cardudenc 151 Posted December 31, 2017 Been keeping an eye out for a hat press on CL , fri night was talking with @Primal Decals about it and looked on there . a guy less than 5 miles from me posted 1 he made 2 hats with. $80 and its at the shop. hopefully it wont take long for it to pay for the new 1 I have been eye balling. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cardudenc 151 Posted January 4, 2018 well just tried to do my 1st hat press. Can I get some advice or tips? yep, 1st hat wrinkle..... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted January 4, 2018 Hats can be finicky. That lower platen look massive. I have a Stahls and it comes with lots of optional lower platen sizes. I find that even the standard size is is just too big for almost any hat. I have one platen that is about 2.5" width (talking from the bill toward the crown and it works on just about every hat I have ever done. Some have more height and can take the larger one but I mostly still use the little one. I think it says it's for kids caps. I have heard of people cutting down their lower platen to make it more suitable but I'd hate to tell you to destroy yours. When I press I typically put a little pre-heat to it for a second or two and then apply some good hard hand work to get the face to conform to the curve before placing my vinyl on there. Some hats are better than others but most seem to fit my platen without too much fuss. Your results may vary. I started out with an ancient stahls cap press I bought from CL for about $100 (still have it somewhere) and then last year was looking for a tax write off so I picked up the luxury liner with the auto open and it's freakin awesome. All the stahls have a little spring device on the back that hold constant pressure on the hat once you stick it in there. I bought it through USCutter but it shipped direct from the factory. I think they had a free shipping thing going on at the time but I can't remember. You can make some good money with a competent hat press and the right clients. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted January 4, 2018 Here is the link to the lower platen options. You can see that the low profile is 2-3/4" x 6" that's the best one. I don't think you would need to cut down quite that far but I rarely if ever have had to go up to the regular sized one that came with it. http://www.uscutter.com/Hotronix-Cap-Heat-Press-Platens Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cardudenc 151 Posted January 5, 2018 I did a dry run without vinyl, really just pre heating and wrinkled the shit out of that 1. this is the 1st hat off the press, still ended up with a wrinkle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites