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Ok A cheaper press it has to be, if i need to replace it in a year then so be it.
Can anyone recommend anything suitable for T-shirts n Hoodies for under £300 - £350ish
Great forum and I have learned a great deal over the last few days but I still can put my finger on a heat press that sits between the "chocolate teapot" bracket and "lifelong workhorse"
Many thanks
The trouble is, not that you might have to replace it sooner rather than later but the heat may not be even across the heat plate !
I had terrible trouble with my cheap press and never got to use it, I tried to press a transfer and as the press was so un-even it distorted the transfer film and ruined the transfer completely. If you MUST go the cheap route go and test the press first.
I think I had a bad one, but the way cheaper presses work is the problem as they have an element like an oven which does not cover the whole heat plate unlike the more expensive ones which use micro coils that cover edge to edge.
I say go for it though as if I hadn't bought my cheap setup I wouldn't have done anything at all.
In any case its good to go through the cheap route just for the experience.
Good Luck, you will love it once you start producing things.
Thanks Nik,
Yea I have read a few of your posts on this very subject and taken it on board.
I guess I could push to 400ish for a decent used press but there are no decent used ones on ebay bay right now.
My silhouette cameo cutter will be here tomorrow. Ill have to discipline myself and not be tempted to buy one for the sake of it.
Think I will go for a work around on a printer so I can buy a better press. Perhaps try one of these http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/chea...er-printers/a3
Hi Markola. If you have £350 in the pot I think you could pick up something very decent that'll do the job you want it to do, look around the various suppliers I'm sure you'll see something that'll take your fancy at a good price.
I'm tempted by the two clam presses on BMS but not sure how well the larger of the two distribute the heat. Been sniffing around for some reviews of these two. the 38x38 should be big enough. but if the bigger one performs then why not.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotty@BMS
I would actually prefer the smaller (and cheaper) one for doing tees, personally.
There's always decent used presses on Ebay! But the good ones go quick, and you need to know what to look for.
We bagged a PressMech off there for £50 buy-it-now the other day! ;-)
I would agree, I have seen loads of great presses on ebay. That was until I was ready to buy. If you find you have one too many give me a shout ;-)
There was a PressMech that ended a month ago for £109, light use too, why waste money on dodgy Chinese stuff?
I never seem to find cheap decent presses on Ebay !!!
Thanks Gary, I'm going to try and hang on and be patient. Wont be easy though, my cutter and bits n bobs are arriving tomorrow. Will be sat there tormenting me.
No, neither do I but that is because there are people constantly checking and buying them all up ;-)
I will buy some if/when I see them as there is always someone looking for a good press on here.
I will use my Ricoh and standard inks.. bee researching and maybe this may not be as simple as I first hoped :(
Don't know what you mean! ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by NikGrey
We missed out on the last one that went for £109 though - forgot to bid - D'oh!
If you want a cheap chinese press go for the clam press for the time being, the reason being is beacuse the swing press is not sturdy its held by one screw and wobbles, if you have around £350 however i would wait for something good to come on ebay you may grab your self a bargain mate.
Please hold out for a used good press - as mentioned Ebay usually has a good selection of used Adkins (proper UK made Beta range, not the newer Chinese ones), Insta (USA Adkins equivilent), Jarin/Europa (another UK press company making Clam style presses) Rarely there are also PressMech, and these usually go ridiculously cheaply as they aren't so recognisable, and most users don't seem to know what make/model they are to be able to advertise them properly.
I think it's a tad unfair to uniformly equate 'cheap' to mean tat. Inexpensive machines can offer good value for money and a good starting point for beginners. Obviously you just need to hunt out these inexpensive deals and sort the wheat from the chaff.
On the whole I agree, and rarely use the term 'cheap' to denote anything except low cost, but having used low cost Chinese made presses, and more high end UK and USA produced presses, I would say that the Chinese ones do feel inferior in quality in comparison. The one exception to this, is what is referred to on AliBaba as a "Korean Swinging Head Press" which was a heavy and well built swing away press, much higher quality then the cheap Chinese clams and swings.
When used presses from Adkins, Insta, PressMech and Jarin can go for less than you pay for a cheap flimsy Chinese model, I would always recommend getting a good quality used model, rather than something low-end and cheap.
I hear what you're saying regarding flimsy designs, as a previous poster mentioned I think you're more likely to see that with the swing presses. But I can also say from experience that I have seen some pretty sturdy Chinese clam presses, maybe not the prettiest, but well built. And as important, even temperature distribution across the whole platen, even pressure when engaged and accurate temperature display on the control box. I think the 'unknown quantity' factor is always a problem with the cheaper presses, once bitten twice shy and all that.
Just got another PressMech on Ebay ... buy it now for a grand sum of £20! It is in need of some repair work though as some bits missing, but they're easy to tear down and rebuild.Quote:
Originally Posted by GoonerGary
Thanks pisquee,Quote:
Originally Posted by pisquee
I just got an Adkins clam press off ebay for £390 bit more than I wanted to pay but my weekend is now free.
Here's one worth watching: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEAT-PRESS-/231191363267?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35d414 3ec3
I ended up buying this at £390 looks tidy enough and not too far from me. I can get cracking on now.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adkins-Heat-Press-/301138454915?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STR K%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=b9MVx97ZRCVgrKgSCkzFTA3 YHz8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
looks like a nice press! Hope it serves you well. I love the 'Superdry' vinyl cutout in the background on the first image!! :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Markola
I saw that, looks rather suspect.Quote:
Originally Posted by spongerobinson
I keep an eye on fleabay for Pressmech, Adkins etc several times a week but very rarely see anything - how come everyone else keeps finding them!
Arthur
Hope you are referring to the superdry cutout and not the press.
The seller mentioned he had a contract with superdry. Who knows. Either way picked the press up today and well pleased with it.
The bargains are the ones with badly worded adverts, crap photographs, and tend not to actually mention the make/model of press - having a saved search in Ebay for "PressMech" for example will hardly ever get you any results, as I don't think I've ever seen one actually advertised by its brand name. The first one we bought off Ebay without knowing what it was, or how good it was, just needed a press quickly of that size, and there was one fairly close at a good price. Took me a few weeks of searching online to find out what it actually was, as there is no branding on the press itself to know what it is.
Believe me I was keeping an almost "round the clock vigil" and ready to drop when I came across mine. I was getting to the point where I would have bought anything just to get some sleep.Quote:
Originally Posted by arthur.daley
I have on several occasions just searched on heat +press including in description. Having got xx,000 returns I filter by location - anywhere within 200 miles. Next I select to display 200 items at a time and just whizz down the page stopping for anything that isn't red or black!
:o(
Very old original Adkins are green - branded as "Double A" for A Adkins and Sons.Quote:
Originally Posted by arthur.daley
Old Adkins are cream/blue
New TexiPress are yellow, although older ones black
New Adkins/Insta mainly creamy colour
PressMech are white/blue depending on age
Jarin mostly blue, but some were bradned as different companies, some being red (there's possibly one of these red ones on there at the moment, but hard to tell from the photo!)
We breifly had a yellow TexiPress, but I think my wife sold it to a friend who wanted one before we even used it. So, can't comment on what they're like. With a drawer style lower base, they're a good compromise between a swing and clam.
I once (in the last 12 months I think) saw on Ebay an old green Adkins press, which was exactly the same design as a present day PressMech!
well I have decided to bite the bullet and am going to order a deep impact swing press from TMT. Made in China, assembled in Hinckley but at least it has a life time warranty on the element and I won't have to spend hours wading through gazillions of ads on ebay anymore and can get on with doing something a bit more productive!
Thanks for the colour coding advice Pisquee, hopefully it will come in useful to anyone else scanning ebay for a bargain press.
Arthur
Hinkley = Adkins then, good choice.
Congratulations Aurthor.D on your liberation from ebay. Enjoy your new found freedom.
Useful post! I'm looking at getting a second press and been scouring eBay on and off for the past few weeks. Seems I've already missed some bargains though.Quote:
Originally Posted by pisquee
Perhaps it may be worth setting up some kind of gentlemen's agreement so we aren't all bidding up each others presses ;-)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frostee
which of course would be a cartel and illegal?
Cartel would kinda be the opposite really. Pushing prices up etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frostee
not at all its just a means of controlling prices and trade.
From the OFT website
"
[h=What is a cartel?]1[/h] In its simplest terms, a cartel is an agreement between businesses not to compete with each other. The agreement is usually secret, verbal and often informal. "