How to choose a heat press machine?

For transfer aplication or marking, there are many kinds of heat press machines. Manual, semi-automatic, with membrane or double-plate heat-presses, it can be difficult to find what you need !

In this article, we will help you to choose your heat press machine depending on your need, then with a comparison table.

Choose your heat press machine depending on 5 criteria

For every need, there is a heat press machine !

To make an easy choice, you have to focus on one only question : what do you need ?

To define your need, it must be based on several criteria :

1. Frequency of use

You will use your press once a week ? Once or several times a day ? Every day ? It is important to define the nature of your activity : occasional, daily or intensive.

2. The quantity for each series

To supplement the previous criterion, you have to evaluate the number of items in every series. Are the series small (around 50/100 items), medium (100/300 items), big (more than 300 items) ?

3. The type of textile to be pressed

If you want transfers on T-shirts, sweatshirts, socks or even caps, the needs will not be the same, and the heat press to use will be different too. For example ; if you only want to press a big quantity of caps, you should choose a cap-specialized press.

4. The dimension of the plates

Depending on the type of textile to be pressed, the dimension of the needed plates for a better application is variable. The larger is your textile, the larger the plates should be. If you have to press several types of textiles, you can now buy several plate dimensions for an only heat press machine.

Ask your customized plate size !

5. And of course, financial resources

Of course, beyond the press use, the essential criterion is the price. It is not a secret, the heat-press price is often a quality guarantee. But there is no use to buy a very expensive press if it is not suitable for the use you plan. This is why it is so important to define your need in heat press machine before any purchase.

All the criteria have been mentioned and you have defined your heat press machine need. It is now time to find your ideal press !

Which heat press machine choose ?

Criteria
Using frequency	Utilisation occasionnelle	Intensive use	Very intensive use	Intensive use
Quantity	Small or big series	Small or big series	Medium or big series	Medium or big series
Type of textiles	T-shirts or various textiles	T-shirts or various textiles	T-shirts or various textiles	Caps or small textile
Dimension of the plates	40*40 ;  40*50 or changeable plates	40*50 or changeable plates	Changeable plates	13*9 cm and/or 15*20cm
Budget	€ 1,000 - 1,500	€ 1,500 - 2,000	€ 3,900 and more	€ 1,500 - 2,000
Adapted  press	Manual heat press machine	Single plate press with a membrane system	Double plate semi-automatic press with a membrane system	Membrane press with small plates (changeable or specialized)

You now hold all the keys to choose the most adapted textile heat-press for your plans ! 
To find more information about heat press machine, you can read our documentation. 

Are you still uncertain ? Don’t you know which one choose ? Our technical expert is available to guide you. Contact us via our Contact form and explain us your need.  And don’t forget that a good heat press machine is a press which can manage the temperature on the plate surface and applies an unvarying pressure on the surface.