Cleaning your heat press

Written by

Karin Goffe

Tips & Tricks

Why should you clean your heat press?

After lots of rounds of heating up our heat transfers, the heating iron on your heat press can become dirty and you risk transferring that dirt onto the garment you want to print on. Dirt that becomes attached to the Teflon cloth might come from a print that has been reheated without protective paper. It might also take the form of dyes from certain garments that have become attached to your Teflon cloth (common when applying heat transfers to hi-vis vests).

It happens even to the best of us sometimes: you accidentally place the transfer wrong side up when applying, and when you raise the heating iron your print is firmly stuck to your heating iron. To prevent this, we recommend using our protective paper.

Below, you will find some bullet points on how to remove heat transfer residue from your heat press and the best way for cleaning your heating iron.

How do I get rid of residue from my heating iron?

1. Start by heating your heat press to 180⁰C.

2. Then wipe clean the Teflon cloth on the hot heating iron using an ordinary rag. (A cotton t-shirt works well).

3. Inspect the surface of the attached Teflon cloth to ensure all the dirt has been removed. Otherwise, continue wiping until the area is clean.

4. Replace the Teflon cloth if it shows any signs of damage.

How do I get rid of residue dyes from my garment?

1. Start by turning off your heat press and making sure that the heating iron is cool before handling.

2. Slightly wet a rag with white spirit and use it to wipe away residue dyes from the Teflon cloth.

3. If the dye does not disappear, repeat until the area is completely clean and free of colour.

4. Replace the Teflon sheet if it shows any signs of damage.

ATTENTION! We recommend using gloves when cleaning the heating iron to minimise the risk of burns.

Tip!

To avoid residue from the heat transfer ending up on your heat press, it can be a good idea to use our protective paper (with the matte side facing the transfer), available to order in our webshop.