The Framers Forum

I've just bought an old heated vacuum press on eBay so I'm likely to be asking quite a few questions in the coming weeks. Here's the first:

I want to mount some canvas prints to Fomecor and laminate them. I've ordered a roll of Fusion 4000 and some Hot Press Matt Heat Seal that I hope will arrive later today.

Do I bond the canvas to FomeCor before applying the Heat Seal or should I do it the other way around? Does it matter?

We’ve had varying luck using Fusion 4000 to mount canvas material. It seems to lift occasionally regardless of how well we pre-heat the canvas and the foam board. The “archival” foam board (with the cotton rag surface) has more “tooth” to it than the smooth foam board and seems to bond slightly better. Fusion 4000 is probably the best dry mount tissue to use in these circumstances; however, you may have better luck using a Fabric Adhesive.

The Fabric Adhesive we use looks suspiciously like white glue. It is sold (over here) in quart and gallon sizes. You apply it to the back of the canvas with a brush or a roller. The liquid nature of the fabric adhesive seem to penetrate the fibers of the canvas better than the smooth sheets of Fusion 4000.

Once the adhesive dries to a clear glaze, it can be heat reactivated in your dry mount/vacuum press.

The fabric adhesive gives us much better results than the dry mount tissue.

Hi Mike,
Theres lots of information on drymounting, heatsealing on the Hotpress website.

http://www.hotpress.co.uk/instructions.htm

Thanks for that reference.

Bill Henry wrote:you may have better luck using a Fabric Adhesive.

I'm not sure what that is. From what you say it sound like a liquid hot glue. Is that right?

I found that until I got on a Hotpress course, their DVD is a handy reference. You can buy it from Lions for a fiver- I got mine free from Ashworth & Thompson.
Get the popcorn in for the family, great nights viewing!- seriously it covers everything and is always good to check back on a particular topic.
Hoops

It could be EVA. As far as I know EVA can be reactivated with heat.

Unfortunately, a lot of adhesives in USA are sold under names that do not indicate what the glue actually is. Names like 'Fabric Glue' or 'Mighty Muck', (or something like that), really don't give any indication of what the glue is. Could be camel spit for all we know!

I am going to investigate some of these products in Vegas next January so that I can investigate whether there are similar products available here in OZ.

Hoops wrote:I found that until I got on a Hotpress course, their DVD is a handy reference.

I've just been looking at that. It is good. There are a few differences between the Admeco press I have and a Hot Press (sheet of foam glued to the lid for example) but basically it's much the same.

I stuck some Epson canvases down to FomeCor with Fusion 4000 and it seemed to work OK once I'd raised the temperature to 83 and left it in for 4 minutes.

I've printed off an application form for one of the Hot Press courses so will be sending that off tomorrow.

WelshFramer wrote: I'm not sure what that is. From what you say it sound like a liquid hot glue. Is that right?

No, the jars of the stuff are stored at room temperature and simply applied with a brush or roller without heat. It is a fairly thick goop and spreads like you would expect white glue to spread if you were to try to brush it onto something.

You can use it while it is still tacky, but because of its consistency, dries fairly unevenly. Most let it seep into the coarse weave of the fabric (it won’t penetrate a canvas) and wait until it has dried completely (4 hours or so) to a clear glaze.

Once it has reached that point, it becomes heat activated, so you can plunk it into your dry mount/vacuum press and treat it as if it were dry mount tissue.

Most distributors over here sell it under their own generic brand name. I don’t have any experience with Lion, but I would be surprised if they didn’t offer it.

Bill Henry wrote:Most distributors over here sell it under their own generic brand name. I don’t have any experience with Lion, but I would be surprised if they didn’t offer it.

It doesn't sound like anything I've seen in the Lion catalogue but maybe somebody will chip in and tell me that there's exactly that on page 46 or whatever...