First of all, get your filthy minds out of the gutter and read on…

Having seen a huge increase in demand for water bottles I decided to purchase a “mug” press specifically designed for the job. To be honest, I only selected the Ink Experts press because of the company, they are a reputable company and I figured they are not going to sell rubbish.

The press was ordered and arrived next day. Unwrapping the item first thing you notice is that it’s pink, I had seen some comments on social media asking for different colours which I don’t understand personally. It’s a working machine and I do not purchase machines to look at them I purchase them to earn me money J

Straight away you can tell that it is a well-made machine, it’s nice and “chunky” and feels very solid.

The machine was put to work immediately with an order for 375 1 colour black on white bottles. I figured if it can print a solid black it can print anything. I set the time to 50 seconds and the temperature to 180. The machine does not have any start/stop buttons as it is specifically for tumblers that should start to countdown immediately. It reached temperature very quickly and first bottle was placed and printed. It came out spot on. Happy with the result from the first bottle I then proceeded with the bulk.

With metal tumblers if you set a timer for 50 seconds then that is all it will take, there is no need for waiting for it to warm up each time etc. So all 375 bottles were printed in about 5 and half hours, the 50 seconds gives you enough time to unbox the next bottle and box the previously printed one. So 5.5 hours is from start to finish. Even if you were only adding £1 profit per bottle then you are looking at over £400 profit per day if you want to look at it like that.

This machine paid for itself in less than 1 day of use and although only 10 days old has printed over 500+ bottles without any issues. getting the temp right is key to this sort of thing because you do not want any “blurring” when removing the item. I may have been lucky with my starting point, but using quality ink and blanks makes a big difference

I used Listawood Bowling Pin bottles
Ink Experts Sublinova Ink (is there any other ink worthwhile ;-))
Ink Experts 115gsm sublimation paper

Photo’s show its pinkness and also a rough idea on how deep the blanket is. Please do not place any water bottle that has a plastic rim and lid (like this one) in the heat press like this. You will melt it ;-) The last image is my first attempt at a full wrap. For a very first attempt at a full wrap I am really impressed and no doubt my second attempt would be perfect. However being tighter than a gnat’s arse I am not going to attempt another full wrap until I have the need to do it.

I am sure there are other tumbler heat presses out there, but to be honest, why bother. This is a good machine, its well priced and comes from a really decent company. There is zero point looking elsewhere in my humble opinion.

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