The best part about owning an electric dryer..

[jsheridan]

Is when you're in the middle of a 300 piece run, discharge white I may add, and your dryer goess... BzzZZZZTTT!!! with a flash of light and blows the fuse.. grrr.

Seems that for the third time the connection to the heat panel leads melted and fused with their neighbor wiring. I was out of replacement high temp wire so had to run the rest of the night on 2 panels and super slow belt speed.

the best part of the night.. I was using the new CCI D-White.. OMG! getting 2 gallons of it today 

[ebscreen]

I have yet to see an electric panel that doesn't do that eventually. I guess it's against
the laws of nature to bond nichrome to copper.

D-White is the jam.

[jsheridan]

I'm going to re-wire this thing completely, add a switch for the 3rd panel and some lights to know when a lead is compromised. I'll up the gauge of the wire also as I noticed an amp loss on the heat panel farthest from the mag controller, that equates to wire length. The other problem is the crimped connectors.. think i want to find a way to improve that connection.. maybe brazing the lead to the wire may help..

any ideas out there for a better connection from wire end to crimp connector or a solder that can handle 700+ degrees of heat

[mk162]

are you using stainless connectors?  The copper ones melt too quickly. 

[jsheridan]

Stainless high temp connectors with stainless socket screws and nuts to attach the two leads together.

[Printficient]

Give Winston Strickland a call.
904-343-0848

[jsheridan]

I've known Winston for ohh... 10 years or so now. Great guy but I know the problem and can fix it myself. When I can't.. he gets the call.

He may be able to help me source the wire for less, let me check with him.

[Binkspot]

Good stainless crimp on lugs will do the job but you need to match the crimper to the lug.  Most run of the mill crimpers squash the lug and flatten the wires and creates voids. The wire will feel tight in the crimp but most are loose in the center and with constant expansion and contraction from heat they will loosen. More heat is created from the loose connection until it melts down. A good crimper will crush the lug all the way around securing the wires tight inside and out. There are specific crimpers for specific lugs. If you really wanted to watch the condition of the connections you could put CT's on each leg of each panel, install a rotary switch with the same amount of switches as the total amount of the CT's and a digital amp gauge. It would be a bit costly but you could watch the amp draw on each leg and watch for one climbing, a loose connection.

[jsheridan]

Gave Winston a call and he put me in the right direction. Said the same as you did Bink, make sure the crimps are good and strong. Said it would be best to drop to 10GA wire as well while I'm re-doing it all. That was the problem, dryer has 14GA now and when I bumped up the heat, it increased the amps and toasted the connection. 

It's great talking to him, always good stuff to say. He's been in the Caribbean for the last 2 weeks soaking up some sun.. and working on some equipment   

[ZooCity]

It seems like this is a common problem but its kinda bs that a machine wouldn't be made for better longevity from the factory you know?  14ga on high-wattage IR panels doesn't sound to straight to me. Our vastex, bless it's little heart, has run faithfully for years, not a single issue with the panels.  So has our flash which was essentially built as a short-run or maybe a prototype from shelf parts.  I'd be a cranky sob if the dryer panels were popping on me in the middle of runs. 

So John, you like that CCI disc over the Matsui?  I'm still making my decision on what to start one.  Sounds like Matsui is great but CCI is greater so far. 

[jsheridan]

So John, you like that CCI disc over the Matsui?  I'm still making my decision on what to start one.  Sounds like Matsui is great but CCI is greater so far.

I was blown away by it.. just put the ink in a cup, added the activator to that, stirred up. Let it sit while I taped and reg'ed the screen. Gave it a stir and into the screen.. a flood and a medium speed stroke was all it takes for the brightest white I've seen from any discharge white.

The difference is the thickness.. this is like a really creamy thick white that likes to cling to the blade. i can see myself wanting to thin it down just a tad to get some flow but that might goof the opacity.

I called CCI today and ordered two gallons.. well 1 really, the 2nd was a BOGO deal and some activator. I get it on Tuesday when the rep hand delivers it 

[brandon]

I was blown away by it.. just put the ink in a cup, added the activator to that, stirred up. Let it sit while I taped and reg'ed the screen. Gave it a stir and into the screen.. a flood and a medium speed stroke was all it takes for the brightest white I've seen from any discharge white.

The difference is the thickness.. this is like a really creamy thick white that likes to cling to the blade. i can see myself wanting to thin it down just a tad to get some flow but that might goof the opacity.

It doesn't. Stays bright white. We just went through another 5 gallon. The stuff slays!

The only other thing besides Fixer we might add to it depending on brand of shirt is just one tiny drop of black per 500 grams. Helps keep the slight "yellow" out of the white on Port Authority PC61's for example.

That's all I got. Have a good weekend everybody!

[Prosperi-Tees]

Not to derail the thread but I love the CCI stuff as well. Got 4 gallons coming next week. I put it in a cup add activator and a splash of water and just like John tape up throw it in and go. Printing thru a 180 mesh screen and 1 good hard stroke. Love this stuff.

[244]

It seems like this is a common problem but its kinda bs that a machine wouldn't be made for better longevity from the factory you know?  14ga on high-wattage IR panels doesn't sound to straight to me. Our vastex, bless it's little heart, has run faithfully for years, not a single issue with the panels.  So has our flash which was essentially built as a short-run or maybe a prototype from shelf parts.  I'd be a cranky sob if the dryer panels were popping on me in the middle of runs. 

So John, you like that CCI disc over the Matsui?  I'm still making my decision on what to start one.  Sounds like Matsui is great but CCI is greater so far.

Moving to 10 gage wire will solve a lot of your problem. 14 gage in a heat environment is not a good idea regardless if it meets the amp rating. As far as the stakon to be used you should use a nickel plated steel stakon with stainless bolt,nut,and washers. When stripping the wire use a professional wire stripper, not the cheap units. If you mar the wire while stripping the insulation you are already destined to fail. The high temp wire is plated to prevent heat fatigue and if marred will be a place where the problem begins and as others have said use the proper crimping tool. A proper connection and wire gage should last the life of the element which in our elements is usually in excess of 10 years.

[ZooCity]

It seems like this is a common problem but its kinda bs that a machine wouldn't be made for better longevity from the factory you know?  14ga on high-wattage IR panels doesn't sound to straight to me. Our vastex, bless it's little heart, has run faithfully for years, not a single issue with the panels.  So has our flash which was essentially built as a short-run or maybe a prototype from shelf parts.  I'd be a cranky sob if the dryer panels were popping on me in the middle of runs. 

So John, you like that CCI disc over the Matsui?  I'm still making my decision on what to start one.  Sounds like Matsui is great but CCI is greater so far.

Moving to 10 gage wire will solve a lot of your problem. 14 gage in a heat environment is not a good idea regardless if it meets the amp rating. As far as the stakon to be used you should use a nickel plated steel stakon with stainless bolt,nut,and washers. When stripping the wire use a professional wire stripper, not the cheap units. If you mar the wire while stripping the insulation you are already destined to fail. The high temp wire is plated to prevent heat fatigue and if marred will be a place where the problem begins and as others have said use the proper crimping tool. A proper connection and wire gage should last the life of the element which in our elements is usually in excess of 10 years.

Now that's more like it.  Nobody should be re-installing wiring to a panel until that panel finally bites it. 

Thanks for that tip.  I've never had to strip high temp wire to re-connect a heat panel because our gear was built to a higher standard than some apparently but that's excellent info to know all the same.