having enough IR lights to make the chassis think it's in an oven is certainly not necessary. As stated above, the "overlap" is actually expected in an IR situation due to the fact that it can only cure "X" amount of space in a specified time. Just as a general rule, move the light within 12" of your part, watch for a flow of powder and wait 10-15 minutes.... then move the light onto the next area down where you see that powder "half-melted" and start the process all over again.... it flows, start a timer, and so on and so on. Like I said before.... if you want a process that's a little bit quicker, then subtract one of the M2000's and add an M9000 in it's place (larger IR surface) to cut time down quite a bit. Workable area is still the general space of 12-16ish inches away from the light.
Let's take as a good example a past customer of mine that only did lock down rings for truck tires ( they go on rims that can be broken down). I had him hang them on a line with a bank of about 12 IR lights and it moved at approx. 4 feet a minute. Coat them and as they move throught the "chamber" they cured. The lights faced one another and then when the parts came into "view" the cure process started. As the part moved through the IR bank, they cured and then exited. Approx distance from part to light was 14 inches. He coated rings ALL DAY LONG in this fashion. Pallets full of lock down rings left the facility and his "IR oven" space was no wider than that which you would walk on and about 10' long, tucked up against the side of the wall. From blast to packaging, his whole entire coating area took up about the space of a common one car garge. THAT is making the most of your space! More importantly.... THAT is what IR lighting is all about...... a lot of heat concentrated in a tiny amount of area. In your instance.... the IR will be folded up and moved out of the way for precedence to use as a mechanical area I'd assume.
To answer another question, yes.... the closer yo get, the warmer your temperature. Effective range is 12-16ish inches as stated above. A good general rule of thumb is 12"= 425 degrees, 14" = 375, 16" = 325 and if I were to use as a heat source (such as if I were working in a cold garage and had no alternative heat) I'd have them several feet away from me to keep me warm. Keep in mind, when using these lights for coating purposes..... these lights heat the metal as well and not just the powder coating. So if you have say.... we'll use my infamous widget example for this one, a piece of 36" X 36" by 1/2" thick aluminum widget..... the heat transferred from the operating side would most assuredly travel through to other parts of the widget and cure to some degree, beyond the "view" of the IR (backside or farther out on the piece as expected).
""I don't think I have ever used a IR light before. Can you bring me up to speed on how it works."" ..... sure you have. ever eat french fries from a fast food place? Your food was kept warm by a very weak version of that very same IR. They are not one and the same as far as coating and curing your powder go (that question was raised not all that long ago here) but the principal is the same. Those lights are of a "long wave" format. Think of big long gentle waves on a calm ocean.... not to much to speak up in ways of activity.... but the water is in fact, moving. Now.... think of a typical day of surf at the beach.... you can go in the water but there's no doubt water is moving at a good pace. This is medium wave. Now.... think of a bunch of power boats on a lake and the wake left behind them....now multiply the height of the wake by a little bit. Fast movement in bursts of wave..... but they always seem to lose value by the time they hit the shore (a great distance away)..... that is like short wave. Long wave travels farther... but not much "oomph" to really write home about, or in this case..... heat to get your part cured. This is why your french fries don't automatically get burnt as opposed to just stay warm. Medium wave is a typical day at the beach, so to speak. A good focus of waves and just enough concentration to get you wet and have fun to boogie board on for a while, but not forever. Lastly, we have the races on the lake. Fast and agressive.... water (or IR light in this case) moves rapidly and you'll most certainly perform acrobatic stunts if you jump over them with a pair of skis close enough. Will they make it to shore? Nope..... intensity that great never lasts for long and you have to be "in the sweet spot" to enjoy it, per se.
Medium wave light is a good "all around" system to use. If you don't have a good amount of time to deal with the compact size of the M2000, get one M9000 and mate it along with one M2000 as stated earlier. The M9000 can be on the outside of the chassis while the 2000 can be directly opposite it inside catching what the bigger one doesn't "see" as a boost. If you are *just* redoing welds or small parts of some such... I'd suggest the S2000 due to the fact that it's like the power boat example.... but you are doing frames. Good for a valve cover maybe... but not for a large suface area such as yours. The goal is to mimic a large oven, after all. Personally.... if it were MY money, I'd get one M2000 and one M9000 just to cut down on the time factor and growth potential in the future. But that's just me.
Hope that answered some of your questions...... Russ
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