Halogen vs Convection vs Vacuum

[Angela-L]

Hello all.

I'm still in the process of getting myself set up. My business won't be handling large quanitites - it will be more about the designs which will be available on a wide variety of items and sold to a niche market.

As I am looking to do small quantities of a lot of different items, I believe an oven of some sort would be most suitable for me (ie versatile), but I am going around in circles somewhat! - especially since it's hard to gauge the internal dimensions of the various types looking at things online.

The convection ovens designed specifically for sublimation (even countertop ones) look to be bigger than I would need (especially in the early days - but if things go well, hopefully that's where I'll end up), and I also don't think I could justify the cost at the outset anyhow.

However, I have seen that people are using halogen ovens, domestic convection ovens, and even the convection setting on microwave combi ovens. Has anyone used/does anyone use any of these? What are the pros and cons of each? What sort of capacity does each have (especially height for taller items)? What are their limitations? (So sorry for the slew of questions!)

I have also seen the sublimation vacuum oven sold by Signzworld, and, if I really pushed it, my budget might stretch to that. However, I have read some nightmare stories obout this style of vacuum press - but I don't know if that was down to user error, or knock-off copies of the machine.

With the right wraps / shrink wrap, are the results that much different between all the available options, and does reliability of results vary much?

I keep switching back and forth in my thoughts. I'm currently leaning towards starting out with a hallogen as it's a cheap way to start off, but it depends if it's reliable method or not. I appreciate it's small, but so long as I can fit 1 or 2 of all the items I'm likely to sublimate onto in it, that doesn't concern me at this stage. However, if you ask me on a different day, I might be leaning towards a small convection oven, or the vacuum oven on yet another day!

Any help, advice, sharing of experiences would be very much appreciated!!

[webtrekker]

First question is: exactly what items are you planning on sublimating? Different subtrates require different methods and hardware.

Personally, I think you're making a mistake by tackling too broad a range when starting out. Stick with one or two items that can be sublimated in the same oven until you've nailed the process and have some sales coming in before thinking about expanding.

Also, ovens have their limitations. You may need to also invest in dedicated presses, eg. mug press, flat press, cap press etc depending on the products you intend to sell.

[Angela-L]

Thanks. I won't go all-in at the outset and will make sure that I have fully tested and mastered any product before I try to sell, but I'm trying to think at least a little ahead and plan accordingly with my initial purchases.

I do already have a good flat press, so that will allow me to do a fair bit, and I very much doubt that caps will ever be part of my range, but what I'm hoping is that I can find an oven that will cover me and allow me to expand the range as and when needed - from mugs to tumblers to bowls, and maybe plates etc. Obviously, at this stage, I haven't got a firm grip on how the business will go. I have my niche market chosen, and a good way in to it. I have ideas of what products I think will sell, but until I 'suck it and see', I can't be certain.

From your reply, it's clear that I've still got a lot of research to do, as I haven't seen anything anywhere that suggested that different ovens work better for different items. Could you possibly expand a little on that?

[Angela-L]

Has no-one got any information about ovens that they can pass on to a floundering newbie? :frown:

[Mrteajunkie]

You have almost answered your own questions.

A convection oven is too big and a halogen is only good for smaller items.
I have a dedicated mug press for mugs and a second press for water bottles and travel mugs.

If your looking to do smaller items a halogen is great but takes a lot of tweaking to get it right.
I may be wrong but a plate will require a dedicated plate press.
(I’m sure someone else will confirm or set me right)

[Angela-L]

Thanks.

I've been looking around some more, and I've seen some people getting fantastic results with ovens for everything from various-sized and shaped mugs and water bottles to some very odd-shaped items, and using various types of oven too.

Other than having it in my head that I would like to get an oven to experiment with and see what works / what doesn't, I'm no further forward with my decision!

Has anyone tried both a domestic (either halogen or convection) and one of the 3d vacuum ovens from Signzworld? Is the vacuum oven worth the extra, being specifically designed for sublimation?

[Mrteajunkie]

I wouldn’t bother with a vacuum oven.
if your unsure go for the halogen it’s around £20-30 and if it’s not for you you haven’t lost much.

If you buy a convection oven then find it’s not for you then you have lost a big chunk of cash.

[socialgiraffe]

If you use the search facility you will find lots of info regarding ovens on this forum.

The most popular one is the Blizzard Convection Oven

[Angela-L]

Yes - I have spent a lot of time reading older threads on here, but I couldn't really work out from any of those threads the pros and cons of each type. I did see that the Blizzard was mentioned quite a lot. If all goes well, hopefully that's where I'll end up, but, as I mentioned in my OP, I think it's bigger than I would need for some time, and I can't really justify spending that much at the current time. Thanks though.

[garysub]

Angela

I haven't quite got around to it yet but we used to use ovens of this type:

https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/sharp-r959 ... 0cQAvD_BwE

They held around 5 mugs directly on their bottom turn table. They work pretty well for mugs but have never tried anything else in them. I liked them because they moved the mugs around the whole time so it takes away some of the problems of hot/cold spots you get in cheaper ovens, I've got about 5-6 hanging around that I have never got around to selling but will do later this year as we move premises. I could sell you one for £100 if you're interested. PM me if you are. I see you are in Welwyn so not a million miles away from me.

Gary