2016, 12:39:30 PM
adding 3 phase only adds capability to your shop. -- pre-existing equipment should not need to be rewired, although sometimes the electricians like to do a balancing of the circuits, depending on how loaded the current panel is.

3 phase and single phase equipment can peacefully co-exist in the same panel even....

The only thing to be concerned with is if you get Delta 3-phase power... one of the legs there is 208V or 240V to neutral... however any qualified electrician wiring this in will label the panel as such.  Generally in a panel like this, for standard 110V loads you'll see 2 breakers and then a space as the 3rd leg is usually the 'high' leg.

the 3rd leg can be used for any standard 208 or 240V single phase load that does not require a neutral -- in most standard buildings this is typically FL lights with 'universal' ballasts.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: 244 on July 07, 2016, 12:58:27 PM
What is your question Doug?

3 phase really helps when it comes to motors.

It helps "reduce" the amperage, but you don't really reduce, you just spread it around.  So you end up having to run more copper which might negate any savings on a larger breaker you might have.

I like 3 phase for Air conditioners and compressors... other than that it doesn't REALLY matter to me, though I'm often not given a choice with some equipment.
All of the heads on your press run on three phase. We use a frequency drive that converts your single phase to three phase on each head. The only thing running on single phase is the servo for the indexer. Your machine will run fine for years on single or three phase. No real advantage to switch it.

I currently have a sportsman, infrared flashes, chiller, compressor and a gas dryer that are all wired single-phase because that is all we have in the building.  I called the electric company and they told me that I could go 3 ph at my location.  I was just wondering if I went ahead with the transition in advance of getting a new press, dryer and flashes, would I have to have my existing press and other equipment rewired to have them work or would they operate without rewiring for the 3 phase?  Sorry for the confusion.
Title: Re: Low amperage single phase quartz flash?
Post by: Doug S on July 07, 2016, 01:05:16 PM

[/quote] All of the heads on your press run on three phase. We use a frequency drive that converts your single phase to three phase on each head. The only thing running on single phase is the servo for the indexer. Your machine will run fine for years on single or three phase. No real advantage to switch it.

I currently have a sportsman, infrared flashes, chiller, compressor and a gas dryer that are all wired single-phase because that is all we have in the building.  I called the electric company and they told me that I could go 3 ph at my location.  I was just wondering if I went ahead with the transition in advance of getting a new press, dryer and flashes, would I have to have my existing press and other equipment rewired to have them work or would they operate without rewiring for the 3 phase?  Sorry for the confusion.
[/quote]
[/quote]

My only reason for wanting to switch would be if I wanted to upgrade to a gauntlet 3 and to a larger dryer then the Minisprint.  Are you saying that I could install something like a gauntlet 3 without the upgrade?  I'm not sure if there is an option to have it setup for single-phase but I would imagine if so that the amperage would be quite a bit higher.