Can new IR lamps actually wake up an old Blomax machine?
If you’re running a SIG Blomax 4, 6, 8, or 10, you know the struggle. You spend hours tweaking the oven, but the preforms still aren’t heating evenly. You end up with wonky wall thickness and a bin full of scrap. Here’s the truth: if your lamps are old and degraded, you’re just fighting a losing battle. No amount of tuning can fix a bulb that’s lost its punch. The secret is in the heat density. We built our replacement lamps to hit the exact wattage and voltage your Blomax expects. We use shortwave infrared, which basically means the energy is concentrated in a way that PET just drinks up. The preform hits blowing temperature way faster. And when that happens? You might actually be able to shave a few seconds off your cycle time. That adds up fast. The nitty-gritty stuff. We use heavy-wall quartz glass because we don’t want the tubes bowing when things get hot. Plus, the halogen cycle keeps the tungsten filament from evaporating too quickly. This means your light output stays steady for thousands of hours, not just a few weeks. And don’t worry about the install. We use standard R7s or Sk15 connectors. They just drop right in. You won’t have to touch your control cabinet or rewire a thing. One thing to watch out for… More power is great, but it creates more waste heat in the oven housing. If you decide to go with high-output lamps on an old machine, do yourself a favor and check your cooling fans first. If your airflow is choked, you risk overheating the oven shell or warping your reflectors. Not a fun day at the office. At the end of the day, swapping out dim, tired lamps for fresh, calibrated elements is the quickest way to stop the guessing game. Once the heating is stable, you can finally stop worrying about the oven and focus on your blow pressure and timing.