# Pressing Baseball caps with a cap press



## shaian (May 17, 2007)

Recently, I purchased a cap press, as i was thinking to expand the products i can offer. 
I got my hands on a couple of different style hats, 1 made of 100% cotton and 1 made of acrylic. 
When pressing these caps using hot flex vinyl or flock, I have came across the same problems. 

Press marks, AND Burn marks. 

The press marks are not so much a problem, where the hot plate presses against the hat it makes a slight crease mark, changing the pressure can fix this but no matter how soft i have the pressure there is still some marks. I padded the edge with a cut up t-shirt and reduced the marks i was getting a bit, and after a while they fade away. 

The main issue I seem to have though is the singeing or change of colour the heat press maks on the caps, even with a teflon sheet covering the hat, or even a t-shirt covering it, changing the temperature, I still get the same marks left on the hat, and these do not go after time. 

I have managed to reduce the marks after going though a good few hats, but not completly get rid of them. 

Has anyone on here ever used a hat press and could provide some good suggestions to successfully pressing a hat that has non of these marks? or is there a guide online anywhere that i may have missed? i have been searching ages and not really found anything. 

If nothing can be suggested, next week when i try again I think i will take photos from start to finish and try and either make my own do's and dont guide and post it on here incase anyone else has a similar issue in the future.


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## Corel Whisperer (Sep 1, 2010)

First, what brand of cap press are you using? The ones I have used have a leaver that pulls the hat tight to the bottom platen. I also found I had to pull the seam out where the bill attaches to the hat to stop it from leaving a mark there. If it is burning the hats sounds like the temp is up too high. What settings are you using?


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## shaian (May 17, 2007)

i am not sure the actual brand of the press, one of these

Cap Press Machine (CP815B) - China Cap Press Machine,Cap Heat Press Machine

but not purple. 

i have it set at 160 and 13 seconds. 160 because i was printing with flock.


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## jasonaboesel (Feb 14, 2014)

i'm having many of the same problems. Has anyone figured out a solution? I've turned down the heat, relieved the pressure to the point it barely touches. I've gone through about 15 different hats...every single one with the same heat marks or discoloring. Not sure what i'm doing wrong.


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## jasonaboesel (Feb 14, 2014)

Anyone know of a good video? thanks


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## aimagedesign (Sep 2, 2009)

jasonaboesel said:


> i'm having many of the same problems. Has anyone figured out a solution? I've turned down the heat, relieved the pressure to the point it barely touches. I've gone through about 15 different hats...every single one with the same heat marks or discoloring. Not sure what i'm doing wrong.


After pressing with the heat press, I use a heat gun on the creased area and smooth out the crease by hand. It's not a perfect solution. But afterwards the hat looks better.


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## Sublime_Vizion (Jul 30, 2010)

With hats its a lot of trial and error. The three things that will scortch or mark the hat are temp, time of press, and pressure. First thing to remember is manufacturer suggested settings are only "suggestions"! If the suggestion is 360f degrees for 20sec try 350f for 10sec. Most hat transfers are small and i find that you can get away with less time and temp then whats suggested. You can also try and do multiple presses. Instead of doing a full 20sec press try and press for 10sec, let the hat cool down a bit, amd press again for 10sec. Another big factor os the press itself. Most of the cheaper presses have smaller heat platens. Because the platen is small the edges fall on and dig into the panel of the hat which leaves press marks. Some of the mid-priced presses have oversized heat platens which surpass the panel of the hat so that the edges don't fall on the hat.


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## iainlondon (May 11, 2010)

Yes I seem to get the same scorch marks as well Its a real pain to the point that some hats I actually press on my 15" X 15" Heat press. I simply let the heat press get up to heat then tape whatever image onto the hat with heat tape and using the TOP HOT Plate quite simply "roll" the hat over the plate until it sticks.....


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## Cheetah1107 (Jan 7, 2017)

Hello,

I just tried my first go with heat pressing two hats. I used InkTra Opaque Transfer Paper and don't like the look of it. (Also, I'm currently using el cheapo Canon Inket Printer) New machine--from China, Swing Away model. On the first hat, the paper stuck but I made mistake of not pre-pressing for a few seconds and left the cardboard in hat...Tried again, this time though, the paper barely stuck at all--I tried 190 for 30 sec. Wondering if there is a paper better for hats? Wish there was a brick and mortar store I could walk into and shop!! I pre-pressed and took out the cardboard.


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