Swing Away Vs Clamshell Heat Presses

If you’re just starting to research setting up a T shirt & giftware printing business, one of the things you’ll need to decide on is the heat press, and one of the questions you’ll come across, is swing away vs clamshell heat presses, which one is right for you?

The difference between swing away and clamshell heat presses.

They both deliver heat and pressure, they both achieve the same end result in terms of heat pressing transfers to T shirts & other items. But they do it slightly differently.

Swing away heat presses

Swing away heat presses work with the top platen remaining parallel to the bottom table, and the heat platen then swings away (hence the name) around the back of the machine.

As you can see by the photo to the left, of the Geo Knight DK20SP swing away heat press, you need to swing the top platen all the way out to the back, in order to have full access to the bottom table.

Clam or clamshell heat presses

With clam presses, the top platen opens and closes like a sea shell, hence the name.

So the heat platen lifts up, not remaining parallel to the lower table as with swing away presses, but with the heat platen facing the operator.

As you can see on the photo on the left of the Geo Knight DK20 clamshell heat press, operating a clamshell heat press is just a case of opening and closing the press.

The Pros of Clamshell Heat Presses.

• Cheaper
• Lighter weight & more portable
• Faster production
• Space saving

Cheaper

While you will find some budget swing away heat presses (Geo Knight offer the Jet Press hobby/craft presses, and Hix have  the SwingMan Hobby Lite) generally speaking, clamshell presses are less expensive than swing away.

Usually if you’re looking at a range of heat presses from the same manufacturer, you’ll find that their clamshell presses are the cheaper presses in the range.

This is true with Geo Knight, the DK20s swing away is $250 more than the DK20 camshell. With Stahls, their Hotronix Fusion swing away heat press is at the top end of their range at $500 more than the Stahls Hotronix auto open 16×20″. The Hix Swingman 16×20 is around $400 more than their HT600 clamshell, and the Insta 256 swing away is $300 more than their 158 clamshell.

Lighter Weight

Again, there are exceptions to this such as the Geo Knight Jet Press 12 and 14, and the Hix SwingMan Hobby Lite but swing away heat presses are usually a lot heavier than clamshell heat presses.

An example of this is the Geo Knight DK20s is 200lbs, and the DK20 clamshell is 103lbs. The Stahls Hotronix fusion is 137lbs vs the Stahls Hotronix auto open at 87lbs.

Faster production

With clamshell heat presses, all you need to do is open and close the press, while with swing away heat presses you need to open the press and then swing it around the side and to the back, and then back again. So the process is slightly quicker than operating a swing away heat press.

Space Saving

As clamshell presses are operated vertically, they don’t require any more horizontal space than their footprint, while swing away heat presses require the depth of the heat platen all the way to around and to the back of the heat press.

This means that you can push a clamshell press up to a wall, or into a corner for example, while with a swingaway press you’ll need 20″ (or whatever the depth of the platen, to the right and behind the heat press.

See, clamshell heat presses available on heatpressnation.com, eBay & Amazon

The Pros of Swing away Heat Presses

• Heat platen is moved completely away from the operator
• Press thicker items

Heat platen moved away from the operator

This is probably the no1 reason that many people prefer swing away heat presses over clamshell presses.

With clamshell presses, the heat platen lifts up to face the user, or more specifically, to face the back of the users hands, wrists and forearms while working on the bottom table.

With some of the premium clamshell presses including Geo Knight and Stahls, you’ll notice that the top platen does lift up higher than with others, while many of the cheap imported clamshell heat presses don’t open up quite as far, meaning the heat platen is fairly close to the back of the operator’s hands.

Press thicker items.

Due to the way swing away heat presses open, with the top platen lifting up while remaining parallel to the bottom table, you’ll usually find that swing away heat presses have a larger maximum item thickness.

This wouldn’t usually be an issue with T shirts and other garments, but if you’re wanting to press onto thicker items such as wooden blocks, signs, acrylic panels, tiles, etc., then just double check, if you’re thinking of going for a clamshell, that it will take the thicker items you’re wanting to work with.

It does change depending on the brand and the model, but as a rough rule of thumb I’d assume a max thickness of around 3/4 inch to an inch with clamshells (around 2-3cm), and around one to two inches with clamshell pesses. 

Remember this is just a guesstimate, if you need to press an item of a particular thickness, then make sure you check with whoever you’re buying your heat press from, that it’ll take the item.

See, swing away heat presses available on heatpressnation.com, eBay & Amazon

So you now know the difference between swing away vs clamshell heat presses. Also see heat presses FAQ, Cheap Heat Presses? The Pros and Cons, Best Heat Presses For Tshirts.