Clamp or swing tshirt press?

[dvddvd 14]

What's the pros and cons on clamp vs swing heat presses? Thanks

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

clam type is cheaper and swing away gets that heat away from your hands when loading and unloading the garment.   look for any press to have over the center pressure adjustment and not in back.    higher end heat presses have more coils over the surface of the platen making heat more even where cheaper rely on the mass of the metal to even out and show more variation in temperature 

[dvddvd 14]

Thanks

How rated are these ones?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281918980519

There seems a lot the same Chinese made? But different colours etc.

It would be used for occasional use not banging t shirts out all day

 

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

for occasional it would be ok I suspect if the temps are even across the platen but the first strike in my book is it has rear pressure adjustment.  have seen too many post over the years of those being inconsistent pressure and breaking

[Wildgoose 4,200]

For a starter press that looks like a decent machine, unsure about the knob on the back mine was o a screw on the top of the rotating part. Get hold of an infra-red thermometer gun and check around on the heated platen to see if it has any cool spots. Set the temp based on the cool spot if it has one or in the middle if it seems to be fairly evenly heated. The Chinese heat numbers will likely be off by quite a ways so don't be worried about that just record what it should be and make a little note and tape in on the side so you know what temp you want to use. SOME of those will let you adjust the readout, I never figured mine out on my cheap press. That one has springs to allow even pressure across the whole platen like Dakota mentioned (over center pressure) which most swingers do but not all clams. I had a clam for a while and burned my knuckles trying to get the HTV on in the right place and square to the shirt. You may find that you do far more heat press vinyl than other types once you get going. It's the coolest thing since Ice cream.

 

<edit> I just took a second look and I think that adjustment wheel will be ok for a hobbyist. It's a big screw running down the shaft. The ones that I think were weaker are ones that adjust on a cantilever like several of the clam styles. Just my opinion but not a bad one to start out with. When you get your cutter up and start messing around be sure to remember to mirror your work on HTV because you are generally cutting on the adhesive side. 

[darcshadow 1,626]

That looks very similar to the one USCutter sells in that price range. I have it and have been pretty pleased with it as a hobbiest.