Help, my plates are warping!

[PaddyBricksplitter]

Hi all

After building Vader's Tie Fighter yesterday I noticed that my two 6x10 plates I used for the wings had warped. The horror!

I have been collecting for over a year and this is the first time it's happened. I store my plates loose in a zip lock plastic bag and I am careful not to place it anywhere near a heat source.

Are there any tips from experienced builders on how to unbend plates?

If I store plates stacked on each other would that help? Or is that bad?

I really don't want anything to damage my precious ABS bricks. All help appreciated.

[Zerobricks]

Maybe a simple heavy book over them and some time may help...If not you may have to use some heat?

[Slegengr]

It may help to store plates together, but do not match them corner to corner. I store my extra plates in such a fashion at times, but I incorporate offsets for easy removal. For all 1x(>1) plates, I leave a one- or two-stud offset. For 2x(>2) plates, I only overlay by one stud along the longer side. For all larger plates, I only overlay by two studs along the longer side. This makes it easy to remove plates as needed without causing damage during the removal process. If the overlay is too great, the plates can be severely bent in the removal process if not carefully handled.

Unbending can be tricky, but it may be done as simply as bending it slightly past straight in the opposite way to exceed the elastic deformation limit of the material and move into the plastic deformation range (the same thing that happened in the opposite direction to bend the plastic to begin with). Materials have an elastic deformation range, in which the material will return to its original shape after bending. If the bend is too great, the material moves into plastic deformation (permanent change in shape to the material). It may help to just compress plates together or place weight on the plate to hold it flat, but, unless the material is bent back past the elastic deformation range, this will not completely solve the issue.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Slegengr

[PaddyBricksplitter]

Thanks for the advice regarding bending plastic. And the tips on storage.

[weavil]

I had warped/bent plates/base plates and used hot water. Was cleaning one day and it made me remember that they bend when hot.

So I grabbed the bigger ones, ran them under hot water all over, and let them dry on a flat surface. They're clean and flat.