just had wee chat to supplier...Hmmm

[bigj2552]

BigJ obviously does not have that cuddly bear charm Justin has

yer right...i,m just the bear WITHOUT the cuddly bit lol

[Justin]

Aint nowt cuddly about me...well, maybe a little!

[michc]

Been watching this thread and I too would be interested in a group buy

[galerion]

I watched the video, and was interested to see that you could fit 4 mugs in here at a time, but then you could do that with a small halogen type oven, so what is the advantage of this machine - does the vacuum function get used at all for standard mug printing?

It does seem odd not using the vacuum, you'd think they'd supply it with one of those silicone molds made for 4 mugs like they have for the shot glasses etc.

[Mattie]

I just found this one, it look exactly the same and has vacuum

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/16558 ... Press.html

[Justin]

Just watched the video right through again, really impressed with those moulds, I can see this working very well on a few different ideas.

I see they use the low temp inks for phone cases etc. I wonder how this sits with Sawgrass for use in the UK?

[pisquee]

I would assume that lower temp sublimation ink would need to be a different implementation and formula of sublimation ink, and not the same as Sawgrass' and so not violating their patent - if it's been invented and used, then it'll have its own patent and protection (unless Sawgrass got there first that is)

[pisquee]

It does seem odd not using the vacuum, you'd think they'd supply it with one of those silicone molds made for 4 mugs like they have for the shot glasses etc.

I wonder if using a vacuum press for standard mugs is just a gimmick, or something it can do, but isn't necessarily the best tool for the job. I'm not sure what advantage the vacuum press would present if the mug is in a wrap - although if put into a mould like the shot glasses, could speed up and make production better quality with less faults.

[Justin]

Did you see the travel mug printed on the inside? Very impressive. Maybe inside mugs, handles, bases etc. would be quite possible, I'm sure you'd get right to the handle and maybe under with a vacuum mould/wrap thingy. Obviously the mug would need to be coated completely for this to work

[pisquee]

I suppose if there was a silicone mould available for vacuuming more standard shape/size mugs I could see the advantage of using a vacuum press