Rant: my pin press kept cracking 2 inch buttons and it took me 3 weeks to figure out the real culprit | Button Makers Lounge - The Design Community Hub
Rant: my pin press kept cracking 2 inch buttons and it took me 3 weeks to figure out the real culprit
I was pressing a 250 pin order for a local band out of my garage in Boise and kept getting cracks along the rim on maybe 1 out of every 8 buttons. I blamed my die, ordered a replacement, then blamed my paper stock and switched from 80lb gloss to matte, still cracked. Turned out my mylar was the problem. The roll I bought on clearance was 2 mil instead of the 3 mil I normally run, and it was folding just enough over the edge to split the crimp. Taped a scrap of the old mylar to my bench so I can compare thickness before I buy a new roll. Anyone else get burned by a thin batch of mylar, and do you measure yours or just trust the label?
Did your friend ever try the freezer trick? Mine had the same cracking issue and it turned out the mylar was fine, but her garage was too cold so the crimp never set right. She started warming the dies on a heating pad before runs and the cracks stopped almost overnight.