ImagesMagUK_May_2021

www.images-magazine.com 62 images MAY 2021 DRYERS, CALENDERS & HEAT PRESSES The Vinyl Guys: Secabo TC7 Smart Heat Press from Signmaster Systems Alex Liggett, owner Tell us a bit about your business The Vinyl Guys is a custom print business based in Stafford. We moved to our new premises in September 2020 and over the last few months have invested heavily in new print and finishing equipment. We specialise in vehicle graphics and sticker/ label printing, but have found other products such as banners, site boards and workwear to be a great upsell to existing customers. What is the latest heat press you’ve bought and how much did it cost? We have a Secabo TC7 Smart, bought from Signmaster Systems about 12 months ago to replace an old one from another manufacturer that let us down just a week out of warranty. It [the Secabo] cost around £900, but we needed something solid that would last. Why did you choose the Secabo? I looked at a few different ones, but the Secabo was a solid machine with great features and Signmaster was happy to demonstrate it for me. Having seen it in action, it was easy to say yes. What do you think are its main advantages? The main thing for us is that it’s ready to work quickly. As clothing isn’t our main thing, the Secabo will have the odd day of being super busy but then we may not use it for a while, but I know that when we need it, it is quick to heat up and reliable. Is there anything you’d like to see in an upgrade or don’t particularly like about it? Not really, it works well for us. What’s it like to use, and do you have any tips on how to get the most out of it? It’s a great press as long as you have your ‘flow’ planned. We are lucky enough to have plenty of workspace for it and around it so we can have the garments ready with the prints lined up, passed into the press and then straight out the other side for finishing and folding. What sort of jobs is it used for? It’s mainly tees and hoodies for our vehicle graphics customers. We tend to do shorter runs of five to 15 garments at a time, but we have used it for a few bigger runs of 350 tees and 60 hoodies in the past and it’s performed well. What other machines do you have and do you use any of them in combination with your heat press? We have three wide-format Roland printers – SG2-540, VG2-640 and UV LEC2-640 – in our print room and in the workshop we have a huge Rollover Application Table, Keencut Steeltrak 250 and lots of sturdy workbenches to assist with pending and finished jobs, as well as our Secabo TC7 Smart. What would be your advice to others thinking of buying a heat press? For my business it’s been a great addition that allows us to generate an additional revenue stream from existing customers and keep more of their spending with us. I would say, like with any piece of kit, plan how you are going to get it to pay for itself and make sure you have a market there. Create plenty of space for it and to work around it – there’s nothing worse than being cramped for space – and remember they weigh a lot so have an appropriate work surface for it. www.thevinylguys.co.uk The Secabo TC7 Smart is quick to heat up and reliable, says Alex of The Vinyl Guys REVIEWYOUR KIT: Do you have a piece of textile printing or embroidery equipment that you’ve bought or acquired in the past 12 months? If so, we’d like to hear your assessment of it – the good and the bad – for future ‘‘Telling it’ features. Please get in touch to share your review: editorial@images-magazine.com