Turn the heat press off when done, let it completely cool, no warping. also, at 360F you will get shrinking of up to 10%. Reduce the temp to 280-300F to reduce shrinkage.
Really appreciate you sharing everything you have done - both the successes and the failures. And your creative use of the various tools available for work with plexiglass. I might be starting a plexiglass imaging project with much larger pieces so this has been helpful as a starting point. Thank you.
enjoyed the tutorial, sole juice has a video on sublimating acrylic that covers a lot of what you were at attempting . Great job I will be experimenting
I've got a question and a suggestion. First, the question: is this coated material, or plain acrylic sheet? Next, my suggestion for smoothing the edges is to use acetone. Get a container that acetone won't dissolve (glass, metal, polypropylene, or polyethylene should work fine). Use masking tape to mask off the printed area of your piece completely. Saturate some rags, paper towels, or cotton balls with acetone, then use something to raise the piece above the soaked material, set it on top, and put a lid on it. The fumes from the acetone will (hopefully) soften the surface of the acrylic, and smooth it out. It's a technique I read about for removing layer lines from 3D prints. Alternatively, you could just use a spray bottle to mist the piece with acetone, but this might end up applying too much. If you do this, be sure acetone won't dissolve either the bottle or sprayer assembly.
Plain acrylic. Thanks for acetone idea. Might give it a try but here is something I’ve learned about acetone and Plexiglas, (the hard way) acetone will cause cracks to develop in Plexiglas, so experiment with it to be sure before you apply to a precious piece of art.
If you just let the plastic cool without touching it would it still warp & bend? OR what if you left it in the press and let the whole thing cool. would that work?
Why are you manually un-warping it??? Just take it out of the press, put it on a flat surface and put a heavy flat object on top of it, like an Italian cookbook. Furthermore, others have suggested leaving it in the press and allowing the press to cool gradually, but this is certainly not feasible, as it would take a long time and wouldn’t work if you have multiple projects lined up. It would also mean you’d have to leave your acrylic in the press, in the heat, for several minutes longer than it should, which would potentially have negative effects. A second cool press would solve this problem.
Thanks for the suggestions. The simple answer as to why I haven’t tried your method is that I seem to have zero patience and want to rush everything ... but I’m gradually getting more patient. Will give longer cooling time a try.
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Turn the heat press off when done, let it completely cool, no warping. also, at 360F you will get shrinking of up to 10%. Reduce the temp to 280-300F to reduce shrinkage.
Really appreciate you sharing everything you have done - both the successes and the failures. And your creative use of the various tools available for work with plexiglass. I might be starting a plexiglass imaging project with much larger pieces so this has been helpful as a starting point. Thank you.
there are special products for sublimation on acrylic. I think Conde sells it. It's be worth the cost if you are going to make a business of it.
enjoyed the tutorial, sole juice has a video on sublimating acrylic that covers a lot of what you were at
attempting . Great job I will be experimenting
You can hit your far right button on the press when it heats to temp. As soon as time starts hit it again and beeping will stop.
I've got a question and a suggestion. First, the question: is this coated material, or plain acrylic sheet?
Next, my suggestion for smoothing the edges is to use acetone. Get a container that acetone won't dissolve (glass, metal, polypropylene, or polyethylene should work fine). Use masking tape to mask off the printed area of your piece completely. Saturate some rags, paper towels, or cotton balls with acetone, then use something to raise the piece above the soaked material, set it on top, and put a lid on it. The fumes from the acetone will (hopefully) soften the surface of the acrylic, and smooth it out. It's a technique I read about for removing layer lines from 3D prints.
Alternatively, you could just use a spray bottle to mist the piece with acetone, but this might end up applying too much. If you do this, be sure acetone won't dissolve either the bottle or sprayer assembly.
Plain acrylic. Thanks for acetone idea. Might give it a try but here is something I’ve learned about acetone and Plexiglas, (the hard way) acetone will cause cracks to develop in Plexiglas, so experiment with it to be sure before you apply to a precious piece of art.
If you just let the plastic cool without touching it would it still warp & bend? OR what if you left it in the press and let the whole thing cool. would that work?
Very nice
Hi, nice idea personely i use a translucent paper because it does not stick
on plexi
So when I press on white plexiglass it looks like the paper stuck to it but I scrubbed it but nothing comes off. So I’m confused.
Do you not have a seperate cold press to press it flat when it comes out and cools perfectly flat?
Would be a good idea to have a camera person with you to zoom in to what you are talking about
To me... to you.. to me then
Sublimation coated plexiglass or uncoated one?
Why are you manually un-warping it??? Just take it out of the press, put it on a flat surface and put a heavy flat object on top of it, like an Italian cookbook. Furthermore, others have suggested leaving it in the press and allowing the press to cool gradually, but this is certainly not feasible, as it would take a long time and wouldn’t work if you have multiple projects lined up. It would also mean you’d have to leave your acrylic in the press, in the heat, for several minutes longer than it should, which would potentially have negative effects. A second cool press would solve this problem.
Thanks for the suggestions. The simple answer as to why I haven’t tried your method is that I seem to have zero patience and want to rush everything ... but I’m gradually getting more patient. Will give longer cooling time a try.
Granite chopping board would work great