Trim silicone heating blanket?

[Tommy Coleman]

Hello all. I have a new silicone blanket that is a scootch wider than the interior dimension of my Universal/Fox style bending machine. It causes the spring assisted cauls and the waist caul to slightly bind and is just a general p.i.t.a. Does anyone have an opinion about or experience in VERY slightly (3/32") trimming the width of the blanket? Thanks for any info or help.

[Michael Lewis]

First off, DON'T CUT THE BLANKET without consulting the manufacturer. It is very likely you will cut into the resistive traces laminated in the blanket. It is possible the manufacturer can tell you how much wiggle room is available to trim, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. It's worth a call to find out.

[Bill Raymond]

If your interference is truly that small (3/32"), then instead of risking trimming the blanket, why not find a way to make your spring assisted cauls and waist caul work with the blanket width? If the problem is the springs hanging up on the edges of the blanket, you could move the spring mounts out 3/64" on each side

[Brad Heinzen]

I can't really tell where the important stuff stops on mine. It looks like it doesn't go all the way to the very edge, but those blankets aren't cheap. I'd try to find a way to modify my setup instead of cutting mine down too, even though I suspect there's a bit of a margin there.

[Steve Senseney]

Can you fold the edge over rather than cut it?

[Barry Daniels]

If you fold the blanket, the internal wires could easily break.

Once, I needed to connect two short blankets end to end to make up a full length blanket. I hand stitched them with heavy cotton thread. I worried about hitting the wires, so I kept the stitches within an eighth of an inch from the blanket edges. I can't say that the wires were further away or I was just lucky and missed them, but the blankets still worked afterwards.

[Tommy Coleman]

Thanks for the replies!

[Michael Lewis]

Who is the manufacturer?

[Tommy Coleman]

Protherm. I emailed them and got a reply that advised against it. Of course being the nincompoop that I am I took that to mean "hack away". I trimmed a minuscule amount off of each edge with a sharp razor knife and straight edge. I inspected the cut edge VERY carefully and satisfied myself that I was still well away (maybe 1/4") from any resistor or wire. It fit perfectly in my bending machine. Bent purfling and rosewood binding using a blanket for the first time. Worked SO much better than my old lightbulb setup. Once again, thank you all for the replies, I appreciate your time.
Tommy