Floating an aluminium print

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ChrisG
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Floating an aluminium print

Post by ChrisG »

I have a 600 x 600 print on aluminium to float into a tray frame. A silicon bead lasted a couple of years but then gave up. Any suggestions?
Justintime
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Re: Floating an aluminium print

Post by Justintime »

I've been using "Bond It - Saves Nails SF", it's a water based grab adhesive, construction grade "permanent adhesive".
I'll let you know in 2 years if it's still working??
Justin George GCF(APF)
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Re: Floating an aluminium print

Post by Not your average framer »

It is unfortunate that silicone was used originally as the silicone with the silicone sealerreadily migrates and any silicone reisdue remaining on the rear surface of the aluminium print will need to be chemically removed to refixit. I would probably look in to using one of the extremely strong double sided adhestive tapes to fix this in to position, but please bear in mind that the area which is available for fixing this with a double sided adhesive tape needs to be sufficient to support the weight of this fairly large aluminium print.

Really heavy duty double sided tapes can be very long lasting and particularly effective. One example to illustrate this is double sided carpet tape. Carpets go down for years and this type of tape is usually as well stuck when old carpets are removed as the day it was first applied. Another example is a double sided tape called toffee tape, which is often used for sticky down cats eyes to road surfaces during road works and contraflow systems. Road surfaces are not the most ideal surface to bond self adhesives to, but this stuff really does the business.

So don't totally rule out specialist self adhesive tapes, they are often quite superior to most peoples expectations. Lion sell some stuff for sticking to dibond and the like, I suggest that you make some enquiries with them about the potential suitability of this, or any other suitable product which they stock. This might be the way forward. Don't forget to thorougherly clean the surface clean of any remaining silicone residue with acetone, or cellulose thinners, to provide a nice clean surface for adhering to. Justin's suggestion of "Bond it" sounds interesting, it might be worth talking to the manufacturers help line to see what they have to say about potential suitability.
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prospero
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Re: Floating an aluminium print

Post by prospero »

Double-sided foam tape may be the answer. The adhesive is very aggressive and the advantage is that the foam
has a slight 'give' that will mitigate any expansion/contraction that might strain the join. Also, it can be freed by
sawing through with a blade and the residue subsequently removed with solvent.
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Justintime
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Re: Floating an aluminium print

Post by Justintime »

Looks like Lions 9885 heavy duty bonding tape is for aluminium panels to sub frames. 5124 looks good too.
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