Heat press machine for flattening fibre prints

Bill Burk · Jul 10, 2019

I use a dry mount press to flatten my prints, but I don't plug it in.
I just sandwich the prints between some mat board and clamp it, and then leave it for a week.
When I open the press, the prints are flat.

At that rate, a couple pieces of glass and some mat board would do just as well.

BMbikerider · Jul 10, 2019

Much much easier and cheap as well. Get a straight edge - a ruler for instance. It should be larger than the print you are wanting to flatten. Place the print face down on a clean dry towel and with the ruler on top at one edge move the ruler over the print, at the same time pulling upwards on the print. This will produce a curl, but an even one. Repeat it the opposite way and your print will finish up almost completely flat.

Do it as many times as necessary to get the degree of 'flatness' you need. The print does need to be completely dry or the unevenness will return to some degree. If you are going to mount the print on card for framing, then two passes will be all that is needed.

John51 · Jul 10, 2019

I had one of those heated metal plate and canvas driers back in the 70s. Very frustrating to use. Most attempts had blotches of incomplete ferrotyping. Worst part was the successes. Had it been only failures I would have binned it. Getting a blotch free ferrotyped print from it was glorious and had me trying again and using a lot more paper per final print.

guangong · Jul 10, 2019

If memory hasn’t failed me, when I used the ferrotype dryer for making glossies, I first coated the print lightly with a solution I made, in which the key ingredient was beeswax. No blotches resulted. Of course, all of this is passé with arrival of computer reproduction.
I would not consider a ferrotype dryer for flattening prints, if only because the canvas cover usually become contaminated. A ferrotype print was not intended for archival prints.

StevenMorrison · Dec 7, 2020

I also had a similar problem before and could not find such equipment. I needed it because I started my business producing t-shirts and putting prints on them. It's good that a friend of mine recommended these guys to me https://www.stahls.com/heat-press-machines who could sell me the necessary equipment in a short time and at an adequate price. As a result, now everything is still working, so I earn good money and customers are satisfied with the quality of printing. Now t-shirts with the theme of coronavirus have become especially relevant.

ic-racer · Dec 7, 2020

Funny, I'm flattening prints now as I'm reading this thread. I use an old Seal press I had to restore. I just checked my temp. It is set between the 180 and 225F but the infrared thermometer tells me the platen is at 135 to 140F. I use a timer and do 2 minutes.

I agree these things are really difficult to obtain locally. I met a fellow APUG user half-way to transport this thing. We each drove about an hour and met half-way and had lunch at a nice restaurant.

blacksquare · Feb 6, 2025

I'm just wondering, is there anything really wrong with such a device? For a similar price (200€) I can't find anything better. It's 40x50cm. I've been watching ads for an older hot press for a while now, but nothing has appeared in the area.

Don_ih · Feb 6, 2025

blacksquare said:
I'm just wondering, is there anything really wrong with such a device?

I just bought a similar one because I make t-shirt transfers a few times a year and thought it would make it go better - it does.

I used it to dry mount a dozen 8x10 prints in about 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure it'd flatten prints pretty well, too. It dry mounts way better than a clothes iron does.

I've avoided buying a used dry mount press because the prices are all too high for something that may have a nearly dead heating element.

blacksquare · Feb 6, 2025

Don_ih said:
I just bought a similar one because I make t-shirt transfers a few times a year and thought it would make it go better - it does.

I used it to dry mount a dozen 8x10 prints in about 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure it'd flatten prints pretty well, too. It dry mounts way better than a clothes iron does.

I've avoided buying a used dry mount press because the prices are all too high for something that may have a nearly dead heating element.

Thanks for the info.
I've seen the well-known Vevor press before, but it was smaller and since I work up to 40x50cm, I was interested in this one.
I mainly want it for flatten prints that I dry on a fiberglass screen, but the occasional dry mount is also possible.

Ibicus · Feb 6, 2025

blacksquare said:
I'm just wondering, is there anything really wrong with such a device? For a similar price (200€) I can't find anything better. It's 40x50cm. I've been watching ads for an older hot press for a while now, but nothing has appeared in the area.

View attachment 390199

I use a similar one regularly and I am very happy with it. Unfortunately when I bought it the 30x40 version was too expensive, but for 200€ I would take it immediately

blacksquare · Feb 6, 2025

So I ordered it for 180 euros from german Amazon. At worst I'll make a t-shirt

logan2z · Feb 6, 2025

blacksquare said:
At worst I'll make a t-shirt

Or a grilled cheese sandwich

Pieter12 · Feb 6, 2025

Don_ih said:
I just bought a similar one because I make t-shirt transfers a few times a year and thought it would make it go better - it does.

I used it to dry mount a dozen 8x10 prints in about 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure it'd flatten prints pretty well, too. It dry mounts way better than a clothes iron does.

I've avoided buying a used dry mount press because the prices are all too high for something that may have a nearly dead heating element.

Usually the thermostat fails before the heating element. Much easier to replace.

Don_ih · Feb 6, 2025

Pieter12 said:
Usually the thermostat fails before the heating element. Much easier to replace.

It was an example. One could substitute "might be filled with dead rat bones" - amounts to the same thing: unknowable potential problems.

Pieter12 · Feb 6, 2025

Don_ih said:
It was an example. One could substitute "might be filled with dead rat bones" - amounts to the same thing: unknowable potential problems.

Sure, but if a used one is within range, both in price and distance (you don't want to have to pay for shipping) the difference the price of a new one can pay for most repairs. Except if it needs to be exorcized.

Don_ih · Feb 6, 2025

Just before buying the t-shirt press, I saw one that looked good for $100 that I would've bought, but I would've needed to drive for almost 4 hours to get there - in the middle of winter (no fun). 8 hours of driving adds about $140 to the price. I decided to opt for something that would be delivered and could be returned if it didn't work.

That said, I don't expect anything near the service life of an old Seal dry-mount press from this no-name thing. So, while I say there are unknown problems, they're of a limited number.

pentaxuser · Feb 6, 2025

Don_ih said:
Just before buying the t-shirt press,

Interesting you should mention this, Don. It reminded me of something I'd seen a couple of years ago as a video from John Finch Here it is for anyone's interest

pentaxuser

RalphLambrecht · Feb 6, 2025

chioque said:
Thanks Austin. Roughly that's what I've been doing. But in my case, I let the prints lay flat after drying under layers of books/bricks in between 2 mat boards for a couple of days. I would then iron the mat board with the print still in between. But, I'm just toying the idea of acquiring a press machine to make the process easier.

adry-mount press is undoubtably the best opion!

GregY · Feb 6, 2025

RalphLambrecht said:
adry-mount press is undoubtably the best opion!

Agreed....

Don_ih · Feb 6, 2025

Why is it the best option? The t-shirt press has a temperature control and clamps solidly. It essentially is a dry mount press.

pentaxuser · Feb 7, 2025

Don_ih said:
Why is it the best option? The t-shirt press has a temperature control and clamps solidly. It essentially is a dry mount press.

Yes and there is the ability to trial a lot of combos of time and temp It may be that the time and temp John Finch was recommended to use by the source( 90 degrees and 3 mins) to which he refers can be improved upon to get the print even flatter - it looked as if one corner was not as flat as the other 3

pentaxuser

gary mulder · Feb 7, 2025

A not completely dry print for 30 seconds in the hot press. No longer !. Cool down on a stainless steel plate. Then 3 minutes in the hot press. Then again cool down on the stainless steel plate.

dcy · Friday at 10:47 PM

pentaxuser said:
Interesting you should mention this, Don. It reminded me of something I'd seen a couple of years ago as a video from John Finch Here it is for anyone's interest

Inspired by this video, I decided to buy a similar product for my cyanotypes. It arrived today, tested it, and I couldn't be happier.

GregY · 2025-07-19T00:54:40-0400

Adrian Twiss said:
Looking at the examples you referred to shows me that with one exception the platen size is quite small (around 12 inches). I think you would need the largest version which has a platen of around 16x23 inches. I was very lucky to get a 20x26 Ademco press for under $100 but a friend and I nearly did ourselves an injury carrying up the stairs to my spare bedroom

Put my back out moving my Ademco as well.... must be a rite of passage....

Bill Burk · 2025-07-19T09:40:05-0400

dcy said:
Inspired by this video, I decided to buy a similar product for my cyanotypes. It arrived today, tested it, and I couldn't be happier.

Wow! Now you can do Fiber Based paper!

But the funny thing is, I never use heat. I just take advantage of it being a press. Leave the prints in it for a week or so.

Heat press machine for flattening fibre prints

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