T-shirts???

[Supertprinting]

If you put your hands together, palm to palm and keeping your wrists together while lifting your fingers away from one another, that mimics the clam shell press. Do the same thing, but life your hands apart an inch and twist the top hand 90 degrees and it will mimic the swing away.

Whether you choose a clam shell or swing away, you will be well served by a press with auto release timer, pressure gauge and digital temp controls.

Such as: http://www.imprintables.com/index.c...tion=dspItem&itemID=1170&catID=7&subCatID=116

Or in a swing away: http://www.imprintables.com/index.c...ction=dspItem&itemID=804&catID=7&subCatID=116

You can of course find cheaper heat presses which may serve your needs for a few years as you build up your t-shirt business.

 

[Sticker Dude]

Do you believe I bought my press off ebay over 4 years ago Chinese heat press for I think it was like $225 something like that and Never had a problem with it at all
I replaced the plug thats it because my bird went to chewin' almost to the wires

 

[chopper]

sorry been workin' here is the link to the press that I have http://www.heatpress.com/product.php?cat=multipurpose&pn=16 the geo knight swing away has different attachment some for hats and mugs etc.. there is a heating element that goes with the table that is curved, mine is called a digital combo, I do not know if this is the only manufacture that offers this type of system or not but if you spend a little time with google you will find all the info you need
//chopper

 

[cartoad]

Sticky, you can find a lot of info about the hat atachment on T-shirt web sites,

 

[G-Artist]

Why is that G-Artist? What's the difference between the clam and the swing away?

Even if properly taped, numbers and letters added to the textile are hard to do on a workbench and then transferred to the press and keep properly aligned.

Working with a clamshell, you hands and face are mere inches from the heat source. Doing a few units is no real problem. Doing a batch is something else. On a normal height bench you face takes a beating. Just how severe depends on your height and the height of the table and press.

With a swing-away, you can easily pre-press the garment (pre-press is always wise), swing away the head, apply whatever it is you are adding, swing the head into position, press and restart again. No strain, no burns, no heat fatigue.

One other thing to consider....if it is only the shop owner doing the work then you can live with some discomfort - go cheap and possibly suffer - it's your life and bank account. I did it out of ignorance (buying my first one). If you expect an employee to do the same work ... and, god forbid, one that gets burned which may trigger an OSHA followup, think again. Think carefully.

If you rarely do the add ons then go with a clamshell. If you do a lot of pressing other than a simple transfer, a swing-away can pay for itself in increased productivity alone.

Soap box mode off.

 

[Sticky Signs]

Great info G-Artist. Never thought of that.

 

[Mike_Koval]

There are three differnt styles of heat presses to choose from…clam, swinger, and draw.

Clam – The name comes from the fact that the heat press opens and closes like that of a clam. This style of press is the mosy widely used style of press out there. These presses take up very little room because they open up and down, rather than swinging away, thus there is no need to have any extra space to the left or the right. Clam shells often have a variety of different options available including, digital or non-digital time, temp and pressue readouts, manual or auto open. If you are limited in space, this is probably the best fit for you. I would strongly recommend digital and auto-open simply for ease of use. One disadvantage is you will be working under heat.

Swinger – To open or close this heat press, rather than up and down, the upper platen swings away to the right or the left side. This heat press is ideal for those who wish to work with a “heat free workspace”. Since the heat press swings away, you will not have to work under a heated surface as you would with a clam press. This will be a huge plus if you are doing names and numbers where placement is key. It gives you a whole area to lay them out as opposed to working under the platen as you would with a clam. You will need extra room to the right with this heat press to allow for the swing. Also available in an air operated model (air compressor required).

Draw – This is a rather unique heat press. The Draw heat press’s lower platen pulls out like drawer. This too, allows for a “heat free” surface as well. It is also a heat press that doesn’t require a lot of space. same benefits apply when it comes to layout as the swing away.

Swinger/Draw combo - The 16" x 20" Hotronix Fusion is the only heat press engineered with dual-motion capabilities and touch screen technology. Its patented design allows it to perform in both swing and draw motion to accommodate user and workspace requirements. The Fusion heat press is in a class of its own - it's the world's first heat press equipped with touch screen technology and unlimited programmable settings. Also 100% threadable lower platen.

Any one of these different syles of heat presses would all be an excellent choice. What you have to look at is, which of these features will best suit you. Our best seller is the 16x20 Hotronix auto clam, however the Fusion is becoming very, very popular.

 

[Sticky Signs]

Thanks for the low-down Mike. Once again, lots of great info.

Chopper has definitely turned my attention to the Geo Knight DC16. I like the fact that it has the ability to add attachments. Anyone know where to get them in Canada?

 

[ZsVinylInc]

Sticky Signs,

I recently made a purchase of heat press equipment (by recently I mean finished the paper work on this past wednesday) I spent a lot of time looking at different models. I looked hard at the Geo knight DC16 as I had a chance to pick up a good used one. I also thought at first it might be a good way to go because I could buy all of the attachments. But after doing my research I realized the hat and mug stand alone presses were not that much more expensive to buy then the attachments. Where I saw buying the separate presses as a smart move is when doing mug sublimation printing your mug press could be tied up for anywhere from 4-6 mins. That accounts to several shirts that could be done at the same time if you had stand alone equipment.

I am waiting on my equipment to show up and am excited to try out the new 16" x 20" Hotronix Fusion. I purchased this from Mike at Imprintables Warehouse. Two of the features that I thought would come in real hand for my situation is that the Fusion has both the swing away and draw motions. In the space that I currently work out of I do not have the room to operate a press as a swing away but can as a draw. If we move and have more space then I might need to operate it as a swing away depending on the new shop layout. The second feature I like is the ability to program it with your settings. Especially if you are doing several types of materials. For us we are also getting into do sublimation and this could become very useful as there will be a ton of different products we do and all of them will have their own temp and time settings. Being able to just call them up from memory saves you trying to find the sheets with the info as well as punching it in every time.

Hope this info helps you.

Big Z.

 

[TXGraphix24]

How many of you are doing this? Not many people do heat press vinyl. Most just use it to iron on names on jerseys, instead of making screens for names..
Are you/your clients satisfied with the results? Yes to a degree. heatpressed vinyl tends to crinkle, and if used roughly the lettering will fall right off.
What's your preferred media? Not sure what you mean by this.. The only place i see heat press being used is if you have a lot of small orders (6 or less) or need it for names on jerseys.
Any pros/cons to doing this in-house?

The vinyl is very expensive. Most places make you buy it by 10 yards, which is around 80 bucks. and if your order is small your not making any money if you have to go out and purchase a new color.