How to choose an ideal heat press for your garment?
1. What is heat press?
Theheat press is a machine designed to imprint graphic, picture or design on articles, such as T-shirts,mouse pad, mugs, plates, caps, etc. It is done with the use of heat andpressure that is applied for a set time.
2. Which designbest fits your business?
For getting theanswer of this, you can think about below factors in steps:
Step1: Sizes
How big a heat press I need? Of course, it depends onthe largest size of garments you need to transfer. Heatpress machines come in a variety of sizes. From small one (like 12x12cm) tovery large one (like 120x170cm). And there are some common sizes in themarkets: 38x38cm/40x50cm/40x60cm/60x80cm/80x100cm/100x120cm/120x170cm(15''x15''/16''x20''/16''x24''/24”x32”/32"x40"/40"x48"/48"x68").When choosing, it is better to go for a larger press size if your budget willallow, as the machine can used for quite long time.
Step2: Types
There arebasically three types of heat press machines: clamshell, swing away, and draw.The type of press you need depends on your work space constraintsand your preference.
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Clamshell Press |
Swing-away Press |
Draw Press |
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Opens like a clamshell *Simple to use * Space saving *Idea for beginner |
Swings the upper plate away from the lower *Easy to layout garment *Need more space then clamshell *Idea for experienced user |
Lower plate pulled out like a drawer. *Offers a heat-free work space *Idea for high volume |
Step3:Styles
Commonly, three styles are available-- Manual press,Auto open press and Pneumatic press.
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Manual |
Auto-open |
Pneumatic |
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Economical to buy
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Open automatically, allow you to multi-task without running the risk of over-applying or burning a garment. |
Use compressed air, better pressure |
After thinkingabout the above steps, you may have an idea what design of heat press you need.Then you should consider about the quality.
3. How todistinguish the quality?
As explained, allheat press do one thing: deliver heat under pressure for a set time. So thefactors which will affect the heat, pressure, and time will be affect thequality.
1) Heat: Whether heat is even? As you can image, if the heat is not even,somewhere 180degree, somewhere 160degree, somewhere cold, what the transferresult will be. Heat gap will lead to bad transfer result and ruin garments.
Thus even heat isthe indispensable feature of any heat press. Microtecheat press is with quite even heat, as its heat platen can reduce thetemperature gap between its corner and center in 5 degree, which other Chinesesuppliers can not make it.
2) Pressure:Whether the pressure is good, and whether it is easy to adjust the pressure iswhat you should consider. Microtec heat press is with hand knob for adjustingpressure, which is quite convenient.
3) Time: Accuratetime is important, while it will be more accurate with digital timers. So it isbetter to use a digital display. GY-04,GY-05, GY-06, GY-08 controllers are all digital, good for you.
What is more,interchangeable platens is also better as you can make application ondifferent garments easier.
4. What else should I consider?
Yes, and that iswarranty. And you should choose a good supplier who can offer you reasonablewarranty.
For Microtec heatpress, it is with good warranty also: 1 Year Warranty on entire press; 5 yearswarranty on castings and heat platen; Lifetime service.
Hope you areclearer for how to choose a heat press for your garment after reading aboveinfo. If need more info, please feel free to contact Microtec sales team orEmail to inquiry@szmicrotec.com.
