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Ruined 40 button sheets last Tuesday because I cranked my press while the plastic was still cold
So last Tuesday I was trying to knock out a batch of 40 pinback buttons for my cousin's baby shower in Reno and I totally wrecked almost every single one. My basement shop sits around 58 degrees this time of year and I did not think that mattered, so I just loaded my 1.25 inch dies and started cranking away like normal. About half the mylar tops came out cloudy with these spiderweb cracks around the rim, and a few shells actually split right at the edge when the press came down. I sat there with a whole sheet of ruined art thinking my die was bent, but nope, the plastic was just stiff from the cold. What fixed it was sticking the uncut mylar sheets on top of my printer for about 20 minutes before pressing, plus running a couple blank test pins first to warm the die itself up. The difference was night and day, clean glossy tops, no cracks, no splits. If your press lives somewhere chilly, do you warm your materials first, or am I just late to this whole thing?
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kellymurphy13d ago
Ha, well at least you figured it out before your cousin's shower, I would've blamed the die and bought a whole new press like a genius. My shop stays around 60 in winter and I learned the hard way too, cold mylar gets brittle and cloudy no matter how slow you crank. Now I keep my sheets on a heating pad on low for 15 minutes and run three or four scrap pins to warm the dies, not just one or two. Lesson learned the expensive way, right?
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