The Framers Forum

Facemount absolutely will adhere to clean acrylic, and if the print is on something like Fuji Flex (or other polyester based papers), will create a permanent bond, as they are both high energy materials. But, acrylic is a static monster, so work space needs to be incredibly clean.

Aluminium, DiBond, acrylic, or even glass - when used with an optically clear mounting adhesive (Facemount from Drytac), will allow you to mount gloss prints without orange peel (unless the core of the photopaper is citrus like). Kapamount from 3A Composites has a remarkably smooth surface, and can ...

What thickness and type of card are you using, as well as type of adhesive and printing paper - the overall package can have a big impact on the trimability of the sandwich.

It depends on the card thickness. Most of the Rotatrims are designed for 6-8 sheets of copier paper, though the technics will do thicker. They do have sightlines, but certainy on the older ones, this is a bit hit or miss. The new Keencut Evolution 3 has a very precise cutting strip - literally cut b...

Lars, I'm not aware of application tables being used outside of the sign making trade. Every example I've seen has been the "slit the backing paper, then roll from centre" style of working, that is well suited to self adhesive vinyls, or laminates viewed from a distance. I swing between th...

Again, thank you all for the responses, and sorry for the delay in saying so. Client is having second thoughts, which nicely eases off the pressure on setting up an in house solution for now. I'm still interested in getting this set up - if I were slightly further north, then the idea of a CS88 and ...

I always buy the right tool for the job, so I’m on the active search for a cs88/9.

Flippancy, I can’t help, /s, I try to avoid outside poisontics (and this is not the place for that)

Laminator - you're going to have trouble applying a selfwound adhesive on an application table (unless there is a trick that I've missed), as I believe they are designed for laying down self adhesive materials to substrate (mainly Vinyls, cut or printed). And as you'll be working at the nip, the bes...

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. I'm looking to keep this fairly simple - a lot of the time I have more work on my hands than I know how to make hours in the week for, but this strikes me as being a logical extension to current services, and with suitable planning, shouldn't dramatically ...

I think I may be in the market for an underpinner. Currently print and mount to a range of substrates, and have a client (colleague) who has rather a large show coming up, and is suffering from sticker shock for the framing. I'm toying with the idea of getting a second hand CS8X, and using chop serv...

Funny this should come up -am in exactly the same sort of position. On a monthly basis, we print, mount, and install images in frames for a London gallery. The frames come in via a lovely team of art shippers, wrapped in a corrugated / craft paper amalgam. The frames are 40x60", with optically ...

I trim quite a few prints - the rotatrim single wheel blade over steel edge design, is the cleanest that I've used for a whole range of papers from 36gsm Kozo, to 350 Baryta papers. The technical trimmers have an automatic raising clamp, that allows thicker papers to pass through. Just trying to mak...

Lockable casters all round, and a couple in the middle for good measure. Looking forward to enhancing my pair of 8x4 flat benches when we move in the next few months. Planning lots of storage

My hands are getting more sensitive to the adhesives in mounting films and laminates, as well as IPA, so now spend a fair proportion of the day in nitrile gloves. Currently favouring the type that are aimed at tatoo artists, black with a decent grip. They don't seem to mark most digital prints, or g...

Over half a dozen S&M handles with 10A's. Fresh loaded blades live in the cardboard box that razor blades come in (magnetic tape on the underside), on top of the JM44, middle of the production space. Lightly used loaded blades live just below, on the back of the JM44. In-action blades, on the 8x...

It's been a while*, but, the release paper below is to protect the foam blanket. The foam blanket above is to not cause the glass to gloss the laminate. As I would laminate prints I had made, I'd laminate the print first, then dry mount to foam board - reduced the chance of dust bits ruining the cos...

Facemount is the adhesive that Hotpress make, also called (ISTR) fynart. Damnedably expensive, but dead flat. 80% of the pieces we put onto Dibond or aluminium, we laminate with something like a satin matt, to protect the surface. This also makes the handling of the material much easier, and lets yo...

Lion do a whole range of subframes for prints mounted to aluminium / DiBond. Very simple and quick to use. Assuming you mean a jetmounter from Hotpress, these are ideal for mounting to DiBond - I'd only ever use their facemount adhesive with these materials, and it does take a while to get the hang ...

Uncle Steve used to talk of walking across the lids of Hotpresses! Neoprene sheet is relatively inexpensive, and it is supposed to be resistant to heat, most chemicals we would use, and UV (in case you left it facing the window. Polystyrene 8x4's would be a recipe for polystyrene beads marching arou...

Couple of things to look at (assuming that you've watched the hotpress videos on youtube)... 1: When laminating, correct, even pressure is of paramount importance. The way I set our JM44 up is to cut "keys" of the mounting material. So, if I'm using 3mm DiBond, I have a set (5) of keys, ar...