Does anyone have a solution for out of the box new playmats with bubbling? I've submitted tickets but I'm scared about what the automated robots will tell me, I thought I'd turn to the community for help. One mat isn't bad, just a little along one edge. Another is largely unplayable in its current state.
Even hypothesis will help.
Thanks in advance,
Syg
PS: Yes, I double posted this to the X-Wing forum as well.
Are these FFG mats? What do you mean by "bubbling?" The only way I can see FFG mats (I own two) "bubbling" is more or less a not-fixable issue and you'd have to live with it or get an entire replacement.
The thing that comes to mind is the fabric wasn't stretched properly when mated to the neoprene so it this gives excess and it shows with a "bubble." Especially one near an edge. Not really fixable. A defect in the neoprene creating an actual bubble isn't going to be something you can "pop" either as letting the air out won't change the rigidity of the material and the bubble will remain.
Through extended research, it is a known issue that occurs when the boxes are stored vertically instead of horizontally. The place I finally tracked down answers at stated they contacted FFG and received a replacement mat so I've submitted a ticket. It's not an overly common occurrence but happens frequently enough for FFG to be aware of it. My local shop knew exactly what I was talking about. On the first mat, there's just a bit on the edge. On my second mat it's almost an entire 1/3 of the mat and is so bad squadrons cannot stand on it without weighted bases.
Through extended research, it is a known issue that occurs when the boxes are stored vertically instead of horizontally. The place I finally tracked down answers at stated they contacted FFG and received a replacement mat so I've submitted a ticket. It's not an overly common occurrence but happens frequently enough for FFG to be aware of it. My local shop knew exactly what I was talking about. On the first mat, there's just a bit on the edge. On my second mat it's almost an entire 1/3 of the mat and is so bad squadrons cannot stand on it without weighted bases.
Interesting. I was already storing my mats horizontally and I will keep doing so.
For sure. It's a bit of a frustration to deal with. My local shop said to try laying it out on a table for a week or so, it's also been known to help so I'm in the process of trying that now while I wait to hear back from FFG.
Press it with a clothes iron on low heat (or however hot you need to get the rubber a bit "stretchy" without melting it) and no steam? Throwing it out there. I have no idea of the wisdom of that course. But don't see too much of an issue as long as you don't scorch the fabric or melt the backing. And not having seen the type of bubbling you're dealing with.
I ironed a CCG mat that had been in a container for a while (like years) and would roll under on one end. It helped a bit and didn't cause any other issues. But I went at it with a very "be careful or this will become a disaster" mindset.
Tried it, didn't help at all. even tried the damp cloth over top of it, higher heat approach. If anything, I went in to it expecting to make it worse so I used the worse one for the experiment. Zero change at all. I'm on day 4 of laying it out flat with no change either :-/