Did I burn the film?

[Douglas]

I’m pretty new to tinting and when I’m heating out the fingers if I heat the edge for more then just a couple seconds my finger turns into a little triangle at the very edge that won’t go away. I’m assuming this is the film being burnt but it doesn't curl or go crisp or anything just looking for some info. Thanks

Edited April 22, 2022 by Douglas

[Tintguy1980]

Shrinking film is directional: film will shrink in the machine direction (roll length) only, is the rule of thumb. Shrinking in the transverse direction (roll width) will produce what you have described.

 

Most automotive windows will shrink best IF you place the machine direction horizontal, making sure any fingers (or excess) is located across the top and bottom horizontal edges.

 

Your heat gun travel will be vertically upward toward the top and vertically downward toward the bottom edge, with some variations from vertical to chase the shrink. There are rare occasions whereby a window glass curvature will prompt aligning the machine direction vertically and shrinking toward the side.

 

There's plenty of videos on shrinking found here by search and you can also find plenty on YouTube.

[Douglas]

Ok sweet thanks for the tip I’ll have to do some messing around with the film and figure it out. I knew the tint was only able to be shrunk in 1 direction I didn’t realize you couldn’t chose the direction makes a lot more sense. I attached a photo of a roll the red lines are the direction the fingers were that I was trying to get out. Could you confirm if that’s correct or not?

[TintDude]

Yes, the red lines are the wrong direction, the fingers should be going toward the factory cut edge.

[Douglas]

Ah ok I’ll have to try again the other way thanks for your guys help. I’m still a little puzzled on how I managed to shrink it at all; I got rid of all the fingers by using a little bit of heat and barely heating the edge it was just a lot more work then it should have been

[doctor4766]

Hi Douglas.

Most door glasses need no shrinking at all so perhaps you got lucky and the film would have sat down even without heat applied.

What vehicle were you working on?

Paul