Hey!
Today, my 38cm x 38cm heat press arrived which I bought on Ebay and could not wait to try it out (my final goal is producing plastic plates/sheets as a raw material)
So here you can see the first two experiments using scissors-cut Polypropylene!
Unfortunately the back isn’t that beautiful and the front texture isn’t flat due to baking paper, but for the first experiment, I’m impressed!
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Nicely done, @flo-2. Baking paper prevents the plate from being super smooth, but I would say the overall smoothness depends on how smooth the plates of the press are.
Yours looks like not compressed fully.
We used quite a big pressure, so the thickness was minimum and the overall compression fully flattened the paper.
Hi All
I work in a high school technology department and we have just had the parts for the shredder cut. So have now started to think about the next step. Do you think a heat press would be a good place to start with reforming sheets. Obviously we don’t have much budget or time really to play around as GCSEs are more important! But we want to involve the pupils and get recycling our own waste.
Regards
Lisa
@halukyilmaz:
yes, it could melt PET, HDPE and PS also. I suggest only use flakes at PET. And always use some teflon sheet or baking paper.
For LDPE/HDPE it is possible to use bags to make sheets or thicker “leather like” materials and thicker film.
Fusing LDPE and HDPE bags together works great, you do not have to shred it.
Just lay them next to eachother with a 2cm overlap each. I did press mine at 175˚C for only 3-5 seconds each with good pressure at the 2 layered. at the 2*0.5mm thick, you need to give around 15-20 seconds time.
@eriksaun
:Yes, it has a silicone foam sheet delivered with it, but this you can remove and the thickness and pressure can be adjusted.
@renatogomes
:
the thickness i did first was 1mm with the plastic bags. and then put them again together to do the double thickness. But it is actually did not melt them together in the middle so well. It is better if you could just melt them together layer for layer on top to the thick one. At the 1mm thick layer keep on adding 0.5mm sheets on top. As the bottom plate is not heated the bottom side does not melt as much as the top side, only add the material on top and keep adding only 0.5mm sheets.
My material made was 3mm at some parts and 5mm at the thicker side, maybe because i did not pay so much attention to the orientation and thickness of the material when stacking it. Also the press does not press all even thickness. at the back its a little more thick than in the front.
If you do bigger sheets, try to have a table on both sides at the height of the heat press, that way it is easier to position the foil and it does not slide off the press.
I did a 1.8m* 0.4 sheet with it.
Hi flo-2,
I am wondering of your heat press has a silicone bottom?
This solution is perfect for my project as i need to produce sheets 1.4mm (.55mil) thick in this kind of small size around 300mmx300mm
I see a lot of affordable heat presses like yours but they have silicone bottoms, which I worry can compress and not allow enough pressure to form the sheet. If yours has a similar bottom then I wont worry… If not, I will look for one with a non-compressing bottom platen…
thanks-
hi what was the max thikness you achieved with it?
@flo-2 Did you experiment hdpe , pet , ps ?
@vincep You can bend it with little-medium pressure if that’s what you want to know 
@plastikfantastik
thanks! The clear piece is PP (mostly detergent packaging & Food Plastics) and is approx. 1mm thick. I did everything else like with the other sheets.
@flo-2 how did you do the clear piece?? What feedstock did you use it looks great!!
What is the compressed material like? I have been tinkering around with the idea of using compressed plastic sheets and incorporating them into textiles and footwear. Do you think it could be used as an upper part of the shoe?
Some other Sheets I/we made in the last month.
For more frequent updates have a look at our instagram or at our facebook page
All the best
Flo
thanks @flo-2
and hi @veradevera
unless you are planning on producing a sheet that is 2.5mm (not cm!) thick like flo-2, I recommend looking for an oven with compression to make tiles with molds.
flo-2 also has 0.8mm (wow) stainless steel sheets.
a t shirt press heats from the top—>bottom, so if your tile is about any thicker than 10mm, it could be difficult to get heat transferred evenly through the tile. the top part risks burning by getting heat transferred all the way to the bottom.
the heating process may include flipping the mold, but make sure the flakes at the bottom dont fly out!
using an oven with press/injection/extrusion is great because the surface area that the heat(or metal) that is in contact with plastic is relatively large, while the volume/thickness of plastic itself is kept relatively low(shredded or cut films).
i hope this helps
hi @flo-2
I love your work! your sheets look amazing and the communication of the process is very clear as well
I’m thinking of using a heatpress inc. a low mold to be able to create different forms of tiles / thick sheets without needing to cut a lot of excess plastic.
Have you tried anything like this, or do you think it will be possible?
I would use this to make for example hexagon shaped or round tiles. I think it would be much easier if this was possible this way, instead of with the injection machine (although the injection machine obviously has a larger purpose range).
I’ve found this heat-press, which I think is a good deal (only €90) and has a good size to start with: https://www.ebay.com/itm/DIGITAL-HEAT-PRESS-MACHINE-T-SHIRT-SUBLIMATION-PRINTER-TRANSFER-12-X10-PRESSING/222513097837?hash=item33ced06c6d:g:aBAAAOSw9fRZv1V8
@oceanplastic Yes, great idea! I will try that in the future, thanks!
@lululololala
I have two metal plates (33x33cm) and inbetween I lay the plastic. To achieve steadily thickness, I used little plates with the same thickness that I layed inbetween the plates with the plastic. These pieces were 2.5mm thick, so my plastic sheet was 2.5mm thick in the end too.
All the best
Flo
H1 @flo-2
What do you mean when you
“used the washers for spacing, that way the sheet got evenly thick”?
Could you explain a bit more about this step?
Thanks!
Luna
@flo-2 guitar pics might also be a possible product to be made out of your beautiful plastic sheets. they’re usually made from sheets .4 to 1.5mm in thickness. great work!
@jegor-m Thanks!
Well, mainly I want to sell them as a raw material, but I have thought about making poker chips, coasters and other things you can do with a laser cutter. Oh and I plan to mark every product with an aluminium stamp (plastic type)
About the reflectivity of a sheet of plastic. Now I guess I understand why my plates are not so glossy. You have a thin sheet of metal with appropriate finish in contact with plastic whereas I have a thick metal plate that is polished appropriately, but not to a glossy finish.
Good, now as I understand it I can adjust the sheet press arrangement we have.
Thanks!
BTW – the plates you make get better and better. Any ideas what you’ll be making out of them?
Prototype #7…
… actually consists of 2 objects, they are made with the same material, the same temperature, have the same thickness, unfortunately both are not full size. However I really love the texture, the feel and the thickness (mostly perfect 2mm!)
Heat: 230-240°C, Material: PP mixed colors, heated 10 minutes per side.
The only thing to be aware of is air bubbles that can form when spreading out the material too much! Better to do it like shown on the first picture!
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