Review on Optimize Cricuts T-Shirt Heat Press & Digital Sublimation Machine (9 x 12) by Morgan Gilmore

We bought this heat press because our grandson was born and we love to make special shirts, towels and other personalized crafts for him. This heat press was right in our price range and had the perfect dimensions. We didn't want anything big and bulky that we couldn't easily move from one place to another in the house. Upon opening it we found that it was properly packaged to avoid damage in transit. It was in its original box, surrounded by form-fitting foam with plenty of protective air gaps. This box was then placed by Revain in a large box with additional padding of protective paper. No damage was found, although the package has a certain weight. Excellent work! I took the press out of the box, removed the plastic and placed it on the counter where we were going to use it. An instruction manual is included with the kit, but this is somewhat missing. It was easy to understand, but I've included a product demo video that will hopefully clear up any working questions and help you figure out how to use it properly. I made sure the press pressure setting was set to give a strong hold. This is done by turning the knob on the back of the press handle (counterclockwise to loosen, clockwise to tighten). If you overtighten, you'll know because the handle doesn't fully engage and "clicks" as the press closes. Just loosen it up a bit and you'll be fine. The lower table has a thickly padded floor, so there is some headroom there. When I turned the unit on, the temperature gauge was already reading 72 degrees, which is exactly the temperature we keep our house at. This would indicate to me that the temp gauge on the press was accurate at least at that temp. I adjusted the temperature and the press reached 390 degrees faster than the manual says in just 12 minutes. We let it heat up for the full specified time so that the heat is distributed fully and evenly. Once it has reached the temperature, we set the timer to 30 seconds according to the jewelry instructions. We removed the heating pad and laid the shirt on the table to make sure everything was in place and smooth. We were instructed to place a piece of cotton between the press and the shirt before heating. The only thing we had was an old cotton terry towel. I don't recommend using this as the little threads on the towel wanted to stick to the decorations when we took the towel off after heating. He eluded a slight, cautious move, but there was no need to risk it. Once the towel was in place, I rotated the heating pad to line up with the underside and pulled the handle down until it clicked into place. Then I pressed the green toggle switch and the timer started counting down. After 30 seconds it emitted a continuous tone indicating everything was ready. I pulled the handle up, tossed the heating pad aside, and removed the towel. I then turned the shirt inside out and repeated the above process. The decorations were glued well and everything turned out great. We made a few more t-shirts right after that and the press worked great. I have a suggestion: make sure the surface you place the press on can withstand the heat. As you can see in the video we had it on our quartz countertop with the board directly underneath. We placed an old heat resistant glass cutting board on the back of the unit to protect the counter when the heating pad swings around the back of the unit. I'm glad we did because the cutting board was very warm afterwards. Please note that we are not professional users. We just thought we'd be interested in using this for family projects. Overall, I highly recommend this device. It is very easy to use, compact, adjustable, heats up quickly and evenly. Hopefully we can use this for many years.