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I can't find the thread where it was suggested to bake your Big Shot clear plastic plates to remove the curve so I'm letting you all know it's a bad idea.
I tried it and put in the thread that it worked. BAH! Now after a few weeks all my baked plates are breaking. It started with cracks on the edges that continued through the plates until they broke.
I think my plates would have lasted a lot longer if I had not baked them. This idea should go to Pinterest hall of shame.
I baked mine because they looked like bowls! It helped with the bump and I didn't care if the scratches came out or not. If it didn't work they were trash anyway. I use mine in a cuttlebug so far ..so good.
Just wondering about the fumes that are given off?
that was my first thought upon hearing this tip as well... even if you can't necessarily smell the fumes, they are still there and still doing their nasty work.
__________________ Lyssa Griffin Zwolanek, Gold EliteSong of My Heart Stampers14-time incentive trip earner
I tried this too and it didn't work for me at all. What I found helped a little is to run hot water over them. This really helped remove the little bits of CS stuck in the cuts. It didn't flatten them but it did straighten them a slight bit.
I use a lint roller on mine all the time. I run it over the plates, the rubber mat that I use to emboss and the black mat. Static holds a lot of stuff on those, so a once over with the lint roller every once in a while works wonders.
Just wondering about the fumes that are given off?
That's what I was thinking too! About 15 years ago I got all the stuff to make anything out of sculpy clay including a separate toaster oven and pasta maker because you couldn't use things that you prepared food with.
I have to say I think I was the one who posted the Pinterest link from someone who did this, and it worked. I've done mine last weekend, so we'll see what happens! I would think your oven is safe from the fumes as you wrap them up in tinfoil first- you do need to wrap them well though.
Stamphappy, I just noticed you said BS plates- I wonder if they are any different in the composition of them than Cuttlebug plates?
I just flip my cuttlebug plates. I know I don't craft near as much as some on this board but flipping them over keeps them pretty flat. I've had my cuttlebug since 6 years and still on the original plates though I bought a spare set at the time
I just flip my cuttlebug plates. I know I don't craft near as much as some on this board but flipping them over keeps them pretty flat. I've had my cuttlebug since 6 years and still on the original plates though I bought a spare set at the time
Same here. I've always used both sides of my plates so they don't curve. Mine are cut up pretty good but still flat after thousands and thousands of uses.
I wonder if boiling water would help or if the acrylic is too thick. To soften anything plastic I set it in boiling water for 10 minutes to soften then weigh it down with something heavy. I do this with colored laundry soap containers then cut the plastic out with my dies.
I think it makes a difference with what you are cutting. I do flip my plates and after a while it doesn't seem to help much. I also seem to get more bend in the plates when I use a metal shim.
It also seems to be more pronounced now that I have the Sizzix magnetic base plate. I may try this just to see what my plates do.
__________________ Denise
"If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron.�
― Spider Robinson
I flip mine as well, but in truth a new set of BS cutting plates is not very expensive. Less than 10 bucks on Amazon. If I'm going to go to lengths to preserve something and not have to buy new, I'd only do it for something that cost more $$$.
---------
Robin (RachelRose)
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
What about putting them through the dishwasher and immediately putting them under something flat and heavy (encyclopedias come to mind - oh, I know how that ages me - you kids probably don't even know what I'm talking about!!)
It's amazing that those of you who have your plates for so long. I flip mine but they only last about 6 months before flipping doesn't seem to get rid of the curves. I wonder why for me???
Baking fumes - I didn't consider it and I usually don't give it much thought on things like this because I do it so rarely.
BS vs CB plates - I don't know if there is a difference, but I doubt it.
Price - yep, they are so inexpensive that I'm not going to worry about it. I have more problems with the scratches showing on the cardstock than I do all the little pieces.
Ordered a couple of sets so I'm good to go.
Thanks all and I hope I didn't ruin someone else's plates.
I just flip my cuttlebug plates. I know I don't craft near as much as some on this board but flipping them over keeps them pretty flat. I've had my cuttlebug since 6 years and still on the original plates though I bought a spare set at the time
I flip mine, too. For those of you who found this didn't work for you, remember it takes a few run throughs to accomplish it. I flip as soon as I see a slight bend and since there are 2 plates, I always have at least one flat one to use. I have 2 sets of B plates---one set for die cutting and one set for embossing plates.
I think my plates would have lasted a lot longer if I had not baked them. This idea should go to Pinterest hall of shame.
I have baked my Cuttlebug plates and my Big Shot plates twice now, without any cracking or chipping. But I recently bought a new Cuttlebug set....the price has gone up $5 on Simon Says Stamp, by the way, and $3 elsewhere....for my niece and they are thinner now and the top one warped on the third pass through her Big Shot.
The fact is we would not have to deal with warped plates if they were made for the purpose for which they were intended. Maybe $15 isn't much money for you, but it's way too much for me when they warp so fast, no matter that I flip the top one every time I use it.
Warped plates make the Magnetic Platform useless, because the bottom plate DOES warp, though not as much or as fast as the top plate.
TAP Plastics cut me a set the same thickness and size, for free, but they cracked on the tenth pass through the Big Shot, so somebody needs to invent a cutting plate that works because there is NO incentive for the current supplier to improve the product on which they have a monopoly.
What have you got to lose, if you bake your plates? So one person had hers crack....could be the thermostat on her oven is not accurate and it got too hot. Baking has worked for me and many others.
The one tip I would give is to wrap the plates thoroughly so no air can get in. The first time I wrapped, the seal wasn't tight and there were slight ripples where air got in.
I recently bought new Big Shot plates, and they seem exactly the same thickness as the ones I used incessantly for two years until one finally cracked.
You say yours was a Cuttlebug set, Bahb? And it was thinner? That's a drag. Everything is more and more cheaply made, it seems.
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
I bake them and love it. Wrap in foil, put in a pyrex dish, add weight and bake at 325 for 30 minutes. I do it when they are a mess from cutting copper and I am brutal with my plates. Someone wrote that they break. I broke them long before I baked them so I had nothing to lose when I was literally wrecking the tensions on my big shot. It will not remove the marks though. I've baked mine twice already. It's easy, you get to sit down while you do it and once again they are not trashing the machine which is WAY more costly.
Stamphappy1650, I agree, mine seem wrecked at the first pass. So I had nothing to lose. No fumes.
I just ordered new BS plates during Sale-a-Bration. I need to do 175+ wedding invites and I want the embossing folder texture to be crisp. I'll have to remember to flip the plates every 10 cards or so.
I just ordered new BS plates during Sale-a-Bration. I need to do 175+ wedding invites and I want the embossing folder texture to be crisp. I'll have to remember to flip the plates every 10 cards or so.
I have no trouble with the plates I save for embossing only bending at all---just the ones I use for die cutting. But, I use a Cuttle Bug, so maybe it is not as strong---and that's a lot of invites!!!
Somewhere recently I watched a video about why this happens and how to straighten the plates. It had to do with what happens when the die actually cuts into the plate. Now, I can't find the link! It made perfect sense and there was no baking or hot water involved. If I find it (or if someone else has watched it) will post the link.
A comment below the video suggested a slight difference. Put your plate in a pan, place a dish rag over it, pour boiling water over and top with a weight. It worked perfectly.
Ironically, my CB C plate cracked the next day when I was die cutting. It had not been treated, was just old.
I baked mine. Wrapped in foil, then put in pyrex dish (wished I had think to pour water in with the plate) then put another pyrex dish on top and weighted that down with cast iron.
It worked. They came out straight. They were so bowed I had nothing to lose by doing it. The bottom one got frosty, but worked. The plate on top of that (not exposed to the heat of the oven was perfect and still clear.
I have a new set (old ones too scratched up). Now I flip mine every time, and look at them every time to see which way the warp goes and use the other side. They last a lot longer and have been fairly straight. These new ones a thinner also. So they are not going to last as long.
I keep a set of plates just for embossing and I have numbered the corners...with 1 in upper left and 2 in lower right, then flip it over horizontally and number the top empty corner 3 and the bottom empty corner 4. Then I flip them every 5 or 6 passes through the machine......when doing big lots ( 50 is big for me, can't imagine 175) and it seems to help. I take the embossing set for die cutting when it begins to warp but it seems to take longer when you have a set just for embossing and don't use it for cutting too.
__________________ c-mouse-If you can't say nuttin nice--don't say nuttin at all. Thumper. Pansy
Card Sketch Challenge 1-227 done only 396+ to go to be caught up!!!!!
At a craft fair, long ago, I bought a Spellbinder Wizard machine. The plates are not transparent, rather they are solid white. In all these years they've never warped. I've used them to die cut, flatten bottle caps and emboss. I don't know why the formula for cutting plates changed except that they were so long lasting, no one ever purchased another set.
Thanks for the tip! It wouldn't surprise me if they were making them flimsier, so that it would be more of a consumable, so we'd have to buy more. I have noticed that there are more detailed and heavier dies than there used to be too though.
Baked Plates - Don't bake your BS plastic plates
