Most spot-cure fixtures are designed around one assumption that goes back decades: a straight cylindrical lightguide tip. Any facility running standard fixtures and moving from an older lamp technology to LED needs a guide that respects that assumption exactly, without an adapter or a rework step.
No Fan, No Cube Head, No Moving Parts
The Incure L9000-SG Short Guide is the simplest lightguide in the Incure L9000™ family — a straight 66 mm fibre optic with a cylindrical tip and nothing else. Where the Cool Guide adds an integrated fan for actively cooled cure points and the Long Guide adds 118 mm of reach for deep automated fixtures, the Short Guide removes everything that isn’t required for standard bench-top and semi-automated curing. There’s no fan, no cube head, no coil — just a passive fibre optic guide.
Nothing to Service at the Guide Itself
Because the Short Guide contains no moving components, it has no rated service interval of its own. The Cool Guide’s fan is the right choice when active tip cooling is genuinely required, but it’s also the only component in that configuration with a maintenance schedule attached to it. The Short Guide eliminates that interval entirely — guide upkeep is limited to periodic fibre optic inspection and tip cleaning, the same baseline maintenance every lightguide in the L9000™ range needs regardless of configuration.
Fits Standard Fixtures Without Adaptation
A straight cylindrical tip is the universal form factor most spot-cure fixtures are already built around — fixturing departments design locating features to match it as a matter of course. The Short Guide drops into that kind of fixture directly, without an adapter, a custom cradle, or a clearance modification that a cube-head guide would require. For labs and production lines already running standard spot-cure fixtures and transitioning to LED output, the Short Guide is the most direct swap: same tip geometry, higher intensity, no fixture rework.
Six Spot Diameters for Different Joint Widths
The Short Guide’s six available spot diameters — 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 mm — cover a meaningful range of bond-line widths from a single guide family, so the diameter selection at order should match the actual joint or component footprint being cured rather than defaulting to a mid-range size. A spot noticeably larger than the bond line wastes irradiated area and intensity on surrounding material that doesn’t need to cure; a spot smaller than the bond line risks incomplete cure at the joint’s edges if the fixture can’t guarantee precise centering on every cycle.
7,500 mW/cm² — Identical Output to the Cool Guide, Simpler Hardware
The Short Guide delivers the same peak irradiance as the Cool Guide at every focal distance: 7,500 mW/cm² at 9 mm, 5,000 mW/cm² at 10 mm, 2,300 mW/cm² at 17 mm, all at 365 nm and 100% output — with no intensity penalty for the simpler, fan-free configuration. Spot diameter is available in six options from 3 to 12 mm. Wavelength is factory-configured at order (365, 375, 385, 395, or 405 nm), and intensity is adjustable from 10% to 100% via the Incure L9000-BASE controller.
Legacy Migration Without Reformulating the Adhesive
A common concern when moving from an older spot-cure lamp technology to LED is whether existing adhesive formulations remain compatible — the Short Guide’s role in that migration is purely mechanical fit, but wavelength selection (365, 375, 385, 395, or 405 nm at order) still needs to match the adhesive’s existing photoinitiator system for the migration to work without reformulation. Reviewing the legacy lamp’s spectral output against the Short Guide’s available wavelength options, rather than assuming any LED configuration is a drop-in replacement, is the step that determines whether the same adhesive can be used unchanged after the equipment swap.
Verifying Fixture Fit Before Migration
Because the whole appeal of the Short Guide is dropping into an existing fixture design, it’s worth confirming the current fixture’s tip clearance and mounting geometry against the Short Guide’s 66 mm length and available spot diameters before ordering — a fixture built for a much shorter legacy guide may still need minor adjustment even with a cylindrical-tip match. Checking actual transmittance through the fibre optic after installation, rather than assuming rated output, is a useful verification step; the Incure LS217™ lightguide simulator is built for exactly that measurement.
For general guidance on lightguide selection principles across the Cool Guide, Short Guide, and Long Guide, the Incure lightguide industrial guide covers the broader decision framework. Email Us with fixture specifications for a direct fit-check against the Short Guide’s dimensions.
For help planning a migration from legacy spot-cure equipment to an L9000™ Short Guide setup, Contact Our Team.
Visit www.incurelab.com for more information.