Quartz Flashes - Image Size, Delicate Fabrics, Maintenance and WB inks

[ZooCity]

Thinking about pulling the trigger on a new rapid wave flash tomorrow.  Was going to get a 16x18 but had a few questions for those using quartz:

• I notice with IR, I like to have the flash bigger than the platen to ensure the edges of a wider print aren't neglected.  Is this helpful with Quartz as well or unnecessary?
• Delicate fabrics- does the intensity control and crafty use of the bulb zones allow you to use quartz to flash, say, nylon?
• WB ink- is a forced air IR better here or will the fans in a typical quartz unit followed by another fan station or two work for times when flashing WB is necessary?
• How's the upkeep on these suckers?  I know it varies by model and bulb type but for the straight-ahead, white bread anatol I'm looking at how is it?

My last question is how much faster are these over IR?  We have an air shuttle unit (needs the shuttle part fixed up currently) that moves pretty darn quick on the shuttle and could be juiced up with a higher-wattage panel easily.  That would cost less but I want quicker production.  I hate waiting on the flash.  A cooler printshop sounds nice too. 

I'd be plugging this into 3ph.  I'd like a longer, 20" flash seeing as our max print size is 15x18 but I think the 18" long is the largest model that will fit on a Titan should we decide to upgrade to a little auto next year.  North, what size it yours?  It'd be nice to interchange the flashes as needed.   

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

[inkbrigade]

• I notice with IR, I like to have the flash bigger than the platen to ensure the edges of a wider print aren't neglected.  Is this helpful with Quartz as well or unnecessary?

Yep. The bigger the better

• Delicate fabrics- does the intensity control and crafty use of the bulb zones allow you to use quartz to flash, say, nylon?

This is a tough one... we never do nylon. We find flashing stuff like the american apparel tri-blend can be tough. Usually adjust the flash times or raise the flash.

• WB ink- is a forced air IR better here or will the fans in a typical quartz unit followed by another fan station or two work for times when flashing WB is necessary?

I don't think we ever flash WB. Usually wet on wet.. Maybe i'm wrong, my wife runs the press

• How's the upkeep on these suckers?  I know it varies by model and bulb type but for the straight-ahead, white bread anatol I'm looking at how is it?

Clean the reflectors once in awhile. Vacuum out the fans from time to time.. just like anything else. Replacing a bulb is really really rare. In 3 years i've only replaces 2 bulbs, and it's because i left a crescent wrench on a pallet and raised the table.

My last question is how much faster are these over IR?  We have an air shuttle unit (needs the shuttle part fixed up currently) that moves pretty darn quick on the shuttle and could be juiced up with a higher-wattage panel easily.  That would cost less but I want quicker production.  I hate waiting on the flash.  A cooler printshop sounds nice too. 

Once a run is going and the plattens are hot we usually flash for 2 sec. It's crazy fast. I'll never use an IR flash again.
You never burn platens on accident, keeps the shop much cooler, flashing seems more exact and quicker and i think it uses less power. Plus you don't need to wait for them to "Warm up"

[Northland]

Thinking about pulling the trigger on a new rapid wave flash tomorrow.  Was going to get a 16x18 but had a few questions for those using quartz:

I'd be plugging this into 3ph.  I'd like a longer, 20" flash seeing as our max print size is 15x18 but I think the 18" long is the largest model that will fit on a Titan should we decide to upgrade to a little auto next year.  North, what size it yours?  It'd be nice to interchange the flashes as needed.   

Thanks in advance for any advice.

My Rapid wave is 16 X 18...... I'm the wrong person to ask about flash size, my standard print is 13" x 13".
A Titan is a 20" wide, sideclamp press... it may be a pita to use a Titan sized flash in a bigger press.

'Can't offer any advice about flashing waterbase.

In my limited experience.... I'll agree wholly with InkBrigade. Quartz is the best option.
My analogy is:
IR is a stick welder..... Quartz is a spot welder. Both will do the job, but you get better control with the Quartz.

I think it would be prudent to wait and match your flash to a future auto.

Maybe a portable rolling Quartz would serve for the time being... and easily re-sold when no longer needed.

[spotcolorsupply]

I believe if you get a Rapid Wave with a stand, it can be removed from the stand pretty easily, and used on an auto later. Just make sure it isn’t too big for the press you want.

[Prosperi-Tees]

I could check myself but are all quartz flashes 3 phase?

[Northland]

I could check myself but are all quartz flashes 3 phase?

No... mine is single phase, 240 volt.

[ZooCity]

I believe if you get a Rapid Wave with a stand, it can be removed from the stand pretty easily, and used on an auto later. Just make sure it isn’t too big for the press you want.

Yep, that was my plan.  If we go auto next year it's either going to be a straight-up 10/12 with a larger format and longer investment or a little tiny guy like the Titan that we would pay off in a year or so.   We'll be keeping a manual on hand so my hope was to only need to purchase a single flash with the auto, strive to flash jobs once if at all possible or revolve as needed on that auto and then pull the flash off the manual for those times when we can't get around using 2 flashes.  Or, if we buy 2 flashes w. the auto having that 3rd on-hand if (god forbid) we needed three flashes on a job for some reason. 

I have our options for autos whittled down pretty good at this point.  On the large side, an Anatol Trident is the only one that we could directly integrate a larger flash, purchased now.  The other contenders- RPM, MHM (if we have the dough) - have their own specific flashers and no manual option that I can see. 

With the Titan, I'd want to get that color saver flash with the purchase and then pull the Rapid Wave off the manual as needed.

It's not the end of the world if the flash has to stay with the manual.  If that's the case I want to go bigger though, hence my question about a 16"x18" bulb area being enough to consistently flash 15"x18" images.  Our IR panel is 24"wide x 22" long, 5280watt and it still seems like the edges of prints don't get enough heat even at 10s flash times.   

Northland, could you see a 16x20" flash fitting into the Titan?  Seems like it would just hang out the back a little more but I'm not familiar enough to say for certain. 

Still curious about delicates like blends and such.

Trying to plan for forward compatibility in this industry takes a hell of a lot of thought!

[ebscreen]

Intensity control on the flash absolutely helps with delicate fabrics.
You can likely do it with height and time but it's really easy to push
a few buttons and have it solved.

That said, I typically leave it on the highest power and control by time.
Unless you're printing a lot of oddball fabrics it's not a deal killer.

[Northland]

The Titan is listed as having a 16 x 16 print... 'don't think you could get good 18" prints on it (never tried).
So, a  20 inch flash may fit into the Titan, but wouldn't offer an advantage.
Darrell (3Deep) has the Horizon Mini... which is very similar to the Titan (spec. wise).
Maybe he'll comment on print length.

The color saver flash may not be available to fit the Titan... the stations are really close together (hence the small diameter, 8'3" for the 5 X 6  -and-  9'4" for the 7 x .
... not trying to downplay the Titan. I'm happy with mine, but it has it's limitations. If you can fit a 11 or 12 foot press into your space you'd have more options.

[Prosperi-Tees]

The standard horizon 6/8 is what I was looking at similar to the Diamondback but alot more features and definitely cheaper. Not by much but shipping was added to the M&R and Anatol threw it in.

[Prosperi-Tees]

But that was with a shuttle flash as I dont have enough amps to push a quartz flash and everything else.

[spotcolorsupply]

Yeah the color saver is not available on the Titan; it only works on the Horizon 8 or 9 color press 

A 16 X 20 flash "SHOULD" fit in the Titan, but I would definitely check with Anatol first.