Warped plates...

Rotundus

Hello fellow Brickheads,
I am in the process of building a 4449 Daylight and discovered that a number of the large plates (6x12, 4x8, etc.), are a little warped. Any ideas for de-warping? I started the build anyway hoping that the warps would either cancel each other out, or that maybe if I got warped enough, I wouldn't notice. So far, no luck. How do you-all deal with this?

Thanks for your help,
Rotundus

unbrickable

what i should try is using a little heat gun and heat up a little bit (so not to melting point, haha) lay it down on a flat surface with a big book on it and wait to cool down. btw do you have a picture ?

TheSkirrid

Steal the wife's hair-dryer, it's a bit more gentle than a heat gun. Also a 2 minute hot water soak at about 80ºC should do the job too.

Rotundus

OK. Thanks, haven't tried that yet. Sorry, no pics... too "frugal" (cheap) to have a smartphone. As I continue to build, the warping is getting less noticeable... but, there is not that much left to go.
When I started out, I was firmly pressing each layer together. This resulted in a "banana" shaped boiler deck with about a 1/4" bow in it. After dis-assembly, I began again loosely building three or four layers THEN firmly pressing them together on a known flat surface. This has been working, to a point. Maybe I'm out of the woods on this but as I stated before, not that many layers to go.
Oh, by the way... Self warping did not work at all. Not recommended!

Rotundus

Rotundus

Thank you to pwpeter and TheSkirrid for the info. The warping has indeed resolved itself. It just needed more bricks to re-enforce itself. Looks like it was much ado over nothing. The hair drier sounds like a good method to bend the tubing used as piping, too.

Rotundus

Stragus

I fixed a bent 6x24 plate by placing it under hot water, applying mild force to bend the other way for about a minute. That seems harder for small plates though.