Heat Press – is the base supposed to wobble?

[Jim Clough]

Hi Nick
The loose play is known as a floating platen. The purpose being so that when the press is closed the top and bottom will meet together to make contact over the whole area. If there is a gap when closed then all I can think of is that the top platen is out of alignment more than the float in the bottom.
Jim

[Sarandaz]

Hi Nik, Its happened to my heatpress once.If you look underneath your heatpress you should see one or two nuts or screws.they might be loose, just tight them problem should be resolve. i did same with my heatpress and its working perfect now.
hope this will help

[biddwiser]

Thanks Jim, that narrows it down a bit. If the top platen is out of alignment, is it easy enough for me to sort this out?

[Jim Clough]

I have a press which had a top platen about 1/4 inch out. When I lowered it the right side would meet the bottom first with the 1/4 inch gap at the left. However as soon as the top and bottom made contact the bottom flipped over to compensate and gave total contact. As this was a new press the supplier changed it. What make is your press and is it new or within the guarentee?
Jim

[biddwiser]

The make is Omron, I got it off eBay so there is no guarantee. The seller said it was a good solid press and was as new because he never used it – now I am wondering if there was a good reason he never used it!

I just turned the press upside down and tightened the screws that Sarandaz mentioned. Just warming up now so I will let you know how I get on.

I also tightened the screws on the top platen and I must admit when I closed it down, the gap looked reduced so fingers crossed….

[biddwiser]

By the way, do any of you use XPres’ Easy-cut? If so what temperature and duration do you recommend?

[Sarandaz]

Usualy Xpres sent their application instruction sheet with every order.With easy cut they recomen 10 sectime and 160 degree heat. and 180 degree for workwear clothing.
But this recomendation is for their own make heat press, I have got china make cheap heat press and i 98 % of time i use 180 degree and between 20 – 30 sec

I do alot of teeshirt and workwear hi viz clothing and i use SUPER FLEX from xpress its 5.25/mtr 50mm roll so worked out quite cheap and its good never had any problem or complaint

[biddwiser]

Right, having turned it upside down and tightened those screws, and having tightened a couple on the top platen, I just had my first success – well, half-success – as printing a tee (I wish I had half a bottle of champagne to celebrate!).

I say half because half of my design stuck properly to the tee, the other half is hanging off. But this is a definite sign that I am halfway there!

I’ve since tried another design and that fell off altogether. Now I look at the gap on the left hand side, where the platens meet, and it’s come back. Hmmm.

[Phil Price]

Hi Nick,

Sounds like you need to increase the pressure on the press.

Although Xpres recommend that the backing material is removed once cooled, I’ve found that certain colours (strange I know!!) seam to release far easier when warm or even hot.

Xpres don’t say it’s necessary, but I always press again once the backing material is removed for a further 10 seconds.

Regards,

Phil

[Peter Normington]

Apart from increasing the pressure, are you pre-pressing the garment to get rid of any moisture?
It can happen If the garment is damp, that the material will not take, just a thought,

Peter

[biddwiser]

Cheers Phil. Since my last post I’ve played around with it and, yeah, I think the problem all along was the pressure. I’ve since almost -ALMOST- got a whole design to stick. Next time I try, I will do as you say and peel it off when it’s warm.

I have had so many problems from the first day I bought my cutter. Finally, FINALLY I am nearly at the point where I can make a damn t-shirt. If it wasn’t for this forum, I would have given up a long time ago.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

[biddwiser]

quote Peter Normington:

Apart from increasing the pressure, are you pre-pressing the garment to get rid of any moisture?
It can happen If the garment is damp, that the material will not take, just a thought,

Peter

Just read your message too, Pete. I wasn’t pre-pressing the t-shirt so that could also be a factor. Many thanks.

[Sarandaz]

Hi Nik
Here i tell you full process what i do for tee shirt printing.
1- turn you het press on and set its temp to 180 degree and time to 30 seconds

2- put shirt under the press

3- press for 5 sec and take off the pressure plate.

4- put your print material on shirt make sure its in middle and both sides left right have equal distance

5- press again for 30 second

6-open or take the pressure off

7- wait for 10-15 sec

8-peel offbacking

shirt is ready
hope it will help

[Richard Urquhart]

i would just like to add 30 secs may be a bit long i always press for between 10 to 20 secs max and most of the time 12 sec and even less on lycra and nylon

rich

[Sarandaz]

Sorry i forgot to mention i have china made bit cheap heatpress, thats why i need to press for 30 second, but with good branded heat press 20 secs will be enough.

[biddwiser]

Thanks guys. I think I have a cheap China press too, so I will have a go with the 30 seconds if I don’t find 20 seconds is long enough.

Has anyone even heard of Omron? I can’t find anything on the internet about Omron heat presses!

However having looked on eBay recently I notice other people are selling ones identical to mine, just a different colour (and without the name Omron).

I wish I had the money for a decent one, but for now I will settle for this quirky yellow beast!

[Jim Clough]

Omron are a very large worldwide company, but I’ve never heard of an Omron heat press.
Jim

[biddwiser]

I just checked the worldwide company’s website and the Omron logo is written in the same font as my press, so i guess somewhere down the line they did make heat presses – either that or it is a cheap fake!

[Freddy.Tait]

i know its not a great help at moment but

keep your eye out for an
adkins t shirt press and you wont go far wrong
they can take some stick
and spares available in u.k.
they are in leicester
a adkins & sons ltd

all the best freddy
in sunny scarborough

[biddwiser]

Thanks, Freddy. I will bear that in mind for the future. However I think mine is OK now, thanks to all the help I got on this forum.

[Jason Bagladi]

You will find that the ‘OMRON’ bit is the heat controller or the timer. OMRON do not make heat presses.
Try using a softer silicon foam to press on to rather than the harder on supplied with the Chinese presses. Will cost about £40 but well worth the money.

Jase

[SubtleTease]

Hey there…

I’m in the same situation as you with regard to cheap china heat presses… the moral of the story I’ve discovered, is this: Don’t buy heat presses on eBay!!!

I’ve had a cheap china press for about a year now, and it’s not TOO bad… I find that I have to use a higher temp. than advised, and press for longer… also I’ve discovered that the pressure is most important… I try to make it as heavy as possible for best results… Careful though, with those presses, if you twist the pressure knob too much, it can literally pop back up and hit you in the face… you have been warned.

So I’m getting an Adkins press in the next week or two…
No matter how much I play around with the china press, I simply can’t get really intricate shapes to stick…

BTW – xPres… SuperFlex is far superior to EasyCut, in my experience.

[Alan Drury]

If you’re getting another press check out the Jarin/Europa-leisure HF4500 machine with interchangeable base and teflon coated platten. Tel: 01376 517717 – great press, great service.
Alan D

[Lorraine Clinch]

I bought my T-shirt press off Ebay, but it came from America, and it is GREAT. I also bought a hat press off Ebay, from China, and it is CR*P.

Moral is, don’t buy Chinese.