Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Has anyone had temperature problems with this press. I just got a new onw and the temperature is very erratic and uneven over the platen. I have temps varying up to 30 degrees measured from different parts of the platen. To press duracotton, I have to set the temp at 430. This gives me laser measured temps of 400 - 435. It is mostly hotter in the middle. This makes it impossible to press temperature sensitive products like ImageClip. The heat cycle between thermostat on and off also seems to be about 20-30 degrees, which is entirely unacceptable.
With imageClip, I'm getting almost 100% polymer transfer to the white in the middle where the press is hot and no adhesion to toner at the edges where the press is cooler. There seems to be tool much of a temp variation to get a happy medium and a decent first stage press. Construction quality is also sort of lame, so it could have some uneven pressure issues as well.
I trashed 20 sheets of ImageClip trying to find the right combination, then fired up the DK20S and did 10 perfect presses.
Do I need to send this press back? It was way to expensive to be functioning like it does. I bought it to take on the road, but I'm afraid with it's temperature issues, it won't produce the quality I'm looking for.
have you called knight? if you just got the press and it's new, it may very well have alignment issues from shipping - i've always found aaron very helpful and easy to access for help with my equipment - old or new! as for having cold spots....their heating elements are guaranteed for life - if it's bad they'll replace it! i don't know about issues with the DK16 - i also have the DK20S and it's been as reliable as sunrise!
have you called knight? if you just got the press and it's new, it may very well have alignment issues from shipping - i've always found aaron very helpful and easy to access for help with my equipment - old or new! as for having cold spots....their heating elements are guaranteed for life - if it's bad they'll replace it! i don't know about issues with the DK16 - i also have the DK20S and it's been as reliable as sunrise!
yes call!!! I have the dk16 and love it. Every time I have called or emailed they have been very quick to fix any issues.
Just an update. I talked to GK today. They said that most presses need lots of pressure to ensure a good even press. For pressing ImageClip with light to medium pressure, he suggested using a soft neoprene pad. He said this would compress easier than the silicon pad on the lower platen and would even up the pressure at low pressure settings. Makes perfect sense, so that's my next step. This might even help increase the quality of my ImageClip pressing on my DK20S.
Has anyone had temperature problems with this press. I just got a new onw and the temperature is very erratic and uneven over the platen. I have temps varying up to 30 degrees measured from different parts of the platen.
I have had temp problems with my DK20s. Basically, two things were occuring. First the calibration of the press was about 50 degrees off. So, my press was much colder than I was setting it. Also, I did measure the platen temp with direct contact thermocouples and found not only it was way cold but also that the center temp was about 20 different than elswhere. I did call them and they walked me through some temperature calibration and that seemed to raise the tempurature but I haven't had the chance to re-measure the temps.
Also, on my press the upper platen is concave. Although G.Knight says thats normoal i find it very problematic when pressing thin fabrics with dyesub as light pressure is required.
They told me the same thing about the upper platen and the problems with light pressure, which is why I was having ImageClip problems. The soft neoprene/felt pad is supposed to solve that problem.
I also notice a difference between the center and just off center. The temp for the digital readout is measured just to the rear of center.
They said that a laser was not accurate, but when I set the press coldest spot to 405 using the laser, DuracottonHT presses and peels nicely, which tells me that the temp is right.
In general, I think the DK20s is a good press. Unfortunately, mine has had issues with keeping the correct temperature and I believe the concave surface to be a problem. Aaron knight would disagree but I measured about .065" of gap at the center of the top platten. I sent these pictures with the results of my temp measurements to them and to my distributor along with pictures of color loss on my dyesub garments showing ink left on the paper in the center areas of the press. Like i said, they addressed the temp issues and possibly even corrected them but they did not care to discuss the concave top platten. They say that it is there by design and that two-handed firm pressure is required to operate the press correctly. If that's the case then I have to question if this is the right press to use for applications that require light pressure. The funny thing is that I have measured and have had others measure four other DK20s presses and some have little gap and some more but mine was the worst. Makes me wonder if its really by design.
Well, I didn't mean to get on a soap box but this ordeal is very fresh in our minds as we have struggled to make this press work for us.
Knight DK16 
