Mulifunction Heat Press - swindonmakers/wiki GitHub Wiki

This multifunctional 5 in 1 heat press machine can transfer photos or text onto cotton, fibre, metal, ceramic, glass and other materials through thermal transfer.

Main document about use - maintained on Google Drive

Component Parts

  • 12" x 15" heat platen for transferring onto T-shirts, Fabric etc
  • Mug heating plate for transferring onto ceramic Mugs
  • Cap heating plate for transferring onto Baseball type peaks
  • Two plate heating plates for transferring onto ceramic plates
  • Digital Dual display electronic control unit with LCD timer allows you presetting time and temperature control unit

Operating

WARNING the various heating plates get very hot use extream care when operating and make sure the device is off before leaving.

The main heating plate and the mug plate have two cables which connect to the main control unit, the 4 pin cable supplies the heating element and controls the temperature, the two pin cable is for the microswitch, this is what activates the timer when the plate is compressed.

The Cap plate and the Plates plates do not have a microswitch so only have the 4 pin cable to connect.

Make sure the main control unit is switched off before connecting the cables, each cable plug has a different number of connectors and can only be connected to its corresponding socket.

The top display of the control unit displays the temperature of the plate being used and the bottom display show the time that has been set.

When you first switch the device on it will show the setting from the last time it was used.

Set the controller as follows

Press the Set button - SP will appear in the top display, use the arrow buttons to increase and decrease the temperature seen in the bottom display to the required temp.

Press the set button - St will appear in the top display, use the arrow buttons to set the time required in seconds.

Press the set button - the top display will show C - F, use the arrows to select Celcius or Faranhight.

Press the set button - the displays now show the temperature at the top and time on the bottom you have set (Note: if you have just switched on the machine then the plate will not have reached the required temperature and you will see the displayed temperature increase on the display until it reaches the set temperature.)

*** Advance Settings

The advanced setting allows the plate to start at a pre-set temperature and then increase the temperature to a higher level when the plate is compressed when this higher level is reached the timer will start and after the pre-set time stop and sound the alarm.

This is required when printing onto mugs and plates as the cold mug or plate will initially reduce the temperature and needs time to reach the operating temperature.

work in progress to decipher Chineesium instructions

T-shirt Transfer

  1. Create the artwork for transferring to the T-Shirt then print the image onto T-shirt Transfer paper as a mirror image

  2. Set the controller to a temperature of 191 degrees C with a time of 18 secs

  3. When the plate has reached the desired temperature pre-press the T-shirt for 3-4 secs to remove any creases

  4. Place the transfer print image down on the T-shirt in the desired position.

  5. Close the press, after the pre-set time the alarm will sound open the press and remove the T-shirt

  6. Wait for about 30 seconds for the T-shirt to cool then peel off the transfer paper.

The temperature and time may vary slighty depending on the make of Transfer paper, the above temperature and time was used with IBM T-shirt Transfer paper

Mugs

  1. Create the artwork for transferring to the Mug (approx. 92mm high x 230mm max width) then print onto Transfer paper as a mirror image (i.e. flipped horizontally) using the dye-sublimation printer (the Epson, on the shelf above the 3D printers)

  2. Cut-out and tape the image around the mug using some pieces of Kapton tape (the transparent orange stuff) - make sure it is tight and level!

  3. Hook up the cables for the mug-press. Set the controller to a temperature of 200 degrees C with a time of 300 secs (see instructions above)

  4. When the press has reached the desired temperature, insert the mug and apply the clamp

  5. Reset the controller to restart the count-down at 300sec

  6. After the pre-set time the alarm will sound. Turn off the controller, open the press and remove the mug

  7. Peel off the transfer paper (careful, it'll be HOT) and immediately slosh the mug in some cool water to cool/seal the surface