placemats

[Kaz]

it is crinkled after the first use

What happens if you use a different baking sheet?

I use greaseproof paper on everything, less than £2 from the supermarket

[hakuna]

yes it is crinkled after the first use and i have not tried a different sheet it sounds like i will have to maybe use a new sheet everytime that im going to press anything, i bought my paper from morrisons in greenock, im pressing at 185c and the time is 60 secs im using the combo press 8 in 1 that i bought from corelgraph about 6 weeks ago should i press at different settings or keep the settings that i have been using.
thanks
malcolm

[Andrew]

Are the streaks a similar pattern to the creases on the baking sheet. If it's fine first time around and not second then a new sheet or no sheet is what I would do. Teflon doesn't cost that much and can be reused many times with no problem. If it's steam/moisture it temds to look more mottled. I use a bit more heat at around the 190/195 for 60 secs for coasters etc. but many use less like you.

[hakuna]

hi andrew you are rigjht they are similar to the crease marks on the paper and yes the first time is perfect the second time the streaks are there, i took the times and temp from the specs that were on the bms website i will try different times tonight and will use new sheets everytime im going to press, can you just press without the baking sheets or do we use them to protect the heat plate of the press, also when im done pressing and take them out of the press the mats are a bit warped tried putting them under a haevy object but still a bit warped.
thanks for youre reply.

malcolm

[JSR]

I press placemats for longer than the "recommended" times because I would get unsublimated streak marks if I didn't.

Re: crinkled paper. Like Kaz, I use supermarket greaseproof paper which I discard after each job. Actually, I have a piece below and above the item being pressed and I use the (crinkled) top piece as the "underneath" piece for the next item before discarding it.

Regarding the warping - that's a particular annoyance with placemats, and UniSub ones are the worst for it. I've tried flattening placemats by stacking multiple boxes of mugs on top of them but it still doesn't get rid of of the warping - and that's clearly not a practical method of production when you're trying to do dozens of the things (we just don't have enough boxes of mugs, or spare tabletop space, to line them all up!).

UniSub really should have looked into that warping by now. I dread doing placemats and always try to steer the customer towards something else.

[Andrew]

Sounds clear that it is your greaseproof paper. You possibly don't need any, we rarely use teflon sheets or extra paper in between the press...
For the warping just try to get the largest, compact weight that you find possible. You could fill a large jug up with water - 2 litres gives you 2 kg to put on top.

[Kaz]

I use 2 Next Directories on top of items that warp, lol

[mgibbs]

You need one of these: Click me


Mark

[JSR]

I use 2 Next Directories on top of items that warp, lol

You get them flat with 2 directories?

I put 50Kg of mugs on top of mine and they're still not flat afterwards.

[Kaz]

I do

Just leave them like that for a while, my OH is glad I've found something useful to do with them, lol