Do the quartz bulbs in a flash wear out?

[jvanick]

I was running a large 6 color job over the weekend and was using the flashback on our javelin instead of the Quartz Express flash that I normally have in head 2...

oddly, the flashback was flashing the ink faster than the Quartz Express flash...

I know that the flashback keeps it's elements on and up to temperature... but it seems like the flash times with the QE flash have been getting longer in order to get the same results.

Anybody out there with a QE flash that has had the same experience?  Any modifications you might want to share that you've done to that flash to make it better?  I'm considering just moving the flashback to head 2 and using it as a 'table-up' flash as it really is that much quicker.

[alan802]

I had a conversation about flashes with Rick the other day and he said that due to some of the bulb's wavelengths, reflection and some other scientific stuff I don't understand just yet, some IR panels will gel the ink faster due to better absorption of the heat.  There was a lot more to it but I had asked him about an IR shuttle flash he has at one of his shops and they were getting faster flash times than with several different brands of quartz flash units.  The shuttle IR flash was faster than his older quartz units, and a progressive flash and an older American Hi-flash unit.  I have never noticed any weakening of our quartz bulbs and the biggest factor in flash times is the ink itself and deposit thickness.  We are using a super fast flashing poly white right now with thin thread mesh and our flash times are half of what they were using a different white ink and standard mesh counts.

[Inkworks]

I hate having to turn on the IR flash for the manual in the summer, so much so that we run small jobs on the auto or work hard to do 1 hit prints on the manual. I've heard a different rep. who mentioned that in many cases IR can be more energy efficient than quartz, but not faster.

....Very interested in you FF poly white Alan, care to share? Our old go-to seems to have gone to crap in recent batches.

[alan802]

I hate having to turn on the IR flash for the manual in the summer, so much so that we run small jobs on the auto or work hard to do 1 hit prints on the manual. I've heard a different rep. who mentioned that in many cases IR can be more energy efficient than quartz, but not faster.

....Very interested in you FF poly white Alan, care to share? Our old go-to seems to have gone to crap in recent batches.

Yeah Rick also mentioned that the IR could actually be cheaper in some cases.

I've used a few gallons of One Stroke Production White.  It will block the bleed with the best of them, has zero hot tack problems like a lot of poly whites do, not much puff, flashes the fastest of any white we've ever used, and isn't ridiculously priced for what it does.  It's a keeper for us. 

[Sbrem]

Yes, they do, just like everything else. Expensive to replace too, but newer units seem to have less expensive ones...

Steve

[Binkspot]

Like Allen said it's the bulb wave length, reflectors and bulb spacing that affects how powerful the flash is. Ours usually burn out before a noticeable difference. If the unit has a power intensity adjustment that could be at fault. Some brand X units randomly will switch from 100% to 50%.

[inkman996]

Like Allen said it's the bulb wave length, reflectors and bulb spacing that affects how powerful the flash is. Ours usually burn out before a noticeable difference. If the unit has a power intensity adjustment that could be at fault. Some brand X units randomly will switch from 100% to 50%.

Really? I never had that happen to me! …..Sarcasm…….