Better Heating Lamps for Your Krones Contiform
Let’s be honest: OEM parts for Krones Contiform machines are expensive. It feels like you’re paying a premium just for the brand name. We decided to fix that. We build replacement heating lamps that slide right into your existing setup, cutting your costs without losing an ounce of heat density. The goal is simple: get those PET preforms soft and ready to blow, fast.
Getting the Power Right
Blowing machines need a ton of heat packed into a tiny space. It’s a lot. That’s why we build our lamps to mirror the exact wattage and voltage of the original Krones arrays. Whether you’re running 230V or 400V, you get consistent, radiant heat. High-wattage tubes mean faster cycles, which means more bottles hitting the conveyor every hour. **One quick tip though:**pushing more wattage puts more stress on your cooling fans. If your vents are clogged with dust, these lamps will burn out way too soon. Keep them clean.
The Nitty-Gritty: Quartz and Connections
We use heavy-wall quartz glass because these lamps go through a brutal cycle of heating up and cooling down. To stop the tungsten filament from evaporating and dying early, we use a halogen cycle. It just lasts longer. Then there are the connections. We stick to standard R7s or Sk15 connectors. Why? Because a loose connection leads to arcing, and arcing fries your socket. Nobody wants to deal with that on a Tuesday morning. We also coat the quartz. This shifts the IR emission so the heat actually sinks into the PET wall instead of just scorching the surface.
Making it Work on the Floor
Swapping these in is a breeze. You won’t need to mess with your PLC settings or rewire your cabinets. We build these to the exact millimeter of the OEM spec. When they seat perfectly in the reflectors, you don’t get those annoying “cold spots” in the oven. The result? A smooth, uniform heat profile. You’ll see fewer thin walls and way less of that cloudy “pearlescence” in your finished bottles. It just works.