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Ive just got Jetmounter to play with dry mounting and laminating.
The original Drytek films are not cheap and not easy to access in UK or Ireland.
Could you recommend same good double side film for start dry mounting pigment prints to Mat boards and maybe acrylic board.
Would be good is matt laminating films came thorougher from the same place for later fun
There are third party webs but I cant find any reviews.
BTW Drytek does not offer 44 model anymore. Are the dry mounting out of fashion now? Reasent videos on youtube are nearly 10 years old.
Am too late to the game?
Thank you
It's the weekend, not every member come on to the forum over the weekend, most come on during business hours, so very sorry if no one came and answered you question in less than 24 hours,
D & J Simons do a whole range of dry mounting products, give them a ring, but remember, they are only open Monday to Friday 9-5ish
Steve CEO GCF (020) Believed in Time Travel since 2035
The Drytac range are generally pretty good. Steve Goodall at Wessex Oldham is the expert.
For mounting to "normal" materials, the regular self wound film is your go to. Conforms well, great with matt and lustre materials.
Save the acrylic for polyester based gloss materials. For this you want to remortgage and get some facemount adhesive. Ultra thin, dead smooth, kinda pricey. Don't over order - have enough to see you through a couple of seasons, but these materials do have a shelf life, after which the adhesive will start to migrate, and no longer be smooth and even.
Don't cheap out on inexpensive materials, particularly if you are working with client supplied prints on expensive substrates. If you can't reprint, then you've only got one hit.
Check your working temperature, 16-30 Celcius is good. Too cold, and the adhesive won't play that nicely. With laminates, this is triply true. If the materials are too chilled, then you'll get silvering at best. Curable with judicious use of a heat gun / hair dryer / sunlight. Don't store your adhesives/laminates near heaters or in direct sunlight.
Check the edges of your mounting materials. If a roll is smoothly wound, then things look good. If the edges of a roll of selfwound are showing gaps, then this is likely symptomatic of piping of the adhesive - high and low coverage of the adhesive on the carrier film. This is Bad. With SWF, check the feel of the roll (literally hands on the exterior - does it fell smooth and even all round, with not much more give to finger pressure than a ream of copier paper). If not, look at the edges for tunneling; if unsure, unroll a few feet and inspect with raking light. If you see craters on the face of the adhesive, don't trust it for more than school fete posters on grey board.
Become obsessive about cleaning and hygene. Shave off all body hair, and give all pets up for addoption. Drown your favourite powertools (remember to remove batteries or cut their cords first), as dust is your enemy.
Acrylic, PVC foam boards and DiBond ACM type materials are all wonderful static monsters. Release the protective films, and the devils of static will attract demons of dust. You can temporarily drown them out with copious quantities of IPA.
When starting out, make sure you get the pressure on the press correct, and make sure that the materials you are mounting to are flat. Start off with the top roller resting on the bottom one, then turn the handles 1 times the material thickness plus one (3mm material, four full turns). Then take an off cut of the material, the width of the laminator (We use keys of the chosen substrate, 3x9", across the width of the nip) and turn the dials for the top roller down, until you fell slack, then dial back 1/8th turn. Less pressure is better, too light pressure is going to create huge bubbles.
Be prepared to sacrifice materials while you are starting - if you're scared of stuff, you flinch and make mistakes. Don't view face mount adhesive as being £12/00 per metre, at least not whilst you're using your training budget.
Refernces to IPA - 1,2Butanol AKA Iso Propyyl Alchohol, not for drinking. Drymounting and laminatig should always be done stone cold sober - you'll be playing with scalples, and a machine that won't stop while your foot is on the pedal. Save it for keyboards (long week, we've had most of Novembers orders come though over the last few days, so It's both Tuesday and Friday)
If you're after a 44" machine, check out Seal, or Mounters Mate, both good.
Wow Thank you @Richard for so informative post.
You mantion so many aspects Id like to dig in now....
Yes Im aware I will waste "same " materials thats why looking for relable bit not expansive. To be sure if its goes wrong its me not film but in the same way I dont want to waste fortune ...
Yes Ive got second hand 44 Jet-mounter to play with..
Although the videos are over 10 years old, nothing has changed - the press still works the same, and adhesives are not really any different. For years we followed the using of carrier boards for lamination, still do for >40" prints. For smaller pieces, we now do what the signmakers do, and have the rolls set to zero height, but no pressure on the wheels.
Although rather expensive, I'd still look at the DryTac self wound film to start, probably a 27" roll to get a feel for the handling. I've used other brands and had issues with with inconsistent adhesive coverage.
For substrates, the flatter the better. We tend to use DiBond, Kapamount, aluminium and Forex (in that order) for most mounting. We've tried other brands, and have found that the materials are not sufficiently consistent in thickness to work for us. Worst example was a quarter tonne of 5mm PVC board, that was spec'd to +/-10% of thickness. Varied across the width of 8x4' sheets from 4.5-5.5mm, sufficient that we couldn't flood coat with adhesive. Have never had that problem with Forex Classic, or Forex Print. Yes, it costs considerably more, until you factor in the waste of substrate, adhesive and time.
JM44 is a great machine - do make sure that it is set up level - the rollers are real heavy, and if not flat, media will go out of track.
You're mounting pigment prints - do you print these yourself? If so, leave good handling borders, makes production much less stressful.
Thanks @Richard another great info.
I was thinking about Twin tac at first why self wound is better for start.
Ive got DVD from Drytec! :)Keep it for a weekend to watch.
, often have a look when having my lunch, something to pass the 10 minutes break 
