We showed Paul Hirst of Tropical Graphics, Oak Park, Florida, The Tile Master™ and asked for his comments. Tropical Graphics produces 15,000 to 20,000 sublimated tiles and murals each month.

This is what he had to say-
"We are asked many times what heat press we would recommend for tile production. Historically, there has never been a heat press specifically designed for tile production, so it comes as a welcome relief to now find The Tile Master™ heat press from Alpha Supply Company.

This new heat press, designed from the ground up for maximum tile production, offers many benefits over regular heat presses that have been used in the past.

The heat platen is a generous 18x20 which allows the user the ability to produce a fully imaged 12x18 mural, which is one of the most popular sizes for back-splashes, framed murals, etc. Also, another great benefit The Tile Master™ offers is it's oversize (thickness) heater block which enables the press to operate at a much more consistent temperature, compared to the smaller and thinner heater block on a standard 16x20 press.

You will really see the benefits of this feature when you come to run large numbers of tiles, as the consistency will be much greater. One small down side to the larger heater block is that it will take slightly longer to reach optimum temperature but once there, it will stay there.

To me, one of the major drawbacks to standard manual heat presses, has been the fact that you have to remove your tiles before you can place your next mural on the heat press. This process can cause problems as you are trying to handle tiles that are very hot and will chip easier until they have cooled down and also a lot of time is lost in setup, for the next mural.

The Tile Master™ does away with this problem with the innovative use of a 2-tray shuttle system that basically allows you to set up one mural, while the other one is being pressed. This method saves a great deal of time, allows easier registration of tiles on a 13x19 sublimation transfer (using an Epson 1280 printer) and is much more comfortable, since the operator is not working directly over the press.

All in all, this is a great press, and we highly recommend The Tile Master™ to anyone who is seriously considering volume production of ceramic tiles and other ceramic products."

Paul Hirst
Tropical Graphics
Oak Park, Florida