ImagesMagUK_May_2021

www.images-magazine.com 60 images MAY 2021 DRYERS, CALENDERS & HEAT PRESSES Telling it like it is: Heat presses Two decorators talk to us about how their heat presses are working out for them Wealden Embroidery and Print: Lotus LTS 750 Heat Press from Dae Ha UK Richard Campbell, print room manager Tell us a bit about your business At Wealden Embroidery and Print Ltd we supply branded clothing and PPE to businesses, clubs, schools and charities. We offer embroidery, vinyl printing and screen printing, which is all done in-house. What heat press do you use? We use a Lotus LTS 750 twin plate pneumatic heat press, which has all but replaced our older single-head heat presses. Why did you opt for the Lotus press? We chose this model as it fitted our space efficiently and it was a competitive price compared to others. The cost with the platens was £4,200. Our main reasons for upgrading were twofold: we wanted a twin plate to speed up printing, but more importantly, we had started to feel the effects of over-use of the manual heat presses on our bodies, and decided it was time to take some of the physical work out of the job in order to stop constant neck and back pain. Is there anything you’d like to see in an upgrade or don’t particularly like about it? To be honest, we are delighted with it. What’s it like to use? It is much faster to use having the twin platens. What type of work do you use it for? We are using this now for all our vinyl printing, so from a single item to runs of many hundreds. What machines do you use alongside your heat press? We do have a couple of single- platen heat presses that we use in conjunction with the Lotus when things get really busy. What would be your advice to others thinking of buying a heat press? I think the main thing is to get a press that is easy to load, and that fits your space and budget. www.wealdenworkwear.com Richard of Wealden Embroidery and Print is delighted with the Lotus heat press