As a company that makes both clamshell and swing-away heat presses, we are frequently asked this question by inquiring customers. The answer depends on the type of jobs you want to accept, the space available, your familiarity with transfer presses, and your need for accurate placement of the design versus the speed of production.

Each design has its unique advantages. The task for the customer is to pick the one with the right combination of benefits that fits the intended business purpose.

Swing-away heat presses are very popular for sublimation printing. Air-automatic heat presses are the model of choice in fast-paced high production facilities. Digital, manual clamshell presses are most popular in a wide variety of applications with small to medium size volume requirements. Analog swing-away and clamshell presses are most often purchased by hobbyists, for small projects, or as a backup for a larger, digital model.

No heat press is perfect for every purpose. So, the pros and cons of the available features have to be considered.