Stop Dealing with Cold Spots in Your Glass Kilns
Most infrared lamps stop at about a meter. If you’re running a long glass finishing tunnel, that’s a problem. Why? Because every time you join two short lamps together, you get a “cold spot.” Those little gaps lead to uneven tempering and surface defects that you just don’t want to see on your finished product. We figured out a better way. We build custom infrared units that stretch past 2 meters. The electrical headache Here’s the thing: when you make a lamp that long, the electricity doesn’t just “work” the same way. If you aren’t careful, the ends burn out while the middle stays lukewarm. To fix this, we play around with the filament winding density and use high-grade quartz glass. It keeps the heat steady from one end to the other. Just a heads-up—you’ll want to check your power supply. These extended units pull a specific amount of amperage, and you don’t want a voltage drop killing your efficiency. Built for the long haul Since these are meant for continuous layouts, we didn’t just make them longer; we made them tougher. We use reinforced end-caps and specialized connectors so you can wire them in parallel or series, depending on how your kiln is set up. Plus, we treat the quartz envelope. When a 2-meter tube hits operating temperature, it expands. If the glass isn’t treated for that, it’s going to snap. The trade-off (Because nothing is perfect) Longer units mean fewer gaps and a much smoother heat flow for those massive glass sheets. It’s a huge win for quality. But there’s a catch. A 2-meter tube is fragile. You can’t just toss these around or handle them like a standard lightbulb. You’ll need dedicated support brackets every 500mm to stop them from sagging. And one last thing: check your cooling. If your system isn’t ready for the concentrated heat of a continuous 2-meter array, you might actually warp your kiln frame. Not exactly the result we’re going for.