I’ve been using this heat press for nearly a year now. I believe I was one of the first to purchase this machine from CeramiCraft.
First, let me start with Customer Service. This was spot on. Before purchase the friendly staff were more than pleased to answer all of my questions, some of which were silly; me being a newbie and all. After purchase they bent over backwards to ensure my freight costs to Queensland were as low as possible and arrived undamaged in a timely manner. They were also very helpful in those first few weeks. The instructions from the manufacturer weren’t very detailed, but the staff were happy to make a short video to help me with a problem I was having with the magnet not engaging (more on that in a moment).
As for the machine itself I’m very impressed. It looks great in bright red and comes with a magnetic strip that you can print on and attach to the topside of the closing arm of the unit. It is a nice touch. The machine is of solid construction which makes it a little heavier than I was expecting. However, that’s not an issue for me.
The slide out lower printing plate is an excellent feature. I’ve seen some clamshell presses that don’t open very far. This makes placing and positioning you substrate and transfer very difficult without getting burnt. No such problem with this press. You simply slide out the plate and you’ve got all the room in the world. I haven’t been burned once (touch wood).
The heating platen seems to have quite a good even temperature across the whole plate. I’ve used a infrared thermometer to check the platen at various points, except for the very tip of each corner and about 5mm along each edge, the temperature range was no more than 3 degrees on the 4 tests I carried out. This give the press a very respectable (in my humble opinion) 37x37cm effective printing area. The one issue though is that it is very important that the platen is level across your substrate. This means adjusting the black knob every time you change substrates. I’ve found this to be particularly important for thicker solid materials (plaques, tiles etc...).
Issues: The only issue I’ve had with this machine in nearly 12 months of use was that the magnet wouldn’t automatically engage sometimes. This meant it wouldn’t stay closed and the timer wouldn’t start, rendering the machine practically useless. I immediately contacted CeramiCraft and they were a big help. They got me to film what I was doing and send it to them. They then replicated the fault on their unit and sent me a video workaround. All this was within 24hrs. It involved adjusting the black knob to ensure the magnet had good contact. This however made it difficult to sometimes get even pressure across the substrate. Then quite by accident I found a better solution. If you lower the arm and the magnet doesn’t automatically engage, simply press the “+” on the controller unit and this manually engages the magnet. Extremely simple and I haven’t had a problem since.
The only other thing to mention is the mysterious small black square shaped metal rod. For weeks and weeks I was trying to work out where it it. In the end I contacted CeramiCraft who contacted the manufacturer, only to find out that it’s a rod used to stop the bottom plate from sliding during transport. It isn’t needed at all for daily use. Although, I’d suggest you keep this rod as it may be useful if you move the press around.
All up, this press does everything I need with simplicity and efficiency. It is solid, reliable and well priced. The customer service from CeramiCraft has been exceptional. I can highly recommend this product from Freesub and CeramiCraft.
From: Earl Henderson
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Date: 18/05/2021
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