Combination heat press opinions

[Chris Wool]

don’t know about a combination type but a mug press takes very little room and can be put out the way easily when not in use.
but do buy the biggest press you can.

chris

[Graeme Harrold]

"Jack of all, master of none" plus it will get frustrating having to change over between jobs and wait for the warm up. Go dedicated and probably start with mugs.
Got my setup from BMS Printer Owners and went for the combination press that does all mugs (well most). Fiddly to change the jackets, but that will probably make me buy another. Bought the package deal, press, printer and bulk ink……………

[John Wilson]

I bought a combo press but only got the flat plate, bought the cap pressfor it but took too much time changing heads between cool downs and warmup

Dedicated is the best option I’d say

[Michael Dunn]

i originally had a ‘joys’ multi function press – small platen, cup, hats and plates.

did the job but not very well made, awkward to use for caps, got rid after about 3 months.

[Robert Lambie]

i do not know the volume of work you will be putting out, so this will come into play, but for me "only dabbling in it", having the option of being able to do hats and pockets etc was worth spending a bit more on to get the other plates. if i am going to invest in a heat press im as well getting as much as possible rather than limiting myself.

changing my plates only takes a few minutes… heating them up is a flick of a switch and 5 minutes to get to correct temp. your ready to roll from there…
fine, if you have a constant large volume of work on caps, t-shirts, bags etc and changing every 20 minutes would be on the card then yeh, ide go for dedicated machines for sure. if the bags and hats were just something i dabbled in then a multifunctional machine does the job.
my press is a decent make and well made. my extras are very plug and play… so maybe other multi-option plates are more labourous to change… i dont know. 😕

[Mark Jahn]

I originally looked at a combi press but after weeks of research was put off by the risk of a fault taking all functions down plus the lack of doing more than one thing at once.

If you’re looking at volume stuff my personal opinion would be to look at separate presses for each function. And buy the biggest platten you can within your budget otherwise you’ll be kicking yourself for not being able to heat press A3+ size.

If you’re going into the likes of volume mugs it might also be worth buying two mug presses. That way you can be taping one up whilst two are baking!