Mounting Equipment

[JJaston]

Hi All,

I am in the process of setting up my own framing business. I have converted a small garden room into a workshop, I have gotten myself a Morso guillotine, a fletcher wall mounted material cutter, an underpinner (make unknown) and a keen cut mount board cutter. These key items seem to come up regularly when people are clearing out shops or retiring. I have spent a lot of time reading numerous posts and I can see that this is a great place to gather information and share ideas.

The one thing that there seems to be less information on and also less for sale in the classifieds is, mounting equipment.

A friend of mine has a framing shop with a large hot press but I don't have space for this and I understand they are very difficult to use. I have seen the cold mount type machines let DryTac jet mounted and something like this would suit my space limitations. I assumed there is no one type of machine that could mount multiple media?

My aim is to mount artwork and photography and maybe posters? What are peoples preferred methods and equipment choices?

If I have completed missed a specific section of this forum that discusses mounting I am sorry. I look forward to everyone's help and I hope my first post on this forum is well received.

Thanks
Joe

[fitz]

Hi Joe, Welcome to the forum and you’re correct in saying you will learn a lot from here as I have. The experienced old timers are very generous with their time and knowledge. I have a similar set up to yours and have been framing professionally for 4 years. During the first couple of years I paid for training from a very experienced framer and learned a lot from him even just through conversation so forums such as this are invaluable. I bought an Easy Mount 650 from Lion to add to all of my other machinery and I use it every day. I use it for cold mounting photos and posters and prints but I always tell my customers why I need to use it (flimsy posters/cockled paper etc) and for what purpose in terms of getting materials to be framed into the optimum state for framing.

I also explain that the cold mounting process changes the artwork etc and it is irreversible and will always advise against it for valuable items or items that they may want to roll up again at some point. Most of my customers are more than happy to approve the mounting process for their artwork/prints/posters etc but some don’t want this and you then need to employ other framing methods to secure work to substrates etc. For anything wider than the machine can accommodate I use self adhesive board (foam board or flat board) and large brayer rollers. With great care you can make a good job and I have framed loads of maps and large posters like this. I’m sure you will get more info from others which I also look forward to.

[Gesso&Bole]

Hi Joe

Welcome to the forum.

It all depends on what sort of work you do. For many years I was based in a retail environment, so did a lot of photographs, posters and prints. I definitely used the press every day. I had a big Hot Press machine which was brilliant, but took up a lot of space. These days I work from home, and have a smaller working area, and I deal mainly with originals, so I probably only use my Drytac JM26 once or twice a month. The cold roller type machine is limited to about 25 inches wide, but has the big advantage that I can store it under the bench when it is not in use. Even though I don't use it often I wouldn't be without it.

[prospero]

Mounting (sticking down) presses have a particular application. Many framers have never owned one and have got by
quite happily. My general rule is that if you can't replace the item then don't stick it down. It is a one-way process and will
'alter' the item irrevocably. That said, if you have a big poster or other large ephemeral thing on paper then sticking it down
flat is desirable. Never mount things that have intrinsic value - limited edition prints, original watercolours, drawings etc.

I once had a chap with a big collection of Robert Taylor aviation prints who his 'mate' had dry mounted and this effectively
killed them. They looked OK but as far as value went no collector would buy them in that condition. I estimated that they
were worth about £16K in original condition.

If you learn proper hinging techniques then sticking things down is mostly unnecessary. There will always be exceptions, but that's
a good principal to work to.

** It might be worth looking around for an old Hard Bed press. These take up less room and there be some old framers who have
one under a big pile of junk. They are essentially obsolete, but they do have certain advantages over a Vac Press.



***** Whatever you do, AVOID spray glues. No matter what people tell you it is the work of the devil.

[Steve N]

If space is a issue, get one of these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254537541902 ... SwLvhhB1o4

used to use one all the time in my old workshop, use cold mounting board

[Justintime]

If you give Steve Goodall a call at Wessex Oldham branch, he runs a free day training course at Hotpress in Bristol. He covers the heated vacuum press and the Drytac cold roller machines. I have to disagree about the Hotpress being difficult. A bit of training and it's easy.

[JJaston]

Hi All,

Thank you so much for all of your advice, a lot to take in and process but certainly some helpful information. I can see this forum being a very valuable tool for my development.

I will look into everything that has been mentioned.

Many Thanks
Joe

[Not your average framer]

Hi Joe,

I use one of the old fashioned mechanical screw down Ademco presses. They are probably not so popular these days, but you can often pick them up as secondhand items for peanuts. They work pretty much as well as anything else, but they just don't look so modern and high tech. I bought mine for £50 and it has served me well for not far off of 20 years. I've not really needed to get anything more modern. I also have a Hot press twin roller pressure only manual roller machine, which also was bought secondhand. I would not say that I use either of these very intensively these days, but they still get used when needed. I have not done it for a while, but I used to stick scraps of mountboad together to produce spacers for deep box frames at one time. I was not a consious decision to stop doing this, but I gradually drifted away from doing so. I also used to bond layers of mounts together prior to producing really nice hand finished mounts, with gold bevels. I was very keen on doing stuff like this at one time! In the early days, I did not have a lot of money and bought bargain bundles of moulding for Frinton Mouldings, (I don't think that they do these now), but quite a bit of these mouldings where not all that up to date and adding fancy mounts and slips were very helpful in selling frames made from these.

Of course, there are times when people bring back rolled up pictures from an overseas holiday in a suitcase and the picture get a bit creased, With a bit of dry mounting, touching up and heatsealing the surface with a matt heat seal film, this would erdicate the creases and hide the places where the printed surface need a bit of touching up, because the matt heatseal film would hide any patches which became more glossy due to needing some touching up. Gradually as time when by, I began to realise that there were better ways of getting better paid for my time and effort and moved on to better and more worthwhile ways of earning a living. Being based in a small rural Devon town, keeping busy enough and getting enough business, is often a bit of a challenge and over time I have moved into producing various things which are good selling items in an old fashioned, rural area. Quite a lot of the areas local housing stock is very old, (I'm talking about several centuries old), and these a reasonable steady market for old looking "rustic" style frames and other items. They are not necessarily super fast sellers, but the tick over quite nicely. We don't always get so many tourists as we once used to be the tourists, seem to buy a useful amount of such items as well.

Overall having dry mounting facities is still very helpful to me, but having the most up to date mounting equipment, is not really a priority at all. I do a bit of cleaning and restoring work and a dry mounting press can be useful when artworks on paper need dampening and pressing flat. Also some customers want cheap oil paintings stretched and framed, but don't want spend what it costs to do it properly and my dry mounting press is often large enough to enable me to stick the oli painting down on to MDF. This of course is not quite so easy in a vacuum press. If you are going to be getting a proper dry mounting press (and that includes vacuum presses as well), then check out some of the more modern materials, techniques and uses for dry mounting presses which are now available. Dry mounting equipment can open up some very useful and often very worthwhile possibilities.

[fitz]

On the issue of mounting artworks and prints etc I have, of late, had an increasing number of prints in for framing. These are printed onto a thin type of canvas that can be popped onto stretcher bars in the normal manner with stapling etc. However quite a few customers want to have their prints surrounded by “conventional” frames, and would like to avoid the stretcher frame protruding out of the back of their frame of choice which inevitably will have a fairly narrow rebate. My question therefore is (triggered by the notion of fixing a canvas type print onto MDF or similar with staples?) what other methods do the experienced framers use instead of using stretcher bars to ensure that the canvas remains taut and flat, fixed for example to a backing board of up to 5mm. Does anyone use tapes or hinging processes to secure this type of canvas (not the heavy duty artist’s canvas) to a substrate? I’ve been experimenting with wheat starch and archival tapes and they seem to form a very strong bond between the canvas and display type board. What I’m not sure about is the durability and longevity of this type of hinging?

[Justintime]

Hotpress sell an adhesive specifically to mount canvas to board in a vacuum press.

[prospero]

On the issue of mounting artworks and prints etc..........................

This is probably the only time I use my old Ademco HB press. I use Unibond builders' adhesive (which is basically dilute PVA) and put
the canvas+board in the press with release paper/foam blanket and leave it overnight. You can't do that with a vac press as you would have
to leave the compressor on the maintain the pressure. You can't really do BIG canvases like this as it needs to be done in one 'bite'. but if
it's bigger than the press platen then it probably should be on stretchers. I have on occasion got two 4x4' sheets of 19mm chipboard and made
an improvised press this way. It does mean loading anything heavy you can find on top. The key factor is pressure to get a good bond.

** I don't have the heat switched on btw.

[Not your average framer]

Sticking the canvas down onto 6mm MDF with PVA glue works for me! I have a 4 inch wide radiator foam decorators roller and just roll the PVA onto the MDF in 2 coats, letting the first coat soak in a bit before adding the second coat. Then the canvas is pressed down under a weighted board, keeping it flat while the glue sets. This is often done to save the customer money! Lots of customers bring cheap canvases back from holidays and did not spend very much for the canvas and the cost of stretching the canvas is often more than they paid for the canvas. They often think that they are being stitched up when stretching the canvas costs more than the canvas and it cost more than they expected.

[fitz]

Thanks for this info. This is really helpful to me. I would probably need to go down the two boards and a heavy weight route as I don’t yet have a vac press option. Should the MDF/plywood be treated first to prevent chemicals leaching through to the canvas or does the PVA/Unibond serve to seal this effectively to protect the canvas? TIA.

[Not your average framer]

Two coats of woodworking PVA glue works just fine. The framing workshop were I was trained did the same. The first coat soaked in to the MDF a lot and the second coat was applied on top of the first, while the first coat was almost dry but still sticky. PVA is a water based polymer and when set forms a waterproof plastic membrane, which is blocks the migration of harmfull chemicals. Framers have been doing this for decades! Thin builders, universal PVA is a lot thinner and tends to soak into the back of the canvas more easily, which can require an extra coat on the canvas to get the best bonding result.

[fitz]

Thanks very much for the information Mark. Got it

[Not your average framer]

Hi Fitz,

Don't forget to quote and charge enough to fully cover your labour, when doing this. There is more labour time and quite a bit more PVA glue involved that you might be thinking and it's perhaps too easy to under quote. I also trim the canvas to the board edges after the canvas is firmly stuck to the board, using a kraft knife with a good sharp blade.

[fitz]

Thanks Mark