Should I 'upgrade' to an oven?

[gazfocus]

About 80% of our business is mugs and we've currently got half galaxy mug press pro's and half freesub. The freesub presses seem better than the galaxy ones suprisingly but we still get the odd few mugs that haven't pressed correctly, or bottom halves of the mugs not pressing, etc (even though I've been doing mugs for years).

I'm debating now whether to go down the oven route....I've seen some posts about halogen ovens but actually wondering about a commercial convection oven. [MENTION=1]Justin[/MENTION], I know you use one. How do you find it? How do you cool your mugs when doing so many at once?

[Justin]

If you're printing mugs regularly the oven is most definitely the way to go. I haven't switched my presses on in months now.

I air cool mugs but tend to put an oscillating fan aside them to help bring the temp down a little quicker.

If I have a longer run I tend to print 24 which is manageable. Sometimes I just do 12 at a time if it's a smaller run.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Personally then yes to oven and mug presses. Oven great for odd shaped items and for mug designs that are heavy on solid colours top to bottom but with three mug presses we can do 24 mugs in 30 minutes and no annoying wraps to put on and take off. Both have valid uses in our opinion.

[bubbleimages]

We had the same predicament with our business, but we then opted for a bank of 5 double studio Adkins to do 10 mugs at a time if we have a big run on. Each business will be different, see what works for you.

[GoonerGary]

I usually have three Adkins running, but I'm going to play about with the oven idea. My wraps arrived from China and I'm picking up a halogen oven from Argos later in the week. If I like it, I'll buy a big convection oven.

[gazfocus]

Some food for thought here, definitely. We used to have 4 Freesub ST-210's going and they were great for every day things. We would get 30 mugs done in about 20 minutes. However, the elements wear quickly and you start getting issues with the edges not sublimating, or temperatures jumping all over the place, or mugs randomly burning. My hope is, that with an oven, we would get a more 'uniform' result.
[MENTION=6346]bubbleimages[/MENTION] I wish we had the money to buy 5 Adkins Studio Twin presses

[gazfocus]

If you're printing mugs regularly the oven is most definitely the way to go. I haven't switched my presses on in months now.

I air cool mugs but tend to put an oscillating fan aside them to help bring the temp down a little quicker.

If I have a longer run I tend to print 24 which is manageable. Sometimes I just do 12 at a time if it's a smaller run.

Sorry [MENTION=1]Justin[/MENTION], one more quick question...do you cool your mugs with the wraps still on the mugs or do you remove the wraps first?

[Justin]

I pull everything out of the oven and then start to remove the wraps, then I go back and remove the transfers. It doesn't really matter, sometimes I just leave wraps/transfers and go off and do something else but obviously they cool quicker without the wraps on.

[gazfocus]

I pull everything out of the oven and then start to remove the wraps, then I go back and remove the transfers. It doesn't really matter, sometimes I just leave wraps/transfers and go off and do something else but obviously they cool quicker without the wraps on.

Thanks. The reason I was asking is that we have to cool mugs coming out of the presses with lukewarm water otherwise the ink gasses and we end up with shadows, so wondered if leaving the wraps on while they air cool would prevent that from happening.

[Justin]

I used to have to dip years ago which is a pain but in more recent years I've just left to air cool. Not sure what's different, inks or mugs I guess but I don't get any bleeding at all.

Only issue I have seen on a longer run was the green from the wraps bleeding onto the mugs. I think this was due to slight overcooking but ideally you want a protection sheet in-between. I don't tend to bother with that unless I start to notice the green tint.