swing away heatpress

[mr-gobby]

You have 'misquoted' me pisquee as I didn't actually mention pressmechs 'on Ebay' (but only because I've not seen one on there!) If I spotted one like you for £50 then I'd buy it, my next press will (hopefully) be a preshmech because they look really versatile. Adkins are still a UK Manufacturer and were really helpful when I had issues with one of ours recently requiring their replacement parts service, unlike unbranded unknown Chinese internet offerings, a UK Manufacturer like Adkins can give you that level of support.

You will know that age old discussion about what constitutes 'made in the UK' (perhaps more correctly 'finished in the UK'). Almost everyone does their sourcing worldwide from inks to metals and electronics in component or part built form (whether they realise this or not) Where it gets final assembly. finishing touches and presentation in retail packaging seems to be where this is finally getting decided, be that right or wrong.

If Pressmech are at the P&P show I'll be taking a good hard look at them.

mark

Mark

[pisquee]

Sorry, wasn't meaning to misquote you - you'd mentioned Ebay in relation to Adkins in the previous sentence, so I assumed you were still referring to it regarding the PressMechs.
Adkins have a good long history of making presses in the UK, but in the last couple of years they have moved production out to China (around the same time Chinese copies of them started appearing too) They used to have on their website plenty of text stating they were UK manufactured, and now they state that they manufacture worldwide, wheras PressMech still state they are UK made... (I spoke to Dickie on the phone a couple of times, and he's talked me through some troubleshooting and repair things - he could tell the era of the press I was fixing by me describing how the control unit was wired!)

PressMech Engineering will be at P&P on stand P22.

[mr-gobby]

No worries. Adkins distribute worldwide with Office with Production facilities being nearby each other in Leicestershire so almost neighbours with Pressmech, wonder if there's any history between the two. An Adkins engineer likewise identified components origins on the phone from it's wiring, must be a heatpress engineers thing! Buying from a UK based company or one with UK based support is a big plus from a service prospective for anyone looking to buy though so it's great to hear that with Pressmech you can speak directly to the main man as well. What have you had that has needed attention on them and are they as reliable as the Adkins you've also had?

Mark

[mr-gobby]

Be nice if Dickie were to authorise forum Premium members discounts Justin, maybe 10% upward, have you ever asked Pressmech if they would entertain it?

Mark

[mags1892]

AAdkins are ALL made in China dn theyve even started a importing company online fo chinese presses which are the cheaper variety. Pressmech are cracking presses I actually resell them under my branding unlike aadkins they are MADE IN UK.

[pisquee]

I did see an old Adkins press on Ebay a few years back in Adkins green (the old ones all used to painted in the same green colour - we have an old Adkins Omega like this in our warehouse!) which pretty much looked the same as a modern PressMech, but I don't know the history behind this to know the story, or whether someone was selling it on Ebay and misidentified it as an Adkins - I vaguely recall it did have the old style "A Adkins Double AA Press" badge on it, but it was a while back, so it may not have! I keep meaning to ask Dickie but always forget!

In terms of what he was talking me though - our first press, which we bought 2nd hand just outside London, had been used out in Spain somewhere printing t-shirts, so had certainly had a good life, after about a year of us having it the heating element broke. My background (previous career) is as a live entertainment production manager/sound technician, so I am quite happy taking stuff apart, soldering, and using multimeters, so he was talking me through how to take it apart, and how to put it back together in the right way, as well as what to meter out to find what the problem was. We used to (when we weren't so busy with our main business) buy good quality presses on Ebay cheaply and sell them on on Ebay at the price they should have been - this did mean having to fix a few to sell them on, and out of the Adkins, Instas and Jarins we dealt with, the Press Mechs were by far the easiest to tear down and rebuild - things do go wrong, and being able to fix things quickly and easily is import to be able to keep the business going. We got the new element in next day from Dickie, so his service is good on being able to supply parts. We had to use another press whilst waiting for the part to arrive, and me to have time to swap it out- I was working another full time job at the time, and it was a horrible experience trying to go back to using any of the other presses that we had lying around (the brands named above) that we knew then we needed to get another PressMech in. Which we did, and now we have 4 of them!, 3 in use, and one as the spare. One of them we got on Ebay for £20 which had some odd parts missing (mainly the adjustment screw/knob, so it wouldn't raise/lower or swing the platen - no idea how they even got it out or why (and I'd stripped the time controller and element from it to fix another of ours! and another which needed a new element (my wife drives hers hard at 220C for hours on end, which takes its toll on the element, although Dickie says he now has improved the element - made it bigger and harder wearing) so I sent the two down on a pallet for him to fix as I don't have time and more. Took him/them about a week to turn them around, but they came back fully refurbed, not just fixed for a very reasonable price - the one which needed a new element, timer, and screw post didn't cost much more than the one which jst needed a new element - this latter one was quite dirty with burnt ink stains etc, so they replaced the dirty bits with new too. Brilliant service IMO, and glad we got it done before Christmas to have 3 in service, as it's made life easier having two staff each on a press, rather than having to juggle jobs/staff around the one flat press.

[pisquee]

AAdkins are ALL made in China dn theyve even started a importing company online fo chinese presses which are the cheaper variety..

I'd noticed when they offshored, that they also started selling cheaper presses which looked very Chinese, and some which looked like generic Chinese rebadged - Alibaba can be a very revealing research tool to find out what you're actually buying and from where!

Pressmech are cracking presses.

Couldn't agree more!

I actually resell them under my branding unlike aadkins they are MADE IN UK.

Have you got Dickie to brand the machines as yours - i.e. your logo work on them? What colour are they? (we have a blue and white ones, but have also seen red ones, and Adkins green on Ebay!)

[logobear]

I have seen the Mech press at shows and impressed with its rugged construction, so it is good to hear positive reviews for it, one to keep an eye out for!

[JMugs]

I have an A2 pressmech. Heavy beast. No hot/cold spots. Works a treat!

Janners

[GoonerGary]

Pity they didn't do a top quality A4 press, I wouldn't get one of those beasts up the stairs!