# Hover Press



## BBProd (Oct 29, 2008)

Hi, all-

This is another thread that is directly mostly at Don at SWF East, but I'd love to hear from anyone else out there who is using a hover press.

In this thread:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/dtg-brand/t67389-2.html

Don said:
_If you use a tunnel dryer you will still need a heat press to press the pre-treated shirts prior to printing for the best results, so my vote is for a heat press, preferably one with a *"hover"* feature.
_
It's funny how these things work out, but I was just getting ready to buy a NON-hover press when I read this post. After doing a little research, I am inclined to buy a hover press for an additional $90.

Wouldn't it be cool to hop on your hover press and float around the shop? _Too bad they don't do that!_ 

But after making a call to Hotronix I did find that this press:
Stahls' Hotronix heat presses
is just a standard STX press with a few modifications. 

The hover modifications will cost you an additional $90 on a new press, while retrofitting the hover feature on an existing press will cost you $200, maybe a little more.

This addendum to the STX manual covers the hover feature:
[media]http://www.hotronix.com/pdfs/HOVER-addon.pdf[/media]
So, what say you, is it worth a few extra bucks to upgrade to a hover press?

Chris

FYI PS- The hover feature adds an *HP* to the model, so an STX-20 becomes an STX-20*HP*. (I'm not sure why, but HP always makes me think _Harry Potter_...)


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

For $90, why not?


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## BBProd (Oct 29, 2008)

zhenjie said:


> For $90, why not?


Yes, that's how I feel about it. I'm just wondering what the hover functionality buys me. I'm assuming it's good for something or they wouldn't be offering it...

Chris


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

The benefit of the hoover feature is that it allows you to basically flash cure a dtg printed shirt so you don't have to worry about wet ink sticking or smearing to the silicone paper or teflon sheet. If you don't do dtg printing, it is probably not a feature that is desired.


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## BBProd (Oct 29, 2008)

DAGuide said:


> The benefit of the hoover feature is that it allows you to basically flash cure a dtg printed shirt so you don't have to worry about wet ink sticking or smearing to the silicone paper or teflon sheet. If you don't do dtg printing, it is probably not a feature that is desired.


So you would let the press hover a bit to dry the ink and then press it? Applying pressure is required to properly cure a dtg shirt, isn't it?

Chris


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

yes it takes pressure to cure it, but very very light pressure. Well at least that is what I use for the best results  You can cure it by hovering but it will take alot more time to fully cure it with just hovering.


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## YoDan (May 4, 2007)

You would flash "Hover" over the item for lets say 15 seconds than lower press to final cure your item, this keeps any wet ink from not staying in the item where it belongs 
Dan
*"HAPPY PRINTING"*


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

BBProd said:


> So you would let the press hover a bit to dry the ink and then press it? Applying pressure is required to properly cure a dtg shirt, isn't it?


Dan and BobbieLee are correct. You only hoover over the shirt for the first part. Then the heating element goes down on to the shirt with light press to do the final cure.


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## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

I generally will hover the press about 1/4"-1/2" off the surface of a white ink printed shirt for about a minute (longer if there is a lot of coverage) and then press for the normal time, temperature and pressure that is recommended by the ink manufacturer. The benefit I see from this is more about the colors staying higher up in the garment and not getting squished down into white ink and dulling a bit.

Hope this helps!


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## raise (Apr 11, 2008)

@BBProd

According to Josh at Imprintables, the hover feature cannot be retrofit. Is it possible your contact at Hotronix misspoke and meant the auto-open feature?


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## BBProd (Oct 29, 2008)

Don-SWF East said:


> I generally will hover the press about 1/4"-1/2" off the surface of a white ink printed shirt for about a minute (longer if there is a lot of coverage) and then press for the normal time...


Does hovering cause the ink to cure at all? If so, when you press it, don't you have to worry about over-curing?

Does this affect the washout on these garments? I'm assuming it doesn't or you wouldn't recommend this technique?... 

Chris


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## bradyboyy88 (Nov 10, 2014)

I am curious of this too. I would thi k hovering before pressing would throw off most recommended cure times and would require a lot of testing to fine tune it.

Also are you putting the shirt down then hovering then lifting press back up to put teflon on then pressing back down with pressure ? Seems like a lot of work. I havent noticed any ink smearing with silicone ( i have with teflon) so it makes me think the hover feature is not as crucial anymore with todays inks,garments, and just standard parchment paper. Anyone else agree?


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## BadZebedee (May 6, 2014)

If I've got a lot of wet ink on a shirt I've found just leaving the shirt on a regular clam shell press for 30 seconds or a minute drys the inks enough not to worry about smudging them with parchment paper. Mind you I'm very new to DTG so I'm probably doing something wrong.


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