Which heat press for 8x8" tiles?

Hi All, I've been pressing my artwork onto mugs for a while now using a BMS mug press and ricoh A4 printer and I'd like to start sublimating onto tiles - small coaster plus larger 8x8" tiles for wall hanging. My budget is very tight so I'm considering the BMS DF30 30cm x 38cm Swing Away Press for this kind of thing. It's very cheap so I'm wondering if it is a false economy?

Has anyone pressed tiles successfully using this press? Any other options welcomed.

Edit: I've just seem that Coralgraph do an even cheaper swing away press - any opinions on this one too please?

Well before peeps leap on this and start saying how good there adkins and stahls presses are which I think is well established I'd quite like to know about the bms press also. Maybe BMS will come on here and let us know what checks they do if any or someone else could let us know if how it has preformed. Is it the same as other budget presses or is it the top end of budget presses? As for the Coralgraph press I do get some blanks from them that are decent but there have been a few threads about there presses on here that have put me off. Those could be isolated incidents etc but i'd feel a bit of a numpty if I bought one and it all went wrong.

I use and Adkins for most of my work but I also have a small Chinese press from Coralgraph, cost me just over £100. Print area is around 12" x 9". I use this for thicker items, acrylics mainly as the Adkins doesn't open wide enough. I do have a lower plate for the Adkins to do thicker items but to be honest I just switch the little Chinese press on for these jobs :-) It heats up very quickly and has served me very well over the past couple of years.

One of the biggest differences with cheaper presses is the layout of the element. On more expensive machines the element is far better and gives a more consistent heat across the platen. But I have to say, the Chinese press doesn't suffer with any problems at all.

Certainly worth a punt at that price level, you can always upgrade to something better as your work dictates.

I'm assuming you're talking about ceramic tiles. make sure you have a good silicone sheet/soft pad on top when pressing, this will ensure the print goes right over the edge :-) Alternatively, a 3D machine may well do a good job with tiles but I'm yet to test.

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Originally Posted by galerion

Well before peeps leap on this and start saying how good there adkins and stahls presses are .....

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Agreed! I know that these are the Rolls Royces but my budget is around the £200 mark max. If I can't get a press that will press tiles well for this price then I'll keep my money and put it towards one of the many other projects rattling around in my head :)

Justin, thank you. I think I might give it a whirl.

When people refer to cheap "Chinese" presses, where do you buy these from? Are these just the cheaper end of what you can buy from BMS etc or are they on ebay?

Yes, the presses on CG and BMS are what we refer to as Chinese presses.

http://www.coralgraph.com/heat-press...igital-version

This is the sort of press I have. if you look at Pauls videos on the main forum page you'll see he uses one as well :-)

Just to add to the thread, I have the press that Justin linked to also (presses up to A4). I do coasters and metal with it and it has been absolutely perfect for my needs.

Neil.

If you search ebay for " 23x30cm Swing Away Digital Version " you've got an hour to get the coralgraph press for '20%' off at £104. Going to pick one up myself.

Good Morning VioletSub,

We at Xpres have all the presses you could need if you interested. I have sold presses for specialist needs like fireplace tiles to standardized usage. If you need any advice just let me know, my email is in the signature.

All the best

Alastair @ Xpres

Just as an update - I went for the Coralgraph swing away press (ebay, thanks for the tip GoonerGary!) and I've pressed a couple of sample tiles while I wait for a bigger batch to arrive. I'm really happy with the results so thanks for all the advice.
One very odd thing (maybe I'm being thick) if I set the timer to 420 (7 min - 60sec x 7 = 420!!) the time is up several minutes too early. It seems to be counting down far too fast. Have I got the units wrong and is 420 actually 4min20sec?