Need a flash guru

[inkman996]

Here is the deal, the past month as we started to do more fleece especially ash or grey ones we noticed we are scorching in one specific spot on the fleece, it has been really really hard to get our flash times set and not scorch a line into the fleece. I knew from almost day one our flash has kind of a hot spot, Rich Hoffman once suggested to look at the bulbs and see if their is any that look like the windings are tighter. Nope they all look identical.

What i did in the picture below was place some paper on the palette and then flashed till almost burning, as you can see in the pic the scorch is starting about mid palette. Our flash has three zones/ten bulbs. The scorch is happening either on the fifth or sixth bulb. Visually when lit up they all look the same.

My question for the guru's is can their be a difference in power out put to each bulb, I really do not know electrical well but it just seems to me something is fishy in that area of the flash, shouldn't every bulb be consistent from one to the next? I am also going to switch the bulb with the last one and see if that helps.

[ebscreen]

Yep, switch it and see what happens. Technically it's not possible for one bulb to receive more juice,
but it is possible for the rest of the bulbs to receive less, via non-tight connections, etc.

Also, can bulb height be adjusted? And the fact that it's in the middle might speak to something
more of a physical nature than electrical, IE heat building in one area. Does the unit have fans?

Lastly, unless the fabric is extremely sensitive (rayon and whatnot) then there should be a large
window between flashed and burnt.

[alan802]

I know that we have to be more careful this time of year with the fleece, and especially the fleece with heather in it.  We don't have a hot spot like Mike is having and I wish I knew more about flash units and those quartz bulbs.  The only captain obvious thing that I can add is it shouldn't be doing that.  When we burn something it's almost a perfectly round spot starting in the dead center of the flash unit and extends outward, the size of the burn depends on how long it was burning.  The pocket hoodies with heather are the worst, I'll turn down bulb intensity from 100% to 60-70% and keep the same flash times.  Do you have the ability to change the bulb intensity and standby time and intensity?

[inkman996]

EB Alan thanks for the replies.

EB the lee way on flashing heather and the scorch area is almost non existent literally! As Alan stated I am trying to lower bulb intensity and dweel time yet I am still having a really hard time fully gelling and not causing that damn scorch in the center!

Yep there is fans and they seem to be working accordingly, as far as I can tell everything really looks kosher except for that area. I am at a point where anything heather is an instant headache for me.

Next question, if I swap the bulb and the issue is still in the same area which will rule out the bulb is there a way to use a multi meter or something to see if there is anything hinky in the electrical?

[244]

EB Alan thanks for the replies.

EB the lee way on flashing heather and the scorch area is almost non existent literally! As Alan stated I am trying to lower bulb intensity and dweel time yet I am still having a really hard time fully gelling and not causing that damn scorch in the center!

Yep there is fans and they seem to be working accordingly, as far as I can tell everything really looks kosher except for that area. I am at a point where anything heather is an instant headache for me.

Next question, if I swap the bulb and the issue is still in the same area which will rule out the bulb is there a way to use a multi meter or something to see if there is anything hinky in the electrical?

there are a couple reasons this could be happening. Contact me direct and I will explain what the issue is. Doing it on here would only help the competition.

[inkman996]

EB Alan thanks for the replies.

EB the lee way on flashing heather and the scorch area is almost non existent literally! As Alan stated I am trying to lower bulb intensity and dweel time yet I am still having a really hard time fully gelling and not causing that damn scorch in the center!

Yep there is fans and they seem to be working accordingly, as far as I can tell everything really looks kosher except for that area. I am at a point where anything heather is an instant headache for me.

Next question, if I swap the bulb and the issue is still in the same area which will rule out the bulb is there a way to use a multi meter or something to see if there is anything hinky in the electrical?

there are a couple reasons this could be happening. Contact me direct and I will explain what the issue is. Doing it on here would only help the competition.

I understand!

Quick question from you Rich what is the basic tolerance or quality criteria for flash bulbs? What i mean is do you require that all bulbs be with in a certain spec of each other so there is no issues with uneven heating problems like I have? The bulbs on my flash i do not even know where they come from but I heard they are very expensive, of that is the case I would as the manufacturer and user of the bulbs expect a certain amount of consistency.

Rich you can email me or call with your thoughts any time, tomorrow I will swap the bulbs around to see if that either rules out the bulb or rules in hinky wiring etc.

[Gilligan]

Yeah that can be an issue because if it has less resistance it would burn hotter.

[IntegrityShirts]

EB Alan thanks for the replies.

EB the lee way on flashing heather and the scorch area is almost non existent literally! As Alan stated I am trying to lower bulb intensity and dweel time yet I am still having a really hard time fully gelling and not causing that damn scorch in the center!

Yep there is fans and they seem to be working accordingly, as far as I can tell everything really looks kosher except for that area. I am at a point where anything heather is an instant headache for me.

Next question, if I swap the bulb and the issue is still in the same area which will rule out the bulb is there a way to use a multi meter or something to see if there is anything hinky in the electrical?

there are a couple reasons this could be happening. Contact me direct and I will explain what the issue is. Doing it on here would only help the competition.

I understand!

Quick question from you Rich what is the basic tolerance or quality criteria for flash bulbs? What i mean is do you require that all bulbs be with in a certain spec of each other so there is no issues with uneven heating problems like I have? The bulbs on my flash i do not even know where they come from but I heard they are very expensive, of that is the case I would as the manufacturer and user of the bulbs expect a certain amount of consistency.

Rich you can email me or call with your thoughts any time, tomorrow I will swap the bulbs around to see if that either rules out the bulb or rules in hinky wiring etc.

Swapping out bulbs that don't scorch other areas rules out the bulbs in my opinion.  I'd check line voltage on all three legs of three phase power with a multimeter from the solid state relay outputs with the flash on.  Gotta pull the cover on it though.  Check all connections and look for overheated wires that may have worked loose.

[inkman996]

I swapped the bulbs 3 times and sure enough still scorching dead center WTF!

This definitely rules out the bulbs.

Now to answer the two questions that people will ask.

1. Yes the flash is absolutely dead level with the platens.
2. The fans by observation seem to be working correctly, I heated a shirt till it smoked heavily and watched the smoke to see if any areas were dead spots, from what I could see all areas were blowing around the same.

Some thing tells me Rich Hoffman is going to have the answers for this.

[244]

EB Alan thanks for the replies.

EB the lee way on flashing heather and the scorch area is almost non existent literally! As Alan stated I am trying to lower bulb intensity and dweel time yet I am still having a really hard time fully gelling and not causing that damn scorch in the center!

Yep there is fans and they seem to be working accordingly, as far as I can tell everything really looks kosher except for that area. I am at a point where anything heather is an instant headache for me.

Next question, if I swap the bulb and the issue is still in the same area which will rule out the bulb is there a way to use a multi meter or something to see if there is anything hinky in the electrical?

there are a couple reasons this could be happening. Contact me direct and I will explain what the issue is. Doing it on here would only help the competition.

I understand!

Quick question from you Rich what is the basic tolerance or quality criteria for flash bulbs? What i mean is do you require that all bulbs be with in a certain spec of each other so there is no issues with uneven heating problems like I have? The bulbs on my flash i do not even know where they come from but I heard they are very expensive, of that is the case I would as the manufacturer and user of the bulbs expect a certain amount of consistency.

Rich you can email me or call with your thoughts any time, tomorrow I will swap the bulbs around to see if that either rules out the bulb or rules in hinky wiring etc.

Don't know the specs on your bulbs but ours are within 1% tolerance.

[squeegee]

Maybe try disconecting the fans and repeat the test?