Getting Your KTK Oval Printer Back Up and Running: The Right Way to Replace Your IR Lamps
If you’ve ever tried to swap out a heating element in a KTK oval printer, you know it’s about more than just checking a wattage number on a box. You can’t just “close enough” this. To get a real 1:1 fit, the heat has to hit the right spots without fighting the machine’s physical layout or blowing a fuse. The Heat Factor We build our infrared lamps to hit the exact voltage and wattage the KTK factory intended. When you’re running high-speed prints, you need that lamp to snap to temperature instantly. If it’s too weak, your ink stays tacky and you get uneven drying. Too hot? You’re risking a fried transformer. We obsess over the ohms-per-inch ratio so the heat spreads evenly across the whole tube. No hot spots, no cold gaps. Just a steady, linear glow. The Fit (Because Millimeters Matter) We use high-purity quartz glass because it can take the thermal shock without cracking. But the real secret is in the ends. We use specific connectors—usually R7s—so they just slide right into your existing sockets. No rewiring. No “making it work.” We stay away from generic fittings because if a lamp is off by even a fraction of a millimeter, it won’t seat properly. It’ll either rattle around or put too much pressure on the housing, and that’s a fast track to a broken lamp. Swapping Them Out These are true drop-in replacements. You pull the dead tube, slide this one in, and you’re done. Since we match the original footprint, you don’t have to mess with your reflectors or move any mounting brackets. One quick tip: high-density lamps put a lot of stress on your cooling fans. If your KTK is choked up with lint or ink mist, the housing is going to overheat no matter how good the lamp is. Do yourself a favor and check your airflow before you install the new tubes. It’ll keep your lamps living a lot longer.