Anyone using this oven?

[LauraM]

Hi, so my business is at the stage now where I think an oven would greatly increase my productivity when printing mugs and I want to start printing pet bowls, cookie jars etc too.

I’m looking at buying the 70L dye sub oven from Neil Brothers https://www.neilbrothers.co.uk/sublimat ... n-70l.html - have found one review on the forum saying it’s a good oven. Just wondering if any others have this oven and how you find it?

Also, being new to the world of ovens, I’ve been reading about using heat shrink bags instead of traditional heat wraps - any pros and cons of doing this? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks all.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Yes - although prob was my review! We only use this oven when we need to use heat shrink bags - not that often. Bags work well although a nightmare to remove afterwards. We tend to do difficult designs on enamel mugs in the oven with bags which need to be cooled quickly after coming out of oven. Therefore when mug is cool the heat shrink bag is brittle and can take 1-2 minutes per mug to remove.

[LauraM]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, it was your review! :biggrin: So would you still recommend this oven a few weeks after your initial review?

I think the bags are easier to remove while they are still hot as they aren't brittle yet? Would that be accurate?

Am I right in thinking I would be able to print coasters and other such flat things in the oven too?

[Justin]

Quick comment, we have used the shrink bags in the past but favour wraps where possible. if you're printing say a bottle, run a length of heat tape form top to bottom so it sticks out above the shrink. When the bottle is cold after printing pull the tape and it breaks the wrap all the way down making it much quick to remove. Do this over a bin as it makes a hell of a mess though!

[mrc1312]

Yes, we use that oven. It is good, but it's the only oven I've ever used so I can't compare it to anything else I'm afraid.

It was a bit of trial and error to start with, but now we do 16 x 11oz mugs every 20 mins (48 per hour). We use the green wraps as the shrink wrap was a complete ballache to remove.

We ended up purchasing 4 x wire baskets from Amazon and having them cut down and welded back together by a friend. We use as trays which allows us to load and unload quickly without the temperature dropping too much.