What is a Heat Press Machine? Basic Guide
Heat Press Machines are specifically designed for transferring heat and pressure on different material for printing.
Heat transfer is an important step for different kinds of printing. Heat press machines come with the digital thermostat and timer for controlling time and heat while printing. This allows you to work with different fabric and different types of printing techniques.
The machines have revolutionized the printing process and can be used at home and for your small to medium printing house.
In this article, we discuss “What is a Heat Press Machine”.
What is a Heat Press Machine?
The Heat Press is a simple machine that transfers heat and pressure for a controlled period of time to any material.
The pressure and heat help to transfer prints onto the surface with accuracy.
Heat press machines can heat different materials including clothes, garments, paper, bags, hats, shoes, mugs, ceramic, plates, jigsaw puzzles, pots, vases, and many other materials.
How Heat Press Machine Works?
A common heat press comes with a platen that is used for spreading the fabric over.
The machines have an aluminum upper layer with the heating element underneath it.
Heating elements have wires or rode cast in aluminum for transferring heat.
The heat and pressure are applied on the surface of any material, depending on what type of heat press machine you have.
Types of Heat Press Machines?
There are four general types of Heat Press machines.
Clamshell
The machine opens like an oyster shell and can print on any object you throw into it like mugs, bottles, boxes, artwork, or anything you want. Clamshell is not suitable for thick garments or padded mouse.
Swinge
As the name suggests, heating platen swings away in this type, and you can easily move or adjust the material on lower platen.
The swinger machines are good for thick or padded garments too.
Draw Heat Press
It is little like the swinging machines, but the only difference is that the lower platen will be pulling towards you. It has a moving surface.
Vacuum Press
This press uses air pressure to provide force on any material.
3D Sublimation Machine
3D sublimation machine is an all-in-one machine, which can be used to customize many types of substrates like sublimation blanks, mugs, latte mugs, cell phone cases, plates, etc.
What is a Mug Heat Press Machine?
A mug heat press machine is created to print your artwork on a mug. With this unique machine, you can make a clear, crisp, full-color image on a coffee mug.
Note that you cannot print on all mugs. So, look out for mainly coated ceramic mugs.
These days, there are digital mug heat press machines that are far easier to use. Digital mug heat press machines will transfer images and decorate your mugs digitally with the help of its accurate heating, digital temperature, and time control.
You can press assorted images of different materials on mugs and adjust mug sizes digitally using a knob.