DSF

JustBeGood;89710 wrote:if in`t secret what mug press do you use ? :rolleyes:

Hi JB

Personally I would recommend that you look at a Listawood Genie, it may not be the Rolls Royce of mug presses, but its reasonably priced and what I think is more important is that Listawood are based not far up the road from you in Fakenham (ok so its a bit more that walking distance). Speak to Kris Trewick at Listawood. Again this is just my personal opinion - I am not on comission from Listawood (I wish), but if you buy a genie and some mugs, have a couple of weeks of tinkering, then when you have a list of questions as to why various things are going wrong etc, book a training session with Kris or one of the girls and in an hour they will put you right! If you do buy a Listawood press, make sure you take it with you and do the training with your press. Also if you are running your printer from a laptop, take that with you and print from your laptop with your files. Oh and take all of your 'test'mugs as well so they can see what is going right and what is going wrong and compare they to the original image file as you see it on your laptop. If you are not using a laptop then take a memory stick of all of your images.

Again, personally speaking, buy good quality mugs - even when you are on the learning curve. Cheap mugs tend to vbe inconsistent in diameter, coating quality, wall thickness and being out of round, all of which make it that little more difficult to get things right. Cheap mugs are fine for making up samples and testing designs but I think they are a big mistake for the beginner. Given that you are fairly new here I assume you are a beginner - then again my assumptions often land me in the whatsit ;o)


regards


Dudley

This is where I get confused as the mug press on listawood looks like the same as the one on merlin transfers, novachrome and the cheap ones on ebay so how do you know if your paying more for a good one? Anyone use the george knight mug press as apparently you don't need to buy attachments but don't think it goes right up to the handle but not sure if any do? Thanks

Finally got the 6 oz blanket on and hey presto! Printed perfick! My faith is restored. I'll keep the press for just the small mugs as there's no way I'm tinkering with changing blankets for a while. I have seen Martin Butler on youtube where his mug press is totally different. The mug sits in it upright rather than mine sliding in the blanket sideways. I will investigate Listawood and what Dudley and the mighty Dragon have said. I understand that the best machines do cost money but I'm not in the position yet to fork out more than what my car's worth haha. Thanks guys,
Julia :rolleyes:

Joohlyauk;89727 wrote:Finally got the 6 oz blanket on and hey presto! Printed perfick! My faith is restored. I'll keep the press for just the small mugs as there's no way I'm tinkering with changing blankets for a while. I have seen Martin Butler on youtube where his mug press is totally different. The mug sits in it upright rather than mine sliding in the blanket sideways. I will investigate Listawood and what Dudley and the mighty Dragon have said. I understand that the best machines do cost money but I'm not in the position yet to fork out more than what my car's worth haha. Thanks guys,
Julia :rolleyes:

11 oz mugs am personaly had problems, but now am prehed mug then place mug in mug press and problems gone, mug quality is perfect top range, colors is very vivid very nice

arthur.daley;89722 wrote:Hi JB

Personally I would recommend that you look at a Listawood Genie, it may not be the Rolls Royce of mug presses, but its reasonably priced and what I think is more important is that Listawood are based not far up the road from you in Fakenham (ok so its a bit more that walking distance). Speak to Kris Trewick at Listawood. Again this is just my personal opinion - I am not on comission from Listawood (I wish), but if you buy a genie and some mugs, have a couple of weeks of tinkering, then when you have a list of questions as to why various things are going wrong etc, book a training session with Kris or one of the girls and in an hour they will put you right! If you do buy a Listawood press, make sure you take it with you and do the training with your press. Also if you are running your printer from a laptop, take that with you and print from your laptop with your files. Oh and take all of your 'test'mugs as well so they can see what is going right and what is going wrong and compare they to the original image file as you see it on your laptop. If you are not using a laptop then take a memory stick of all of your images.

Again, personally speaking, buy good quality mugs - even when you are on the learning curve. Cheap mugs tend to vbe inconsistent in diameter, coating quality, wall thickness and being out of round, all of which make it that little more difficult to get things right. Cheap mugs are fine for making up samples and testing designs but I think they are a big mistake for the beginner. Given that you are fairly new here I assume you are a beginner - then again my assumptions often land me in the whatsit ;o)


regards


Dudley

Thank You

liannef;89723 wrote:This is where I get confused as the mug press on listawood looks like the same as the one on merlin transfers, novachrome and the cheap ones on ebay so how do you know if your paying more for a good one? Anyone use the george knight mug press as apparently you don't need to buy attachments but don't think it goes right up to the handle but not sure if any do? Thanks

well now theres the dilemma!

Just because it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck - in this case doesn't necessarily make it a duck ;o)

The black presses on ebay do look remarkably like the ones sold by 'proper'dealers but of course you are assuming that the picture in the ad is actually of the press you will get!

The other minor considerations are - do you get any back up? Will they replace a press that is rubbish and doesn't press mugs evenly? Can you buy replacement blankets or the other 3 common blanket sizes that will definitely work and not go phut or worse still catch fire when plugged in? Is the electronics inside actually safe - have they been tested and checked that they meet UK standards.

You only really know what you are getting for the extra money when you have a cheap press that only cost you 70 quid but frankly isn't really worth a tenner. How many times have you seen it said here - buy cheap buy twice. Now there are a few people here who have cheap chinese presses that haven't caught fire and give acceptable results but the question is - if YOU buy a cheap press, will YOURS be any good? The only way to find out for sure is to choose what looks like an expensive press on ebay, buy one and see if it really is the same as an expensive press! If the first ebay press you buy is rubbish you can always buy a few more and see if you can find a better one. Without checking the current price of a single blanket Listawood or Nova Chrome etc press I reckon you could probably buy 3 to 4 cheap ones before you would have been better off spending more money in the first place - so, are you feeling lucky?

I haven't seen a mug press that prints right up to the handle - this is the sort of thing you would have to do with a silicon wrap and then cook in a halogen oven.


Arthur

Got a heating plate and put my 11 oz mug wrap back on and it is much better. Having problems with the grey coming out purple for some reason. I've reduced the size of my print area too which works much better. Learning a bit more every day. Julia :rolleyes: