Content

• Steps
• Tips

Sometimes when you need to protect precious cargo, shrink wrap is the best option. It allows you to protect many items for transport and storage, from blank CDs to motor boats. Shrink wrap allows you to seal an item while keeping out air and moisture. The steps below describe how to shrink your clothes.

Steps

1. 1 Select a shrink wrap material. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a common material for these films and is quite tough but can become brittle over time. Polyolefin is a relatively strong film, but it tends to be more expensive than PVC film. PVC and polyolefin can be of different density, for example, caliber 75 and 100, polyolefin can also be caliber 60. The larger the caliber, the tighter the wrapper.
2. 2 Select the tool you will use with the shrink wrap. The choice of tool depends on how large the object is to be wrapped and how thick the film is. If you wrap a small item at home, you can use scissors and a hair dryer. Large items should be wrapped using machines specially designed for this purpose. Such machines usually consist of an automatic heat tunnel and industrial sealant.
3. 3 Wrap your item. Use one whole piece of tape whenever possible. Make sure the piece you cut is slightly larger than the item to be wrapped.
4. 4 Cut off excess film. Trim off any strands of film. The film should fit snugly against the object, do not allow air or open space to enter.
5. 5 Wrap your item. Spread the film so that it fits snugly on the object, do not allow air or open space to enter.
6. 6 Use a heat source to shrink the film and seal your item. Distribute heat evenly around the wrapped item. If you distribute it unevenly, the film will shrink disproportionately.

Tips

• Recycle used film so that it can be reused.