Getting More Out of Your Old Krones Contiform S
Usually, when people want to speed up an old blow molding line, they start thinking about massive mechanical overhauls. It’s expensive, it’s a headache, and it takes forever. But here’s a little secret for the Krones Contiform S: you can often bump up your bottles-per-hour just by swapping out the infrared heating elements. The trick is getting that preform to the right temperature faster, without messing up the wall thickness. The heat side of things It all comes down to the wattage-to-length ratio. We’ve designed these replacement lamps to fit exactly where the old ones were, but we’ve tweaked the watt density. By using a high-voltage tube, you get a faster ramp-up. The heat hits harder and faster, so the preform hits its glass transition temperature in a much smaller window. Just a heads-up, though—if you crank the wattage to chase more speed, keep an eye on your cooling fans. If the lamp housing gets too hot, you’ll burn through your tubes a lot faster. Built to last (and fit) We use heavy-wall quartz glass. Why? Because cheap glass bows when it gets hot, and that ruins everything. These use R7s or SK15 connectors, which means they’re basically “plug and play.” You just slide them into the existing sockets. No rewiring the control cabinet, no calling in a specialist for a weekend of electrical work. Plus, the halogen gas fill keeps the filament from snapping, so you aren’t replacing them every five minutes like you do with those generic no-name lamps. What this actually looks like on the floor We’ve all seen it: uneven heating leads to those annoying pearlescent streaks or, even worse, burst bottoms. It’s a waste of plastic and a waste of time. When you use lamps with a tighter spectral output, the heat penetrates the preform wall more consistently. You don’t have to “slow-cycle” the machine just to make sure the plastic is ready. You can actually push the conveyor faster. Just remember: more heat density means you need to stay on top of your oven’s airflow. You want it hot, but not “scorched PET” hot.