(Topic ID: 268709)

Flattening Warped Plastics, Another Variation Which Worked

By clodpole

3 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 8 posts
  • 6 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 years ago by clodpole
  • Topic is favorited by 3 Pinsiders

You

Linked Games

Topic Gallery

View topic image gallery

IMG_1370 (resized).JPG
IMG_1369 (resized).JPG
IMG_1367 (resized).JPG
IMG_1366 (resized).JPG
IMG_1372 (resized).JPG
#1 3 years ago

I live near Seattle, so the "plastic sandwiched between 2 sheets of glass, left in the sun" method doesn't work for me. IMG_1372 (resized).JPGIMG_1372 (resized).JPG

Instead I preheated my oven to 175F, with a large, empty cookie sheet on a lower rack. I put the warped plastic between 2 sheets of tracing paper IMG_1366 (resized).JPGIMG_1366 (resized).JPGon top of another cookie sheet, covered with a flat piece of plywood and weighted down with a 5# dumbbell. IMG_1367 (resized).JPGIMG_1367 (resized).JPGThat all went on a rack above the lower shield.IMG_1369 (resized).JPGIMG_1369 (resized).JPG Then 30: with the oven on, followed by 30: still in the oven, burner off. Finally, slow cool on a bread board until the weight could be removed with bare hand. Result: flat plastic with little stress, independent of weather conditions.IMG_1370 (resized).JPGIMG_1370 (resized).JPG

Next, I gotta' figure out a way to bleach out the yellow - ideally weather independent, but....

#2 3 years ago

I always use the oven method, but I crank mine up to 250-300 and watch it carefully. As soon as I see it starting to lay flat I pull it out.

#3 3 years ago

I also used the oven method. Our oven goes down to 170 degrees, so that’s what I used, to be as cautious as possible. I used a couple Pyrex baking pans back-to-back (the bottom one upside down) and simply put plastics between them. It worked pretty well, and, as the OP said, it can be done regardless of the weather.

#4 3 years ago
Quoted from clodpole:

I live near Seattle, so the "plastic sandwiched between 2 sheets of glass, left in the sun" method doesn't work for me. [quoted image]
Instead I preheated my oven to 175F, with a large, empty cookie sheet on a lower rack. I put the warped plastic between 2 sheets of tracing paper [quoted image]on top of another cookie sheet, covered with a flat piece of plywood and weighted down with a 5# dumbbell. [quoted image]That all went on a rack above the lower shield.[quoted image] Then 30: with the oven on, followed by 30: still in the oven, burner off. Finally, slow cool on a bread board until the weight could be removed with bare hand. Result: flat plastic with little stress, independent of weather conditions.[quoted image]
Next, I gotta' figure out a way to bleach out the yellow - ideally weather independent, but....

Google how to remove yellow from plastic. There are a bunch of different methods that are recommended. I have no experience with any of them, so I would try them with caution.

#5 3 years ago

Thanks. Meanwhile, I'm moving up in kitchen pan and plywood size, as Flash has some really large and convoluted plastics.

#6 3 years ago

Hair dryer on high or heat gun on low/medium also works well.

#7 3 years ago
Quoted from Xenon75:

Hair dryer on high or heat gun on low/medium also works well.

I use heat gun till plastic rests flat and then slip into thick hardcover book or two glass sheets for the large stuff. Using wood can introduce ripples in plastic.

#8 3 years ago

Hmmm... most popular "de-yellowing" method is peroxide bath in the sun. Horders seem to have all the peroxide right now, and sun....

Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
From: $ 9.00
$ 170.00
Displays
Digipinball Shop
 
From: $ 90.00
Tools
Pincoder Store
 
From: $ 5.00
Cabinet - Other
UpKick Pinball
 
$ 65.00
Boards
Pinball Haus
 
$ 12.50
Lighting - Led
RoyGBev Pinball
 
$ 9.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
 
$ 20.00
Electronics
Yorktown Arcade Supply
 
2,100 (OBO)
Machine - For Sale
Milan, IL
400 (OBO)
Machine - For Sale
Green Brook Township, NJ
$ 27.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
 
From: $ 11.00

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/flattening-warped-plastics-another-variation-which-worked?hl=clodpole and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.