How do I cure my wobbles?

[Roboframer]

You glue the platform mount and it has to be RIGHT up to its aperture as well - to make slippage of the artwork between the two boards impossible. DS tape used the same would be in contact with the artwork while still adhesive. You can however, put a couple of dabs of DS tape at the extremities, just to hold things together and make it handle-able while the glue dries. I use wheat starch paste because I make a batch or two pretty much daily; it's cheaper than anything ready-made and (IMHO) the best, but there's plenty of good alternatives.

I put a small square of gummed linen tape over each corner of the fall out.

It doesn't matter how you wet gummed tape - a sponge is fine - I spray it and wipe of the excess water with paper towel!

[Whitewater Gallery]

Ahh... I now have wobbles in the platform mounts

My conclusion is that the paper is causing the problem, I left a print for a while on the bench and you could see it starting to wobble on its own accord. It is a heavyweight Baryta paper made by Canson (and expensive) so I am now trying a lighter weight matte paper from the same manufacturer, the good news is I like the finish and its cheaper. I originally went with the Baryta as I thought being heavy it would not cockle and so it would be worth the extra cost, clearly not the case!

However I still have 2 rolls of paper to use up. I could hotpress them but I am not keen on the orange peal effect that comes through and, in my limited experience, I have had a number of prints marked by little dust indentations from larger dust particles I have not seen on the film cover.

So my question is - is my technique with the hotpress at fault, am I using the wrong materials, or am I better off looking at a different technique?

Generally we are framing prints (all in mounts) with print sizes from about 300x200 mm to 600 x 400mm but we do occasionally go up to 1200x600mm. As usual I want to produce the best finished product that I can so, without being silly, cost is not an issue.

[Jamesnkr]

However I still have 2 rolls of paper to use up.

eBay and save yourself a lot of stress!

[Whitewater Gallery]

I that your'e point Jamesnkr, but, especially as a number of the photos hang in holiday houses by the sea which can get damp and musty over the winter, I am generally worried about the cockling. Having largely learnt my framing skills (if that is what they are!) formerly by the school of Youtube and now with the help of the Forum, I am aware of many techniques but not necessarily best practice, and hence my question.

I know I can buy board with self adhesive backing, but have no experience of cold mounting with the machines that I see in the catalogues, or if I should just use the hotpress with either different technique or products. Hopefully someone here can help to clear my mist!

[Graysalchemy]

Using cold rollers is very easy with self adhesive mountboard, you would pick it up in no time at all, and anyone selling you one should give you a demo. I agree though a hot press is not the best for photo prints unless it is spotlessly clean but even then you can have problems, rollers is the way forward for photo's.

[IFGL]

It sounds like you are using a incorrect or poor profile to print with, too much ink is causing your paper to cockle.

[Whitewater Gallery]

Thanks IFGL, I had not thought of that! I am using the generic manufactures profile. I bought the Spyder print setup last year but have not had a chance to play with it so will have a go and see if it makes a difference.

[IFGL]

It could also be how and where you store the paper, there should be a data sheet with the paper which will give minimum and maximum temperature and humidity levels for storage, like all paper it will perform best in a stable environment.

[Whitewater Gallery]

Our workshop is in a cellar. I have a decent dehumidifier and a radiator on 24/7 to try and give some sort of continuity but it is not perfect. I have a feeling that "upgrading" to the thicker Baryta paper has not helped, more paper more movement possibly? Certainly it has not been as stable as HP premium paper we used before.

I have a feeling that the cold roller technique might be the way to go. It looks less hassle than the Hotpress, and relatively quick and easy, possible not taking much more time than hinging. As we are only framing my own work, and they are not limited edition, I am more worried about appearance than reversibility so this might be the solution.

[Chris_h]

If you are using Canson papers order some from Fotospeed and then they will make the profiles for you for free, it will be a better profile than you can make with a basic print spyder or colourmunki setup. Also pure profiles are highly recommended for their advance profiles which are around £25.

I use mostly thick rag papers from Hahnemuhle or Fotospeed and hinge everything with T-hinges and never have any issues, I have never tried any of the Canson products though.

[IFGL]

I agree with Chris, a fotospeed custom profile would be hard to beat with our equipment, you won't come close with a color munki.

Out of curiosity I tried a generic manufactures profile suplied for my 7900, with a Fotospeed smooth cotton 300 GSM, the results are poor compared to the profiles I make with my I1 pro.

[Chris_h]

It's funny you should say that as I also tried their generic profile for a 7890 a few years back with their test pack and it was rubbish so I completely dismissed their papers. One of their sales team just happened to call me a few weeks later and sent me a load of test packs to try so this time I printed the profile targets for every paper before sending to them to have custom profiles made.

They arrived via email the next day so I then done some proper tests and this time they were perfect. Their generic one was not even close, but their custom ones are spot on. When I have tried generic ones before from other manufacturers normally they are not too far off so I do wonder if maybe their generic one on their website is just rubbish,it wouldn't surprise me if it was labelled wrong and is actually for a completely different printer as when I tried it the prints were way too dark and colours were off. Once profiled their papers are nice to work with though and I now just use their products and Hahnemuhle and it's really handy getting them all from one place.

[Whitewater Gallery]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions for resolving this problem problem. I think that our wobbles are probably caused by a combination of factors so have decided to adopt the belt and braces solution, a cold mounting machine arrives on Friday!

If that does not fix things I think I shall walk across the road to the beach and do a Reginald Perring!