STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING PRESS-O-FILM WITH A "DIAL THICKNESS MICROMETER GAGE"

Step 1: Locate a representative site for measurement.

Step 2: Select appropriate grade of Press-O-Film replica tape based on your target profile.
In the vast majority of industrial painting applications, this means “X-Coarse” grade.
Other grades should be used only if measurement with “X-Coarse” does not yield an acceptable profile.

Step 3: Prepare snap gage: clean anvils, adjust zero point to read 8 mils (150 um on a metric gage), i.e., minus 2 mils (minus 50 um on a metric gage), the thickness of the incompressible substrate. (This procedure subtracts the thickness of the plastic substrate automatically from all readings.)

Step 4: Pull a single piece of adhesive-backed tape free of its release paper. The Press-O-Film replica material is the 0.4 inch (10 mm) square white plastic film at the center of the adhesive-backed paper. A “bulls eye” circle of paper should remain behind on the release paper.

Step 5: Check film thickness with gage. Film may vary in thickness and maximum limits of profiles cannot exceed thickness of the film coating. Typically, X-Coarse grade film thickness will be between approximately 5 and 6 mils (125 and 150 um).

Step 6: Apply film to blasted surface. Press adhesive-backed paper to hold it firmly in place.

Step 7: Compress replica film with the smoothest surface on the round-end rubbing tool provided, applying sufficient pressure to produce a replica with a uniform pebblegrain appearance. You should just feel the roughness as you burnish. Use either a circular, or x-y rubbing motion. Fully compress all parts of the film but be careful not to slide the film with respect to the blasted surface by bumping edges of the circular paper cutout. In general, too much compression is safer than too little.

Step 8: Remove replica and place between anvils of snap gage, making sure replica is centered between anvils. Gage reading is a measure of average maximum peak-to-valley height of the blasted surface (when snap gage is adjusted as in step 3). If differing numerical values are obtained for the same site, the lowest value will tend to occur where the replica foam has been most completely compressed and therefore be the most reliable.

Step 9:
Confirm that reading is well within grade’s recommended range. Tape is most accurate in mid-range.
For profiles near upper or lower end of grade range, confirm reading with the next closest grade.
Use a comparator to double check.
Record grade of tape used together with the measured profile.