Getting More Heat Out of Your Sulfet Rotary Printer
If you’re running a Sulfet rotary printer, you already know the flash dryer is usually the part that slows everything down. It’s the bottleneck. When a lamp burns out or just isn’t hitting the right temperature, your ink doesn’t set. Then you get smears. Then you get headaches. That’s why we built our M&R Red Chili compatible lamps. They’re simple drop-in replacements designed to stop that downtime from killing your day. Let’s talk power. These lamps use high-wattage shortwave infrared tech. We designed them to pump out a ton of heat quickly so your ink cures in seconds while the fabric flies through. But here is the thing: you’ve got to make sure your power supply can actually handle the draw. These high-wattage tubes put a lot of stress on your contactors. If your wiring is old and tired, these lamps might just trip your breakers. Check your electricals first. The build quality We use high-purity quartz glass for the tungsten filament. Why? Because these things go through brutal thermal shock every time they cycle on and off. Cheap glass cracks. Ours doesn’t. The “Red Chili” setup focuses on shortwave radiation. Instead of just scorching the surface of the fabric, the heat actually sinks into the ink layer. It’s a much more effective way to cure. Getting them in the machine We made these to fit exactly. No hacking, no modifying the housing, no weird workarounds. We use standard connectors so you can just wire them up and get back to work. Just make sure the fit is tight. If the lamp shifts even a little bit in the reflector, you’ll end up with cold spots on your fabric. And nobody wants that. A few things to keep in mind Shortwave lamps are powerhouses, but they get hot. Really hot. That heat builds up inside the dryer head, so you have to keep your cooling fans spotless. If the airflow drops, the housing overheats and your filament will burn out way faster than it should. And one last tip: keep your reflectors polished. A layer of dust or grime can kill your heat efficiency by 20%. It takes two minutes to clean, but it makes a massive difference in how your machine performs.