DSF

Hello All,

I'm looking into doing dye sublimation and vinyl printing following a break from work and a bit of cash coming my way. I have a background in design/ ad layout and tech support so I'm all good on that side.

I have been looking for a while at different equipment and have come up with the following list. I'd appreciate peoples thoughts/guidance if possible.

Printer - Epson 14000. Have also looked at the Sawgrass A3 but seems massively overpriced. (Twice the price of the Epson, inks 4 times the price)

Vinyl cutter - Silhouette Cameo 4

Mug press - Cheapo Freesub dual unit from china as I don't intend to do many mugs.

Heat press - This is where I'm coming unstuck. I don't really want to spend 1.5k on a really high end unit for what initially is going to be a part time business or hobby.

I have looked at this one https://www.printerowners.co.uk/shop/ha ... eat-press/ but I hear a lot of bad things about these Chinese made presses. Should I invest in a 2nd hand Atkins instead or are these likely to have been used as workhorses and seen better days with the heating elements?


Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Printer is a very good choice, although for an extra £100 Ink Experts are selling the L1800, which is a 6 colour version of the ET 14000. Both are based on the 1500w, with added ecotanks, which was an 'industry standard' until it was discontinued. Ink costs are about 5% that of the Sawgrass unit.

Cameos have proved to be very good starter cutters and there is no reason why the new Cameo 4 will not be he same.

The heating elements on mug presses are seen as 'consumable' so get one that allows for replacement parts to be fitted.

If you get a good one then second hand heatpresses can be a big saving. One benefit is that yo will get all or most of your money back if you decide to give up. But if you get a bad one you are screwed.
If you want new then you can get a top quality press made by Pressmech ( search the forum to see how highly many of us rate it! ) for about £1000 from Nova Chrome. It is as good as anything out there.