Better Flash Curing: Our Carbon Fiber Heating Elements
If you’ve spent any time screen printing, you know the frustration of waiting for your gear to catch up with your pace. That’s why we built these 360mm, 700W lamps. Most shops use standard quartz heaters, but we went a different route. We use carbon fiber filaments to create far infrared (FIR) radiation. In plain English? The heat actually sinks deep into the ink layers. You get a solid cure without worrying about scorching the fabric on the surface. No more waiting around. The 700W punch across a 360mm length is exactly what you need to knock out plastisol or water-based inks fast. The best part is that these things hit their operating temperature almost instantly. You just flip the switch and go. No awkward warm-up periods while your shirts pile up. Plus, since 360mm is a standard size for most mid-range conveyors, you can usually just swap out your old, worn-out elements for these and get right back to work. Why carbon fiber? Tungsten and halogen filaments are okay, but they’re brittle. They tend to snap when you’re constantly clicking them on and off during a flash cure. Carbon fiber handles that thermal stress way better. It’s tougher. It also changes how the heat moves. Instead of just heating up the air around the shirt, the energy beams straight into the ink. It’s much more efficient. A few things to keep in mind These will work with most industrial controllers, but you’ll want to double-check your current draw. Carbon fiber has a different resistance than metal, so if you’re using a really old power supply, you might see a spike in amperage. Just make sure your wiring and relays can handle 700W so you don’t fry a terminal. One last tip:keep the glass clean. If you get ink splatters on the quartz envelope, it creates a hot spot. That’s a quick way to crack the tube, and nobody wants to deal with that mid-shift.