How loving, enjoyable, and exciting it is to make our very own customized masterpieces! But wait? If we tell you “MORE” will be here now in front of us, will you be ready to grab them one by one? Wait what? What were you whispering? Even if we’re already in 2023, your heat printing machine still lives in the JURASSIC ERA? Oh my! Oh my! We have a little fuzzy situation over here and cannot let this happen! NOT WITH YOUR HEAT PRINTING MACHINE!

And if you are in the same situation similar as mentioned above, IT IS ABOUT TIME FOR YOU TO DO AN UPGRADE! Yes, an upgrade because we cannot afford our Heat Printing Machine to be included! With this and this tool of us in good condition, we can customize everything. With the 2023’s BEST 10 HEAT PRESS MACHINE to be featured today in our blog, this will put you and your heat transfer printing into a SKYROCKETING ADVANCEMENT!

Considering a machine upgrade that will let you analyze its affordability, one that can sustain your art, and because YOU DESERVE IT in exchange for your venture’s good performance is a future milestone that’s so good to celebrate! Will you be one of us? If it’s a yes, let go of your hold on yourself and erase the idea that this will be another pocket-damaging magnet! This will make you see another bright side of targeting an upgrade that will not put you into a costly purchase.

Selecting the Finest for an excellent DIY-ing experience!

If you have been with us in every blog post and our crafter’s bonding for some of our crafting sessions, you not only saw how much we’re hooked on DIY-ing. As well, you’ve also witnessed the different struggles we have gone through in transferring our customized design to any of our chosen substrates. And when our heat printing equipment doesn’t want to cooperate, it’s like the end of the crafting world for us!

This brief takeaway, it’ll lead you more to the best decision and best practice to craft making! When we’re crafting and when you’re customizing, too, we always want to experience the best! So before you dive and hurry to see the best heat press machine that’s on our list, we want to walk you through first the things you must know in considering a heat printing tool that’ll be top-notch for you.

What is a Heat Press Machine, and what does it do for us?

A Heat Press Machine is the foothold of a heat printing business and the key tool for transferring customized design via heat and pressure. Ordinarily, we use this to heat press different images, graphics, letters, numbers, and other ideas we think of primarily on a shirt or garments and other substrates type. This may come with various models or attachments, allowing one to press and customize designs to flat surfaces and curve ones like mugs and hats. It may also come in different sizes depending on the scale of print we want or need; the type of printing task we’re making, or the availability of our heat press machine

What are the Types of Heat Press Machines?

If you’re not that new in the crafting world, it’s not unknown to us that a Heat Press machine may come in different types or forms. Sometimes we may hear of a kind of particular heat press machine that can be used for mugs and hats. Still, our focus now, specifically, will center on types of heat press machines used for T-SHIRT HEAT TRANSFER PRINTING or mainly to FLAT SURFACES.

Heat Press Machines for T-shirts or flat surfaced-project are classified into the Clamshell and the Swing Away type. All of which are easy to operate, perfect for a commercial-grade and quick production, have their advantage and drawbacks.

The Swing Away Heat Press Machine

The Swing Away Heat Press Machine delivers what it can do as its name tells! This heat press machine may open and close its heat platen like the clamshell. The special thing about its top plate is it’s unique because it can “swing away” its upper plate’s arms from left, revealing more of the critical area, and its plate can rotate at 360°. It is handier than a traditional heat press and allows you to have even and more consistent pressure when pressing.

What are the Pros of a Swing Away Heat Press Machine?

• The Swing Away Heat Press can move its top platen’s arm and can reveal more of the pressing area. This means you can fully access the layout area and comfortably plus safely place your material without thinking of accidental burns.
• It’s a heat press best to use in pressing thicker items or items with uneven base material, for its platen can level more, adjust its pressure, and heat distribution upon pressing.

What are the Cons of a Swing Away Heat Press Machine?

• Its swing away feature or its moving parts gives you handiness and safer access to your layout area though it sacrifices the sturdiness of its top platen being movable.
• It requires more space.
• More moving intricate parts to operate.

The Clam Shell Heat Press Machine

As derived from its name, too, a clamshell type of heat press machine resembles a “clamshell”. It uses its top and bottom heat platen’s mechanism to “clam” or to “clip in” compactly, sturdily, and solidly the fabrics or thin, flat substrates one is personalizing. It has fewer moving parts where its platens can be lifted straightly to open entirely and presents the least number of steps for you to operate it.

What are the Pros of a Clamshell Heat Press Machine?

• Clamshell Heat Press is great for beginners and DIY enthusiasts who want a startup career in heat transfer printing because they’re cheaper (considering they have almost the same size as to swing away heat press).
• It’s more portable because it takes less space and fewer moving parts to make it less finikin to operate.
• It’s very suitable and efficient for projects focusing mainly on customizing T-shirts.

What are the Cons of a Clamshell Heat Press Machine?

• Lay out the area for your project using Clamshell Heat Press Might be limited.
• There’s a risk of you getting accidental burns because you have your hands to work directly under the machine’s platen to lay your work on it.
• It doesn’t press thicker material.

Which is better? A Clamshell Heat Press Machine or A Swing Away Heat Press Machine?

Clamshell or Swing Away? After you know their comparison, which is “the one” for you? And to answer this question, it will truly steam up generally to our P-R-E-F-E-R-E-N-C-E-S.

In conclusion, our chosen type of heat press machine must match our craft-making situation, our crafting needs, the crafting task we want to do, the result that we’re trying to achieve, and what customized pieces are we going to produce or sell. In reality, no heat press machine could solely be best for everyone. Hence, only the Heat Press Machine can work best for us. And when we say “preference” it doesn’t only circles to our likings. Overall we can get lots of opinions or recommendations regarding this equipment. Yet, the most essential thing to consider investing in this tool plus thinking that none of your materials for this venture shall be wasted, is a real practical monetary investment.

Is Clamshell or Swing Away best for sublimation? Which heat press type is suitable for this application technique?

Are we expecting for second debate about the best of the best? Well! Well! Well! Relax… Since sublimation is quite a different heat printing approach compared to heat printing of Heat Transfer Vinyl, time, temperature, and pressure are precisely and sensitively three crucial aspects for it. On the other hand, too, the ability of the heat press machine to give you an even and flat surface to press fully on your materials can give you a constant temperature of 400°F. A large, large heat press with a platen to cover and press the area you are decorating is the physical aspect you must check. If these are being possessed by your chosen equipment, then it’s a good indication.

The good news now is whether a clamshell or a swing-away heat press machine is “in” to the requirements that sublimation requires and for a practical choice too. We can opt for a much more advanced tool, but of course, this will cost us a lot, even if this gives us an outcome beyond our liking. To clamshell or swing away, the only difference and the appropriateness of them to this heat printing technique you are applying will be depending if you’re doing it on a thin or thick flat surface. In totality, both can give reliability in doing the job and when it comes to the expected results that you want to see and for as long as the process for the said application is appropriately done.

What is the best size of Heat Press to purchase?

With so many options for heat press for your passion and venture, knowing which best heat press for you is just a part that can be overwhelming. This time choosing the best or the right size of a heat press is another side of the story for us to break down!

Just like how we examine the considerations in choosing the best heat press machine, we will do the same in this aspect. You need to see a couple of thoughts before you can tell this is the heat press size for you, so we listed them out for you!

1. How big are the designs I want to do, and what is the largest material I could heat press in my machine? Considering how big your design is equated to how large the shirt you are going to press. Having a heat press that allows you to press the largest size of items will truly suit this type of need.And come to think of it too, if your heat press is only for pressing small designs, you can’t customize bigger substrates.

2. Will I be producing lots of DIY projects or do I only need a heat press that just makes me do the work fast? The smaller the heat press, the quicker it’ll heat up and heat transfer. However, this can only do small projects at a time. The bigger the heat presses, the more pieces you can do in one go.

3. Can I print on the largest size of heat printing material? A 9” x 12” heat press is suggested if you just print on 8” x11” size of heat transfer sheets.

4. What size of heat press must I have in case I’ll still customize it 5 to 10 years from now? Heat Press Machine is a long-term investment, and future considerations of the machine that you can depend on until that time comes, surely will save you pennies a lot and makes your venture ready anytime for a breakthrough!

After you take a look at those points, going in between the middle size of the heat press machine will be ideal. At the same time, you wait for the perfect time that you can finally purchase a big-sized heat press machine. A medium-sized heat-pressed machine that comes in a size of 14” x16”, 15” x 15”, and 15x20” will give you a decent opportunity to accommodate pressing shirts with sizes of baby clothes for adults.

HOT!!! The Heat Press Machines to look out for this 2023!

Now revealing to you the 2023’s Best 10 Heat Press Machines on our list, this will be another helpful guide! To give you an idea about some budget-friendly and good-performing heat printing equipment, know what’s hot in the market and those that are always on a crafter’s wish list. By the way, these lists are in random order, so it’s still on your preference which you think will excellently fit your craft-making!

1. Fancierstudio Power Heat Press

A clamshell type of machine that can be categorized as seamless, heavy-duty, and solid heat printing, one can make thousands of imprints and personal purposes without a hiccup! This has a 15x15 inches heat plate generous enough to accommodate several heat printing tasks while giving you a quick heating-up mechanism in less than 10 minutes and an even temperature of up to 500°F. It’s a friendly machine for beginners, easy to assemble, and affordable.

2. Vevor Heat Press

A power heat press machine that might give what exactly you’re looking for and what you’ll need! It’s labor-efficient, swing-away type of equipment with 15x15 sizes of plates consisting of a selection of attachments. It could offer you good options to work with different types of substrates. This has enough heat protocols to prevent your work from scorching even if its heating capacity is up to 4800°F. A good bonus point for this, too; it has excellent customer support that can help you resolve some snags you might encounter while working with it and has precise digital controls, making it safe for users who prefer to customize at home.

3. F2C Pro Heat Press Machine

A heat printing machine engineered to be convenient for beginner’s usage and designed to be equipped with multipurpose functions! It’s a machine with a 12x15 dimension that can generate quality prints through its multi-spring balancer feature, giving you total control over its temperature and timing. It has an alarm system that makes you safe enough to press at its maximum temperature of up to 430°F and a customer support service that is wonderful to assist you with your queries about the machine.

4. Seeutek Heat Press Machine

A user-friendly home machine that’s very affordable and with a top-grade sturdy build. It’s a 12x15 swing-away heat press that also comes with a series of attachments that even if you’re at home, you can work as well with other forms of base materials. This can heat up in a minute, giving you a good reach of the temperature of 320°F and with great customer support too.

5. Tusy Heat Press Machine – An on-the-budget heat press machine cheaper enough to buy and maintain! It’s a premium quality swing-away type of heat printing equipment with a 12x15 or a 15x15 heat plate giving you tons of great features for use. It can be easily configured through a simple program system. It could swiftly reach its required or maximum temperature up to 480°F. This isn’t only great to be used for HTVs but also for sublimation printing because of its feasibility and reliability.

6. Cricut Easy Press Series

A heat press brand that cannot be missed out on our list! Of all the best budget heat presses, this one is the most popular and can widely satisfy most craft makers’ crafting needs. Compared to swing away or clamshell heat press, this one offers portability but is a titan for performance because it can do the same heat printing result as a heavy-duty machine. It comes in 3 different sizes, 6x7, 9x9, and 10x12, which also allows you to do various projects and print well even to the hard-to-reach areas of a substrate. It’s the fastest plus extremely accurate machine that can reach its required temperature of up to 400°F in less than three minutes. It can be set up with a timer digitally. In addition, this has a Bluetooth feature which makes printing highly digitalized.

7. Morphorn Heat Press – A machine deserving recognition as a good game changer in the heat printing world! It’s a swing-away type of equipment with 15x15 heat plates that is ideal for usual heat printing projects and considered the best heat press for sublimation. Its smooth learning curve lets you get the direct result and more accurate prints on your customized pieces. Moreover, it also comes with various accessories, so you could customize shirts and more of other materials like mugs, plates, totes, and others.

8. Cricut Auto Press

An extremely digital heat press machine from the brand Cricut that’s best for large customization projects. Even though it’s an industrial-like heat press type, its all-in-one feature makes it handy and pro. Compared to traditional heat press, its advanced features won’t strain your arms from opening and closing its plate. You can complete and open this using two-finger only, and very safe to use for its body is made of materials that are heat safe that even if you accidentally touch the areas for a heat press considered to be very hot, you won’t get any burns. What’s more to this? You can press materials that are up to 2 inches thick. The machine can automatically adjust to the dimension of the substrate, and it can be operated via Bluetooth feature.

9.PowerPress Industrial Heat Press

A hands-free heat press machine is also perfect for professional usage! It’s a versatile 15x15 inches clamshell machine that can handle more materials to print on. This machine has fast speed reaching capability for its optimal temperature in less than 5 minutes, it is made of top-grade material too, very sturdy and so much handy to use.

10. ePhoto Heat Press Machine

A considerably small but terrible business heat press that can withstand wear and tear. It’s a swing-away machine with 15x15 inches heat plates that amazingly heats so fast, and no need for a waiting game for you to start your printing. This can also allow you to save your heat settings rather than key in them manually.

Final Question: Is Cricut Press better than any other Heat Press?

A straightforward answer to a direct question! If we’re to ask if Cricut Easy Press is better than any other machine, well, definitely, it WILL BE ONE OF THE BEST. Undoubtedly, when it comes to it being a machine with supreme digitalization, we can say it’s top-notch among all other heat presses. But then again, when it comes to what heat press machine stands out for us or among others, it will take us to some point of consideration. Best heat presses will always offer us a feature that enables us to level up our craft game and one that satisfies our crafting needs. If you are more on the hobbyist side and want to make heat printing a small side hustle we can go for a Cricut Press (like its Easy Press Series) but if we are up to taking customization as a serious form of business for us then choose a heat press that is industrial-grade and can perform commercial functions.

Other Vinyl Crafting Articles

Please click the links below for more blogs that you may find helpful in your crafting adventures:

BEST HTV AND HEAT PRESS PROJECT IDEAS FOR BEGINNERS

SUBLIMATION IN COTTON AND DARK COLORS WITH HTV

Fancy! We are finally done! Did this blog help you to make the most out of the best decision in you? If this crafty session in us serves its purpose, then it is excellent to know that we have another fruitful time to share. Don’t forget to pin and share this with you, fellas, for sharing is caring! As always, thanks for being with us today.

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