Best way to clean playfield + straighten plastics?

[shardian]

So you just lay these directly on the oven grill shelves? You don't get grill marks on the plastic or anything?

NOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get some parchment paper at the store on your way home. Clean the plastics THOROUGHLY before flattening. Place the plastics on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Once they visibly 'droop' take them out of the over and place on a flat surface. Cover with more parchment paper, then place heavy flat objects on top.

 

[MilitiaMan]

So you just lay these directly on the oven grill shelves? You don't get grill marks on the plastic or anything?

And after a few minutes, turn them 90 degress and you'll have a nice diamond pattern on your freshly grilled plastics.

No ... wait a minute ... those are the instructions for a ribeye. You better follow Shardian's advice. ;-)

Steve
MM

 

[Phetishboy]

RE: straightening plastics

I used the oven method. It was pretty much dummy proof as long as I sat there and watched for the droop. Then I just sandwiched then under heavy stuff and let them cool.

This reminds me of the vacuum forming machine we had in our art work shop when I was in college. You placed a plastic sheet in the framed holder in the top then put your mold on the bottom. Heat the plastic, watch for the second droop, them slam the down lever to get the plastic to form over your mold, while the vacuum sucked the air out thru the holes in the bottom. Awesome ma-cheen mang.

 

[shardian]

This reminds me of the vacuum forming machine we had in our art work shop when I was in college. You placed a plastic sheet in the framed holder in the top then put your mold on the bottom. Heat the plastic, watch for the second droop, them slam the down lever to get the plastic to form over your mold, while the vacuum sucked the air out thru the holes in the bottom. Awesome ma-cheen mang.

You can make your own DIY vacuum former. There are more than a few pinheads that make their own repro plastic parts with diy formers.

The only industrial one I have seen is the one my dentist used to make my clear retainers. Suhweet machine!

 

[stevenp61]

NOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get some parchment paper at the store on your way home. Clean the plastics THOROUGHLY before flattening. Place the plastics on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Once they visibly 'droop' take them out of the over and place on a flat surface. Cover with more parchment paper, then place heavy flat objects on top.

Or sandwich the plastics between glass and "iron" them straight, as I posted earlier. Easy, works well, and less room for something to go wrong.

 

[Lindsey]

Or sandwich the plastics between glass and "iron" them straight, as I posted earlier. Easy, works well, and less room for something to go wrong.

I would worry about cracking the glass. Glass is not a great conductor of heat and you're not going to know if you've got the plastic hot enough to reform. You're going to have to get the glass REALLY hot in order to heat the plastic enough to reform. You also run the risk of cracking the paint on the plastic by bending it while it's still rigid. To me it seems like there is plenty of room for something to go wrong.

 

[rod90]

I found this old thread and found out that the oven method worked really well for me.