Getting Your Sidel Heaters Right: SBO and Matrix
We’ve spent a lot of time making sure our replacement lamps actually fit. Whether you’re still rocking the old-school SBO units or you’ve moved up to the Matrix series, we’ve got you covered. The goal here is simple: you should be able to pop a new lamp in and get back to work without a headache. To do that, we make sure the electrical footprint and the heat output match your machine exactly. The nitty-gritty on power and fit These lamps run on high voltage because PET preforms need a lot of heat, and they need it fast. If you’re running a 230V or 400V system, getting the wattage right is everything. Get it wrong, and you’re either blowing fuses or dealing with plastic that isn’t soft enough to blow. We stick to the original lengths and use the standard R7s or Sk15 connectors. That way, you aren’t spending your afternoon modifying lamp holders just to get a light to turn on. Why the glass matters We use high-purity quartz. Why? Because these things go through a brutal cycle of heating up and cooling down, and cheap glass just can’t take that kind of shock. Most of our tubes have a special coating. Instead of just scorching the outside of the PET, this coating helps the heat soak deep into the wall of the preform. It makes the lamp last longer, too. But here is a pro tip:**keep the glass clean.**If you touch the tube with oily fingers during installation, you’ll create a hot spot. That’s a fast track to a burnt-out lamp. Setting them up Since we follow the original Sidel specs, the installation is pretty straightforward. If the wattage is the same, you probably won’t even have to touch your oven timers. Just a heads-up if you’re using higher wattage tubes to push your line speed: more heat means more ambient temperature in the oven gallery. Keep an eye on your cooling blowers. If they can’t keep up with the extra heat, your preforms might start warping, and that’s a mess nobody wants to clean up.