In an uncertain economic time, a lot of people are looking at ways to save money and some even are looking at second sources of income.
A common and easy way to create a side hustle is to get involved with using your own skill set right at home that others may lack. Perhaps you have a crafty mind and want to make jewelry to sell or create stylized clothing designs.
Websites such as Etsy are a great place to get started on selling personalized goods at a decent price and create that welcomed second source of income.
Vevor, a company who makes tons of large at-home use products, sent over their High Pressure Heat Press with a 15 x 15 hot plate. This heat press allows anyone with even basic crafting knowledge to imprint their designs on hats, shirts, bags, pillows, and hundreds of other cloth-based objects.
Welcome to my overview of the Vevor 15 x 15 High Pressure Heat Press.
Design
Vevor is an interesting brand. Selling exclusively on Amazon, they sell everything from pipe cameras (Amazon), welders, drawers, all the way up to today’s Heat Press. This will be my third Vevor reviewed product and much like the others you can feel the more industrial design to the product.
The all-black design offers a unique color for more of an industrial product and fits better with a general home physique. Vevor also offers an all-white version as well. Left out in a craft room or home basement, the press fits in just like any other home appliance.
Made out of an all-aluminum body, Vevor’s heat press feels secure and rigid and the hefty weight of the unit allows it to sit planted on a table while in use.
A physical tour around the heat press reveals a rear mounted temperature and time display output, a physical on/off button with automatic shutdown, a large and comfortable closing arm for the press itself, and Teflon layered non-stick pads that sandwich the item being heated.
For general use, only a minimal amount of pressure is needed to get a good press onto the object, but Vevor does include a pressure knob that can either increase or decrease the amount of needed pressure.
At a rated service like of 20,000 hours, the Vevor Heat Press is built to stand for a long time and it feels like it after a few months of usage. More on that in the next section.
The large 15 x 15 Teflon heated press offers a large clean surface area for most common designs and items to receive a vinyl. You can press a phone case, pillow, shirt, sweatshirt, pants, and virtually anything your heart may desire. The built-in circuit breaker protects you and your home from any overheating on the press.
Functionality
The Vevor Heat Press is only one part of a multi-part setup when creating designs. While Vevor’s product is what imprints the design onto an object, it doesn’t create or cut out the vinyl.
I’d recommend getting yourself a tool such as a Cricket. This comes with Windows-based software that allows you to create, design, and copy a design onto a transferable vinyl sticker to then later be applied by the heat press.
Since Cricket offers both the software and the hardware, it can then cut out the intended designs precisely for pressing. Remember, any bad cuts or added material will be pressed onto the object in question.
For testing purposes, T-Shirts were created for a local boy scouts’ group. Blank, standard t-shirts were purchased and a designed was created and cut by Cricket.
Without any prior knowledge of using a heat press, it turned out great. There was a very little small learning curve with the only challenge making sure the stencil stayed put and that the temperature was set correctly.
At a maximum temperature of 482F, it can take a try or two to find out which is correct, but after a little bit of Googling to find the correct temperature for the type of materials in use, it worked every single time.
Vevor uses a uniformed heating element that also ensure the entire 15 x 15 press area is fully covered by equal heat. Preventing the design from peeling or applying incorrectly. On something that you only have one chance to get right, this can be a great feature.
Materials in the shots below include HTV (heat transfer vinyl) on cotton shirts, infusible ink (sublimation ink) on polyester shirt, and iron-on patches.
Hats and T-shirts were the extent of my general use, but I could easily see someone using this every day for an Etsy store and enjoying their new found hobby/business.
My Final Thoughts
Priced at $188 I say that Vevor offers a great product and a great way to get started on either one-off projects or on an Esty store.
It was easy to setup and get started without any prior knowledge or use of a product such as this. Vevor’s built-in features such as the temperature alarm, overheating protection, and automatic shutoff also make it a safe product to use.
The included Teflon non-stick layer pads are a great inclusion for $188 and make pressing clothing items a pleasure. This is easily another Vevor product I’d recommend.
© 2022 Justin Vendette
1 Comment
Thanks for sharing!