Adkins Studio Mug Press Fault

[Ian M]

Last June I purchased an Adkins Mug Press from Xpres as I had always believed these to be the best mug presses you can buy with great back-up if there are any faults.

Yesterday I was in the middle of pressing mugs for quite a larger order I had received when I got a very big shock. I put a mug into the press & when I closed the jaws it began to spark & then there were flames coming from the heating element. I quickly turned the power off & thankfully the sparks & flames stopped. As you can imagine the heating element had a big black mark & had burnt away at that spot.

I called Xpres straight away about what had happened & I was told their Technical Department would call me back which they did 4 hours later. I explained what had happened & was told it must be my fault as I was probably catching the corner of the heating element when putting a mug in to the press. I said I was always careful when I put a mug in to press. He then said that I probably had too much pressure on the heating element which had cause the wire to pop out. I said that I always made sure that I had firm pressure, but never too much to cause such a problem. In short, as far as Xpres were concerned it was me who had caused the problem which I totally dispute. I have been pressing mugs for over 10 years now & I do know how to correctly press a mug.

I then had a look on the Adkins website & found a Product Safety Notice regarding a problem with some of the heating elements & it described word for word what had happened with my mug press. The Product Safety Notice was posted in November 2020. I would have thought that the Technical Department at Xpres would have been made aware of this fault, but it appears they know nothing about it.

I called Adkins this morning about the fault & it now seems that if they have the heating element in stock I will have to purchase it as it is outside the 6 month warranty. I now have to wait for Adkins to contact me to see if they have any of these heating elements in stock.

I now have a mug press which cost me nearly £600 & it seems nobody has a replacement heating element for it.

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[UK Printed Mugs]

Nasty. With Adkins then firm pressure is too much buy the way - it should always be light. Not saying this was the issue as probably not but it will reduce the length of time the element is good for. I must say I have nothing bad to say about Adkins at all. We have a bank of their mug presses (ok they are rebadged from a Chinese manufacturer mind) and literally had a new mug press from them turn up today. They are more than happy to replace elements bought from other suppliers which they did last week for us but again this was within the 6 month period. Whether too much pressure, too many mugs pressed without a break or the element had done more mugs than it could handle - we replace after every 1500 mugs - then who knows but I'm glad you're safe. This printing lark isn't without its dark side - box of plasters always on hand!

[JMugs]

Had the same issue with a blanket in my Adkins. Wasn't impressed with having to buy a new one when they know there is a fault. That was November ish.

Janners

[Ian M]

Many thanks & yes it was nasty. The annoying thing is that Adkins know there is a problem with some of the elements, but don't want to know or help if it happens. They have contacted me & said I have to buy a new element at full price. I think I might need a fire extinguisher rather than a box of plasters.

[Ian M]

Many thanks & yes it was nasty. The annoying thing is that Adkins know there is a problem with some of the elements, but don't want to know or help if it happens. They have contacted me & said I have to buy a new element at full price. I think I might need a fire extinguisher rather than a box of plasters.

[Ian M]

Had the same issue with a blanket in my Adkins. Wasn't impressed with having to buy a new one when they know there is a fault. That was November ish.

Janners

Like you I'm not impressed at having you pay full price for a new one when they know there is a fault.

[Ian M]

Many thanks & yes it was nasty. The annoying thing is that Adkins know there is a problem with some of the elements, but don't want to know or help if it happens. They have contacted me & said I have to buy a new element at full price. I think I might need a fire extinguisher rather than a box of plasters.

[Ian M]

Nasty. With Adkins then firm pressure is too much buy the way - it should always be light. Not saying this was the issue as probably not but it will reduce the length of time the element is good for. I must say I have nothing bad to say about Adkins at all. We have a bank of their mug presses (ok they are rebadged from a Chinese manufacturer mind) and literally had a new mug press from them turn up today. They are more than happy to replace elements bought from other suppliers which they did last week for us but again this was within the 6 month period. Whether too much pressure, too many mugs pressed without a break or the element had done more mugs than it could handle - we replace after every 1500 mugs - then who knows but I'm glad you're safe. This printing lark isn't without its dark side - box of plasters always on hand!

Many thanks & yes it was nasty. The annoying thing is that Adkins know there is a problem with some of the elements, but don't want to know or help if it happens. They have contacted me & said I have to buy a new element at full price. I think I might need a fire extinguisher rather than a box of plasters.

[bubbleimages]

We have a blow out like this every 5-6 months or so on our bank of Adkins studio twin presses, seems to happen when the corners become frayed after catching after numerous mugs going in. Once they start to expose you can see the coils inside the element itself and as soon as they catch again or surge then they do flame up requiring immediate turning off of the machine. After the first time this happened we did make sure that there is two fire extinguishers in our mug press zone just in case.

We have had elements that have lasted from just 150 presses to 4500 presses over the years.

[GoonerGary]

Surely this is a product recall issue? Since when does British/ EU safety standards allow a product to burst into flames after six months?