Laminating Canvas

[FFrames]

In the old business I worked at, we used to spray laminate canvases but I'm trying to look for alternatives. We did get a really nice finish and was fairly quick, but it did take up a lot of room. Does any one know of other good alternatives, or good quality canvases that don't need to be sealed?

I've found this post on the grumble and people are taking about using a hot roll laminating machine to seal canvases. Anyone tried this before? Is it possible? I'm going to be buying a roller laminator anyway, so getting one with heated rolls wont be much more of an expense.

http://www.thegrumble.com/showthread.ph ... spraybooth

I know you can use a vacuum press to do it, but dont really want to go down that route as it seems like it will take a long time to do one by one and also there will be size restrictions.

[stcstc]

you cant use cold rollers, as the laminate wont get into the texture

need heat to soften the laminate to get into the texture

and need a good laminator for it too

i prefer vacum press though

[FFrames]

Ah okay, that's good to hear.. Wish I was still in my old work so I could do some experiments! ..

It's about a grand more for heated rollers, so a bit of a gamble if it doesnt look too good Have you tried it yourself stcstc? Any particular laminates that you know of that work particulary well, or do any heat activated ones work?

Also, with the vacum press... Is that not time consuming for multiple canvases?.. And what about really large ones?

[stcstc]

i dont have heated roller but a mate does

I have a HGP260 and a JM54 jetmounter

if your wanting to do a lot of canvases i would suggest a spray booth (done properly) and a set of print drying racks, you could dry a lot of canvases like that

i mean who many you aiming to do a day? 50-100?

there is another option if your looking at volume, a flood coater, its like 20k but you can coat a whole roller of canvas in one go, as they have built in dryers etc so coats, dries and re rolls


s

[Ryan Montgomery]

Cold rollers and a hot air gun? Would this work?

[FFrames]

Oh it won't be huge amounts... Probabbly 10 a week to start going upto maybe 50ish I guess after some time... Have seen those liquid laminators but the volume def wont be there for one of those!

I'm going to be getting a laminator anyway, so was hoping I could use that.. Just trying to think of a way to save space and mess really! Canvases are only going to be a small part of the businees, so didint really want to cut off a part of the workshop for spraying.. Guess I can multi-use the space for spraying frames as well though!

Will see if I can get a sample of canvas thats been laminated with heated rollers first anyway.. If not, will just suck it up and make a little room.

Thanks for your help!

[stcstc]

50 a wekk you could do with rollers and a hanging system, that way wouldnt take up to much space

[FFrames]

Yeah, we started rolling canvases at my last place of work.. but it is time consuming and you still need the table space, so want to avoid that really..

I've been looking up some fancy spray guns and it seems like a decent one wont fill the whole room with varnish vapour like the cheapo one I used before... So I'm hoping that I wont need to section a part of the room off especially.. cant have that white dust all over the room!.. Will need to see at the time I guess

[Steve Goodall]

All I can say is - GOOD LUCK & let us know how you get on with the hot rollers...

[Steve Goodall]

Cold rollers and a hot air gun? Would this work?

Ryan - NO!!!

[Ryan Montgomery]

Cheers Steve, I'll give myself a slap!

[Steve Goodall]

Ryan - do not slap yourself too hard - just a little tap will do - like this

This is a very complex subject & you made what sounded like a reasonable "no cost" solution.

To put things into perspective & hence me saying "GOOD LUCK"...

This is a massively complex subject - I have had people (against my advice) go out & buy "hot rollers" & then say "it works" (great - woopee doo) & a another group who say "I wasted my money & was robbed" (naboo stinks)... This onlygoes to show - where is your "quality threshold"

TRUE TALE FOLLOWS - SO HELP ME GOD!!!

Only this afternoon I had a long chat with a guy who "thought" he had bought a hot roller laminator - only to find out he had bought an encapsulator - with a "laminator" function.

He wants to do all kinds of stuff that you can do with a laminator - but not with the piece of kit he has bought.

Guess what too - it was a hell of a lot cheaper than anythng else he had seen - now he knows why - now that needs a bigger slap

Her endeth the lesson - looking for a smiley with a halo (and failing)

[prospero]

At least when he has laminated his canvases he will be able to wrap then up nicely.

[FFrames]

Yeah.. I think I'm just going to stick with the tried and tested method of spray laminating.. I know the quality is there with that method and that's what I'm really after.. Even if hot roller laminating worked, I'm guessing they will have a plasticy dulled down look to them..

It's just that I'm just in a difficult position atm where I cant do any product testing as I havent got any kit yet.. and I cant buy the (right) kit as I'm not 100% sure what I'll need.

[bilalshreif]

I have been Varnishing Matt Canvases for 5 years now, i started using Clear shield on Hp artist matt canvas using Wagner HVLP gun ( very nice one by the way) the result is great, but the problem with spraying is that you need to apply 2 to 3 coats to get a good result.
I started using Innova matt canvas and breathing color brilliance chromate white and lyve canvas and this needed more that 3 coats as the canvas is very thick.
Since then i have been using Breathing color Varnish which is a great varnish and works perfectly well, also the good thing is that you can use a foam roller and you wont get lines nor any other imperfections and sometimes you only need one coating.
For large prints i still use a spray booth , but you can use a foam roller from breathing color.
So my advise for you is to use a foam roller provided by breathing color, and breathing color varnish ( it is a bit complicated u have to mix it with heated distilled water but the result is great), and just roll the canvas with the foam roller using a perfectly flat table. and if you can still make a spraying booth it would be even better.
One more tip, bend the corner of the canvas after it is dry and check if you see a crack then you need to apply more varnish if not than you have a good one.
hope this helps. Good luck!

[Tim]

At the Wessex open day last week, Steve Goodall showed me a way to laminate canvas using the hotpress. Never having owned a hotpress before, I was pleasantly surprised at the results.

Anyone got a second hand HGP360 going cheap?

[Richard Photofusion]

Not sure if it qualifies as cheap... http://theframersforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 895#p80499 asking £2500.

[philm]

Hi Tim

I've just sent you a message

Cheers
Phil