Organic glass is called glass only formally. In reality, plexiglass (or polymethyl methacrylate, abbreviated PMMA) is synthetic material, which is a thermoplastic transparent plastic. Chemical composition standard plexiglass of any production is the same. In case it is necessary to obtain glass with different
Specific - heat-resistant, light-scattering, light transmitting, noise-proof, UV-protective, heat-resistant and other properties, then in the process of obtaining sheet material its structure can be changed or appropriate components can be added to it to provide a set of necessary characteristics.
Based on the production method, casting and extrusion organic glasses can be distinguished. Extruded plexiglass is produced by continuously passing a molten mass of granulated PMMA through a slotted head, followed by cooling and cutting to specified sizes. Cast plexiglass is produced by pouring MMA monomer between two flat glasses with its further polymerization to a solid state.
Compared to conventional glass, organic glass has a number of advantages:
- with the same thickness, it is 2-2.5 times lighter than ordinary glass;
- when exposed to a relatively low temperature, it melts, which makes it possible to give products made from it various shapes;
- possesses, while maintaining its original color, high light transmittance (92%), which does not change over time;
- Impact resistance is 5 times greater than that of ordinary glass;
- It is easy to work with it not only using machines, but also manually. This does not require special tools;
- Cuts, drills, grinds, and glues as easily as regular plastic.
Thanks to these qualities it is possible to produce various works with plexiglass at home: both in the manufacture of products and parts necessary for everyday life, and in arts and crafts.
Along with its advantages, organic glass also has its disadvantages:
- it is quite sensitive to scratching and other surface damage;
- is a flammable material (ignition temperature—260 °C).
Thus, organic glass cannot completely replace ordinary glass; each of them has its own area of application.
Preparing the surface of organic glass for processing
Before use, organic glass must first be cleaned. If the surface of the glass is simply dirty, it needs to be wiped soft cloth or a cotton swab soaked in warm water. If a small sheet of plexiglass is heavily soiled, you can prepare it for work by placing it in a bathtub and thoroughly washing it with a rag under running warm water. It is not recommended to use synthetic material to clean organic glass - if you rub the surface of the glass with it too much, it will become dull. Moreover, you cannot use any abrasive substances - they will scratch the glass and it will lose its original transparency.
Clean glass must be wiped dry. If you just leave it to dry, then after drying there will be stains on the surface. This operation is best carried out using a slightly damp cloth; you can also use a special polishing paste (it additionally helps to remove small scratches). To do this on glass thin layer a liquid paste is applied, after which it is sanded with a cloth in a circular motion. If there are greasy and oil stains on the surface, it will not be enough to simply wash the glass even warm water with soap. It needs to be degreased with gasoline.
When preparing plexiglass for work, you need to take into account that the friction of the fabric on dry glass leads to its electrification. Dust immediately adheres to the electrified surface, and these particles also cause micro-scratches and dull the glass. The use of aggressive liquids (acetone and other solvents) is unacceptable - this will render the glass unusable.
Prepared organic glass can be subjected to almost any processing: cutting, drilling, threading, milling, grinding, polishing, bending, gluing, annealing, painting and metallization.
cutting
It is convenient to cut sheets of plexiglass using special knife cutter made from a piece of old hacksaw blade. cutting edge grind on regular sandpaper. Wrap the cutter handle with insulated wire MGShV with a cross-section of 0.5-0.75 mm 2, and then with insulating tape.
Place a sheet of organic glass on a flat surface, such as a table, and, placing a ruler on the glass, run the cutter along the glass several times. Then, having cut through the glass by at least one third of the thickness, move the sheet to the edge of the table along the cutting line and, holding one edge with your left hand, with a sharp and strong movement right hand break it off.
Shaped parts made of plexiglass can be successfully cut with a jigsaw, but you just need to remember that when high speed When cutting, the glass begins to melt and can “tightly” grab the file. Therefore, cool it with water from time to time.
The low melting point allows you to cut organic glass with a thermal cutter, which can be made from a jigsaw by inserting it instead of a file. nichrome thread, having previously insulated the jigsaw jaws with pieces of asbestos or fluoroplastic film. Connect the nichrome thread with flexible wires to the LATR and, by applying voltage, heat it to the melting temperature of plexiglass.
Drilling
When drilling plexiglass, you must keep in mind that the drill is tightened and the material becomes jammed. Therefore, conventional drills must be sharpened according to the following parameters: sharpening angle - 70˚ rear sharpening angle from 4˚ to 8˚, groove angle - 17˚. Only for drilling small holes with a diameter of up to 5 mm can you use ordinary standard drills. And to prevent the material from heating up and melting, add water instead of drilling.
Gluing
Very often, it is easier to make a complex part from a material such as plexiglass from separate fragments by gluing them together. The connections can be different - lap, miter, butt, tongue and groove and with an overlay. Clamp the glued products with a clamp or tie them with a flexible bandage and leave in this state for about three hours until the glue dries completely. For gluing plexiglass, the most widely used glue is prepared according to this recipe: dissolve 2-5 g of plexiglass shavings or sawdust in 100 g of dichloroethane with vigorous stirring. room temperature. Dissolution is very slow, so preparing the glue will take two to three days. Attention! All operations with dichloroethane must be carried out in a well-ventilated area or outdoors, as its vapors are toxic.
You can bend and give the required shape to a sheet of plexiglass by heating it over an electric stove or a soldering iron tip. After cooling, the material will take the desired shape.
Coloring
Using a sharp knife or file, trim the plexiglass sawdust and then dissolve it in strong vinegar essence. In this case, take one part of sawdust for six parts of essence. When the sawdust dissolves, add ballpoint pen paste to the solution. The color of the varnish and its saturation depend on its color and quantity. You must use the varnish very carefully, since the vinegar essence included in its composition can cause burns on your hands and ruin your clothes. Tsaponlak of red, green, blue, violet and other colors can be successfully used as a dye. After pouring the varnish into a glass or enamel cuvette, immerse the part in it. Exposure ranges from a few seconds to 15 minutes, it all depends on the desired shade. To obtain a relatively rich tone of dye, dipping can be repeated several times, allowing the varnish to dry each time.
Tsaponlaks mix well with each other, this circumstance can be used to obtain various colors and shades. Since the varnish slightly dissolves the plexiglass, the painting is very durable and the surface of the part can be sanded and polished.
Aniline dyes also give good results. To do this, dissolve 0.5 g of dye in methyl alcohol. Pour the solution into a flat enamel cuvette and place in a water bath. Since the boiling point of alcohol is lower than the boiling point of water, the dye soon boils. Preheat the plexiglass to be painted in hot water and then lower into the dye bath. Due to diffusion, the dye penetrates the plexiglass and will adhere well to the surface.
Often the desire to make their home even more attractive and interesting prompts owners to use very rare and intricate materials in their work. Previously used for decoration vinyl records and metal alloys, matchboxes and burnt wood, textiles and leatherette, and much more: an experienced craftsman will find a use for everything. Today, polymer plexiglass has gained wide popularity, which can be used both for decorative purposes and as a material for creating intricate devices. household use. Thanks to creative approach, skillful hands and with certain knowledge, you can create truly unique objects from organic glass, which will later become your pride and decoration of your home.
A little about the material
The named material is a polymer alloy that has high strength and at the same time maximum ductility (subject to the use of high temperatures). The composition of plexiglass includes amorphous polymers, which mainly consist of unfolded and linear macromolecules. This composition of the material allows us to achieve its absolute transparency, strength and lightness.
A new material that significantly expanded the capabilities of builders and designers
The advantages of plexiglass used as a material to create decorative elements interior are:
Therefore, organic glass is becoming increasingly in demand among jacks of all trades.
It is worth noting that completely different intricate little things can be created from plexiglass. These can be cute bookcases and fancy shelves, small aquariums or pots for houseplants, semicircular partitions in the room or simple tabletops. In some cases, it may be necessary to bend the plexiglass at a given angle.
You can carry out this task at home, following the basic rules for working with plexiglass.
Several principles of working with plexiglass
Before you start melting and bending plexiglass, you need to learn several principles that will help you complete the work as efficiently as possible and without unnecessary waste of material.
- So, to form the part the right size it is necessary to cut a piece of material with the desired parameters from a whole plexiglass sheet. This will result in economical material consumption and higher productivity of work performed.
- For work, you must use only clean plexiglass. For these purposes, it is recommended to wash the material.
It is important not to use abrasive materials to clean plexiglass. Only a soft cloth and natural drying of the polymer fabric. Otherwise, noticeable and unsightly scratches and stains will form on the plexiglass, which will spoil appearance material and reduce its transparency.
- After washing the plexiglass, do not immediately begin bending work. Let the material dry. This will take at least a day in a dry room at room temperature. Or blow dry at 80 degrees Celsius.
The principle for calculating the time for drying plexiglass using a hairdryer should be as follows: 1 hour per 1 mm of material thickness in each section.
- When starting to heat plexiglass in order to deform it at the desired angle, keep in mind that heat treatment of the material must be carried out on the opposite side relative to the bending angle. That is, we heat the top of the material and bend it down.
- To bend plexiglass, it is enough to use a heating temperature of 150 degrees, and to melt the material and pour it into prepared forms, you need a temperature of at least 170 degrees.
Important: to properly bend plexiglass at home, you need to heat an area of the material three times greater than its thickness. That is, if your plexiglass has a thickness of 3 mm, then in order to bend it evenly and beautifully, you need to heat up such an area along the line of the intended bend, the width of which will be equal to 9 mm. With this thickness of plexiglass, it will be sufficient to treat it with a heat device on one side of the material. If the thickness of the plexiglass exceeds 5 mm, then it will need to be heated on both sides along the intended fold line.
- After bending the plexiglass, it is important to let it cool naturally. Do not use water or cold air as a coolant. It may cause harm finished product in the form of cracks, bubbles, etc.
Ways to bend at home
Necessary materials
In order to give the plexiglass the desired configuration, you can use one of several popular methods:
- Heating the material using a hair dryer;
- By boiling;
- By using nichrome wire.
Depending on the method of bending the plexiglass, you will need a heating element ( construction hair dryer, nichrome wire or a saucepan of boiling water). In addition, prepare:
- Hacksaw for metal;
- Vise for reliable fixation of the plexiglass plate;
- Shape for bending (pipe, block, table top, etc.);
- Abrasive material for grinding the edges of the product;
- A little water (to cool the material while cutting it).
Preparatory work
If your future product requires the use of a small piece of plexiglass, then you first need to cut it off from the overall fabric. To do this, securely fix the plexiglass in a vice and cut the required piece with a hacksaw. In the places of fixation, do not forget to lay soft material that will prevent damage to the plexiglass.
Can be used for cutting plexiglass hand saw, and a jigsaw
Important: use only a sharp hacksaw. Otherwise, the material may be damaged and deformed. Cool the cutting line with water while cutting plexiglass. This will avoid overheating of the plexiglass and its possible melting.
If a crack appears on the material during cutting, do not worry. You can remove it with a little trick: treat the edges of the split with chilled acetic acid. By shearing the plexiglass at the split site, allow acetic acid to penetrate deeper into the pores of the material. Then squeeze the plexiglass at the crack. The material will melt and the polished crack will not be noticeable.
Bending by boiling method
This is the easiest way to bend plexiglass, requiring virtually no additional tools.
Remember to use protective gloves to avoid burns.
5. Leave the part formed from plexiglass until it cools completely.
Using a hair dryer
If you have to bend enough big piece plexiglass, then use a hair dryer for these purposes. Its power will allow you to process a large area of organic polymer material in an extremely short time.
Using nichrome wire
Using nichrome wire carefully stretched under plexiglass, you can bend the material in a straight line without effort. To do this you need to do the following:
Video: bending plexiglass with nichrome wire
We present to your attention short video, which will clearly demonstrate how to bend plexiglass using nichrome wire.
Where and for what purposes it is not used - you can make hulls, front and decorative panels, used for “modding” computer cases, making three-dimensional figures, letters and much more. This material It can also be used for dynamic light installations (flashing lights, running lights, etc.), the light in plexiglass spreads directly and evenly, resulting in very bright and beautiful things that look impressive in the dark.
The main advantages of plexiglass are:
- high light transmittance - 92%, which does not change over time, maintaining its original color.
- Impact resistance is 5 times greater than that of glass.
- resistant to moisture.
- environmentally friendly, does not emit any toxic gases when burned.
- easy to process.
- the ability to give various shapes using a hot air gun, without disturbing the optical properties, with excellent detail.
- mechanical processing is carried out with the same ease as wood processing
stability in the external environment.
- frost-resistant material.
- passes 73% ultraviolet rays, while UV rays do not cause yellowing and degradation of acrylic glass.
- stability in chemical environments.
- electrical insulating properties.
But there is perhaps the most main drawback- plexiglass scratches very easily, so you need to work with it carefully.
How to cut and process plexiglass?
Many people cut plexiglass using a jigsaw or a hacksaw, i.e. canvas. I don’t like any of these methods, primarily because a lot of debris appears during cutting, and the glass can be accidentally scratched, even though there is a protective film on it.
I want to offer you another, more advanced, simple and “functional” cutting method, after which not a single chip will remain - this is cutting using a hot spiral. This method is most suitable for thin types of plexiglass.
The advantages of this method:
- after cutting there is no debris left behind
- when cutting with a blade or jigsaw, plexiglass can be scratched or it can even crack, especially if the glass is thin.
- when cutting with a spiral, you can completely control the process and cut out any shape.
- after proper cutting, plexiglass usually does not even need processing, but if molten parts of the glass remain on the edges, they are cut off with a knife or processed with a file.
- in this way you can cut almost any plastic, not just plexiglass.
- no physical activity, sit in your chair and enjoy the cutting process =)
Now I’ll tell you how to make such a “cutter” and what you need for it.
First of all, we need a spiral, almost any will do, the main thing is that your power source can heat it. For example, you can get a spiral from old variable resistors, soldering irons, or buy a spiral for heating devices in the electrical goods department. The length of the spiral is selected experimentally, because They all have different resistance. For example, I used a spiral from a burnt soldering iron, with a diameter of about 0.3 mm, with a length of 7 cm and with a power supply of 12 volts, it becomes almost red hot (it consumes 1.5 amperes). By the way, we don’t necessarily need to heat the spiral until it’s red hot, otherwise when cutting the plexiglass will smoke and stink.
The spiral at both ends must be secured to metal pins, and solder the pins themselves to the cable that will connect to the power source. If you want to get perfectly straight edges after the cut, then the pins need to be secured to something so that the spiral stays straight during cutting and is not bent like mine below in the photo. It is better to use a power source with an adjustable output voltage.
I made myself a design like the one below in the photo, I have already cut a lot of glass this way.
Cutting video:
How and with what to glue plexiglass?
Generally speaking, the technology for gluing plexiglass is not simple and is very different from gluing ordinary glass. If ordinary glass glued with silicone glue or hot glue gun, then when gluing plexiglass this will not give the best results.
Plexiglas should not be glued, for example, with cyanoacrylate glue; the glass at the gluing points may turn white because of this, and it is impossible to clean it. This kind of glue is liquid and flows where it is not needed, and it grabs in a second, which is also not very good. The only advantage of cyanoacrylate glue is that it sets very strongly.
For gluing plexiglass I recommend using dichloroethane, this is a clear liquid, highly poisonous, so no need to snort it! Dichloroethane dissolves almost any plastic and glues them together. You can buy dichloroethane in radio parts departments, or where they sell adhesives.
Before gluing, the plexiglass joints must first be leveled and cleaned, then dichloroethane is evenly applied to the surfaces to be glued and they are connected without allowing them to dry. Then you need to prepare a mixture of plexiglass shavings and dichloroethane, take the shavings or pieces of plexiglass and dissolve them in this liquid. The consistency of the mixture should be similar to jelly; the seam should be filled with this mixture.
For the first time, it’s worth practicing on unnecessary pieces of plexiglass.
I repeat, dichloroethane is very poisonous, they shouldn't breathe! Work should be done in a well-ventilated area or outdoors. After work, you need to wash your hands well with warm water and soap.
Plexiglas bending
Plexiglas is a plastic, it acquires plasticity when high temperatures, you can bend it 90 degrees, or give it glass a certain form. The most difficult thing when bending plexiglass is to bend it in in the right place, just as planned.
Plexiglas can be bent in boiling water using gas burner, in an oven or with a hot air gun. I'll tell you about bending plexiglass using a hot air gun and a spiral. To begin with, you need to draw, or better yet, scratch a line on the plexiglass; you should not use markers because... After warming up, marker marks will be difficult to remove. Next, we fix one half of the plexiglass on a flat table using a vice, take a construction hair dryer, or a hair dryer from a soldering station and begin to heat the glass along the line we have drawn. The temperature of the hair dryer should be set to around 150-180 degrees - depending on the type of plexiglass. As the heating progressed, as soon as the glass began to give in (by the way, this will optimal temperature) we begin to bend, you should not remove the hairdryer during the process, you need to maintain the temperature and warm it up further. In general, I advise you to heat it better from both sides, with two hair dryers, if the plexiglass is thick, 5-6 mm. You need to bend in the direction away from the heat source.
In order to heat only the section of glass we need, I advise you to cover the rest of the section with something, just in case, leaving only a narrow strip open for heating and bending. Don't forget about the various cylindrical objects, metal pipes for example, which can be used as a template according to which you can make a bend of the desired radius, or even make a tube from plexiglass.
Using a hot air gun, you can make various shapes from plexiglass for small structures; it’s convenient to make shapes from wood, we grind them out, saw them out the required form, put plexiglass on it and heat it with a hairdryer, the glass will melt and begin to fit into shape. After bending, the glass must be cooled smoothly and evenly.
Just the other day, I came across another interesting way. Thin types of plexiglass can be bent using the same spiral; to do this, we stretch this spiral in the place we need, at a distance of several mm from the glass, and heat the wire. You will feel the moment when the glass begins to give in.
A band saw is more suitable for cutting workpieces before molding, since with such cutting there is no need to obtain a clear cut (for cutting cast acrylic, use band saw with a rotation speed of 700-800 m/min.). To obtain clear and smooth surface when cutting complex shapes It is recommended to use a cutter. Circular saws allow you to make straight, precise cuts with a clear cut (when cutting cast acrylic, use circular saw with carbide-reinforced teeth with a rotation speed of 800-1200 m/min). When carrying out small work, saws with a blade for light metals can be used.
For more advanced cutting, it is preferable to use high-speed equipment. At high cutting speeds and minimum feed speeds, a high-quality edge can be obtained (when cutting extruded plexiglass using high-speed circular saws Recommended disk rotation speed is 4000 rpm. (For processing it is necessary to use discs with a diameter of 250 mm made from high speed steel or reinforced with hard alloy. To avoid deformation, the saw teeth must be undetected.) Laser cutting has a number of advantages: exceptional cutting accuracy, low waste, cuts High Quality requiring minor sanding.
However, this method contributes to the appearance of high internal stress in the material, and further gluing of such surfaces is not recommended. Cast plexiglass is easy to machine, but due to its low thermal conductivity it quickly heats up in the cutting zone. Therefore, processing should be carried out at the smallest depth of the cut layer, but at high cutting speeds.
Attention! To avoid scratches during storage or machining, do not remove the protective film or paper covering.
Drilling plexiglass
Drilling of extruded plexiglass is carried out using a stationary or mobile drilling machine using special drills for light metals made of high-speed steel increased productivity, specially sharpened for drilling extruded plexiglass. It is necessary to ensure the smoothness of the edges drilled hole to avoid the formation of cracks. For deep drilling, it is recommended to lift the drill frequently to remove chips and limit heating of the material. When drilling cast plexiglass, use any metal screw drills. The drill diameter correction factor is +0.05 mm relative to the hole diameter. To avoid internal stresses when drilling, cooling is necessary cutting tool and material by cooling lubricants or compressed air.
Cold bending of plexiglass
Plexiglas, both cast and extruded, can be easily cold bent, but a minimum bending radius must be observed in order not to subject the slabs to excessive stress. The minimum bending radius should be 230 times the thickness of the plastic.
Plexiglas engraving
In most cases, it is produced using rippers mounted on pantographs and equipped with small diameter cutters (2-6 mm) of various profiles. Laser cutting machines can also be used, which allow engraving by limiting the deep action of the laser beam.
Sanding plexiglass
Rough surfaces or surfaces with defects such as scratches are sanded wet. sandpaper from fine corundum. After rough polishing, the surface should be treated by special means. (polishing pastes such as VIAM, tripoli, crocus, dispersed in wax). All operations are carried out either manually or using a polishing machine.
Polishing plexiglass
Cut edges and matte surfaces can be highly polished mechanically using diamond cutters. However, if this is not possible, for example, the cut is curved, then flame polishing is recommended. This method involves treating products with a clean, “hard” high-temperature flame, but some precautions must be taken. For example, the surface to be sanded must be absolutely clean, and in addition, this method creates significant stresses, which must be removed by annealing before gluing or applying paint.
Welding and gluing of plexiglass
1. In the case of cast plexiglass, it is recommended to use (as for extruded plexiglass) “related” adhesives, which allows you to achieve the most durable connection and its weather resistance. To obtain transparent, colorless seams when gluing overlapping or butt joints with a one-sided overlay, it is preferable to use SMM adhesive based on polymethyl methacrylate.
Before gluing, cast plexiglass parts must be annealed to relieve internal stress. The recommended annealing temperature is 65-80C depending on the softening temperature of the glass (90-120C), after which natural cooling is preferable.
Welding is also used to produce blanks for molding non-standard products, for fastening overlays and forming thickenings. Welding of cast plexiglass is carried out at higher temperatures (up to 300 0 C). Finished part after machining the seam is exposed heat treatment to relieve internal stress.
2. Sheets of extruded plexiglass can be glued to themselves and to other materials, resulting in a high-strength and durable seam. It is advisable to carry out heat treatment before gluing.
Materials for gluing extruded plexiglass:
Film type of adhesive: solution of polymethyl methacrylate in a volatile solvent;
Polymerizable type of glue: PMMA syrup with dimethylaniline (SMM), to which a polymerization initiator (benzoyl peroxide) is added at the time of gluing;
Other types of glue: epoxy, polyester, polyurethane and other brands AK-90, MP-88 (81), BF-2 (4.6);
Solvents: dichloroethane, methylene chloride.
After drying and hardening of the glue at room temperature, it is recommended to anneal for 2-5 hours at a temperature of 60C.
Welding is carried out using several methods:
Induction;
Radiation;
Ultrasonic soldering;
Vibrations;
Hot gas.
Hot molding of plexiglass
This type of processing allows you to give the material a variety of shapes. If the resulting part does not meet the desired shape, it can be reheated and then adjusted. Cast acrylic has a memory of shape and can easily return to its original position when reheated. With extrusion, this is only possible if the material has not been stretched. The protective film must be removed from the cast plastic before heating and can be left on the extrusion plastic. Before molding, it is necessary to pre-heat dry the acrylic to avoid the formation of bubbles in the finished product.
The need for drying arises because a small amount of moisture may penetrate into the material during storage or transportation. Drying is carried out either in convection drying chamber with hot air circulation (at a temperature of 75-80 C for 1-2 hours per mm of thickness. As a rule, with a high moisture content, 24 hours of drying is sufficient), or using infrared radiation at a temperature of 75 to 80 ° C for 1-2 hours for each mm of thickness. To heat cast plexiglass before molding, equipment is used that creates a uniform temperature field with a difference in the plane and thickness of the sheet of no more than - + 3 C. Cast glass is heated 3-4 min/mm of thickness to a temperature of 165-190 ° C.
Cast plexiglass quickly softens when heated, but its strength decreases slightly compared to extrusion glass. Cast and extruded acrylic react differently to heat. For cast sheets, uniform shrinkage of a maximum of 2% is possible, identical in all directions (the thickness of the sheet increases accordingly). For extrusion - from 3 to 6% in the extrusion direction and 1-2% in the transverse direction (for a 2mx3m sheet, the extrusion direction is the 3m side). Cast acrylic easily tolerates heating inhomogeneities of 10-15°C (overheated cast plexiglass, unlike extruded glass, does not crack or break when deformed); in the case of extruded glass, the difference in heating temperature can lead to significant stresses in the material.
2. The behavior of these materials during hot forming is also different. To deform cast acrylic, significant pressure must be applied, while extruded acrylic is molded easily and without much effort (recommended temperature range - 160-170 ° C; heating time - 3 minutes per 1 mm of material thickness). Molds (dies and punches) are made from various materials: wood, gypsum, aluminum, steel. Hot forming can be carried out in simple ways, for example, by placing the plastic after heating on a convex or concave shape, where it takes on its shape under its weight.
Molding can also be carried out by free drawing in a vacuum-tight chamber and free blowing with compressed air, both with the help of molds and without them. If it is necessary to bend a flat sheet in a straight line, then it is sufficient to carry out local heating of the plastic along the bending axis using one or more straight lines. heating elements, for example, nichrome string. Attention! During hot processing and/or molding protective covering must be removed and thoroughly cleaned, as any remaining adhesive or protective film When the sheet softens, it can damage its surface.
3. To avoid internal stress, cooling should be as long and uniform as possible. To best preserve the printed shape and to avoid deformation, the product must be left on the matrix until it is cooled to a temperature of 60-70°C. Molded products must be thermally conditioned to reduce stress before they are exposed to solvents, paints or self-adhesive films.