Heat can ruin your PET Film

We know that throughout the printing process heat affects how the film peels.  Excessive heat reduces the ability to peel hot.  It has to do with the temperature threshold of the wax coating on these films. There have been a few instances where people have had issues with their film not "hot" peeling. So off to do some testing.

What we just recently found out is that heat can adversely affects the film in both storage and transit.  When these special coated films reach extreme temperatures in storage and/or transit it creates problematic issues.  One issue you will see is the film will have patches of "warped" film.  This warping can create tracking issues and in some instances head strikes.  This warping is very visible from what we have seen in testing.  Our test was based on a roll of film shipped UPS Ground when the ambient temperatures were approx. 90F during the day.  It was in shipping for 2 days before delivery.  

Extreme heat also affects the film tension and leads to tracking issues when you are printing on rolls of film.  The film will randomly track off in the film feed direction.  It is going to be impossible to maintain registration when the film has been exposed to excessive heat. 

BUT THERE IS MORE!! - What if you are printing for someone else, and you did everything right. You finish the job, then roll up your prints, put them in a tube and off it goes out into the hot summer heat. By the time your customer gets the transfers, they may no longer be hot peel. It's going to be hard to regulate these temperatures when they are out of your control.  

Now we aren't trying to ruin anyone's day and we aren't saying you can't send them out during the summer.  But what we are suggesting is if you are storing your film in a warehouse where it isn't climate controlled, we suggest finding a cool spot to keep it. And definitely don't leave the film sitting baking in the sun. We put a roll of film in the box still on a loading dock for 2 hours - and well, we turned it into a warm peel from a hot peel.

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