Two of the top distributors of automatic rhinestone setting machines in the U.S. are Mesa Distributors (DECOR brand) and ColDesi (CAMS brand). Although both companies offer similar products, there are differences that might be important if you are making a decision to move into the lucrative rhinestone-decorated garment business in a bigger way.
Automated rhinestone machines are a big step up from manual methods of creating heat-pressed rhinestone transfers for t-shirts, jeans, or other apparel. Manual methods are slow, error-prone, and can in some ways be more expensive than machine-created transfers.
If you are not currently producing rhinestone-decorated garments, it’s a fast-growing opportunity that might be worth your consideration. Depending on your budget and how much business volume you expect, there are a number of ways to get started. See our article, Three Paths to Rhinestone Success, for more details.
For those who are already doing rhinestones manually and want to be able to handle more business, you should consider moving to an automated rhinestone machine such as the DECOR or CAMS. Operationally, these machines work the same way. They pick up individual rhinestones (“stones”) from a supply bin and deposit them onto sticky transfer paper in a pattern or design created with special software on a PC. When finished, the rhinestones can be easily and quickly heat-press applied to a t-shirt or other garment.
Rhinestone machines come in a variety of sizes, capabilities, and costs. Lets’ take a look.
Basic 2-Color Machines
The most basic rhinestone machines can handle two different stone colors or sizes in a single operation. This is not a huge limitation since most rhinestone designs are typically only one or two colors — or one or two stone sizes. Even if the design has more than two colors or sizes, it’s simply a matter of swapping out stones and running the operation again. Two-color machines operate at about 150-170 stones per minute, which means a typical 300-500 stone design can be completed in about 2-3 minutes. Small designs can be “ganged” on the same transfer sheet to increase effective speed.
Multi-Color/Size Machines
CAMS machines are offered in not only a basic 2-color, single-head version but also a 6-color, single head, and a large 4-head, 6-color version that can produce 120 rhinestone transfers an hour. There is also a new 2-head, 6-color machines that can be used as a 12-color color machine if needed.
DECOR machines are offered in the basic 2-color, single head design, or in a 4 or 6 color, single head design for higher productivity.
Which is Better — DECOR or CAMS
We’ll warn you ahead of time, we like the DECOR machines better than the CAMS.
Here’s why.
Although the CAMS machines are excellent products, it appears to us that the DECOR machines have improved on the CAMS to make an even better product. We’ve interviewed one of the Mesa technical people who participated in the design of the DECOR. He revealed that he previously sold CAMS but that his company felt it could make a better machine by improving on the CAMS — essentially building a better and more advanced CAMS.
One of the big annoyances of rhinestone setting machines has always been the fact that they need a separate air compressor unit which provides the suction needed to pick up and deposit stones. Air compressors are large, heavy, expensive — and very noisy. CAMS machines require the separate purchase of an air compressor (and “chiller”) of sufficient size to match the machine. DECOR machines, however, use a much smaller and quieter vacuum pump to do the same job — and it’s built into the machine (except for the small 2-color unit, where the vacuum pump is outside the machine, but still included in the cost).
Another DECOR advantage is the large color touch-screen control panel from which all functions and operations can be monitored and controlled, while the CAMS uses a smaller monochrome display and buttons to control operations. This is a huge advantage. Furthermore, the DECOR has internal memory to store designs that are used often, as well as having an SD card slot for transferring designs from a computer (a USB cable is also included).
Technically, the DECOR machines are less complex, which suggests greater reliability and speed. Here is a video (not ours) that seems to do a good job in making this point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yk4r9BBBJQ
Next, the DECOR has a 3-year warranty, the CAMS only 2 years. Both companies provide a 100% upgrade credit within the first year.
Finally, ColDesi requires that customers come to its Tampa, Florida training facility to learn to use its CAMS machines. The training itself is free but customers pay for travel and accomodations. Mesa, on the other hand, offers free live online training for its DECOR, as well as on-site training at the customer’s location — at cost.
For more information and prices, visit Mesa Distributors at www.mesadest.com and ColDesi at www.coldesi.com .
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