How to prepare a new blanket for a roller heat press machine.
This is a new blanket. It is important to note that all roller heat press blankets will shrink when they
are first used. Getting a blanket to shrink evenly is a process which has to be followed carefully to
prevent shewing, bubbling and twisting which can result in a number of transfer issues.
To start, loosen the blanket by adjusting the tension wheels until the blanket stops rolling with the
roller. Next tighten the tension wheels together slowly until the point where the blanket starts to
roll. At this point start the process of heating the blanket up to 200 degrees C. This temperature
must be maintained for at least 100 hours and up to 200 hours, checking every 10 minutes to loosen
and retighten the tension wheels, ensuring that the blanket is merely rolling with the roller. Please
also change the rolling direction every half hour to avoid the blanket shrinking in one direction only.
If the machine is not in use, the process of preparing the blanket can be stopped until the next time
the machine is being used. It is important to keep a log of the number of hours. The blanket must be
allowed to continue to roll loosely while the machine is cooling down during the blanket preparation
and production stages. If the preparation process - or later in production - is interrupted by load
shedding, you must separate the blanket and keep it as far away from the heat drum as possible. If
one spot becomes overheated , it will cause the blanket to burn and a new blanket will be required.
It is very important to keep checking the blanket tension every 10 minutes during the shrinking
process, otherwise the parts of the blanket which have been shrunk will continue to shrink even
further due to increase contact tension and trapped heat.
It's also important to keep the blanket in the centre position related to the heating drum during the
blanket preparation stage and product stage. This is achieved by providing equal tension from both
sides of the tension wheel, you can keep increasing/decreasing either side when required to shift the
blanket back to centre by the continuous rolling motion. If the blanket shifts significantly to one side,
you can loosen the blanket completely and drag it to the centre by hand. Allowing the blanket to rub
against either side of the machine is going to damage the blanket and may also jam the machine.
