The Framers Forum

I'm looking for a board that I can drymount hand printed photo's on to without getting 'orange peel' effect and that has conservation qualities.
The Photo's are 20" x 30" but need to go on to a board 40" x 30" and remain as flat as possible- We had a try with foam core but the structure of the board broke down and we were left with a small hollow in the middle

Any advice gratefully received!

are you heat pressing or cold pressing them?

the fact that your sticking them to something means the conservation bit it ver debatable

if you want them to be very very smooth, use diabond ( or a 3rd party version of) but be careful puting it in your heat press

We're using a vacume press-

I have heard of diabond but not sure what it is, but will google

I know what you mean about conservation status, but its on the job spec and I guess if your sticking an image permanently to a substrate , it needs to be acid free.

Hi Will

I find it better to use cold rollers for photo's. I always find a hot press runs the risk of leaving pit marks no matter how well I clean and scrap the glass.

Alistair

it should leave pit marks if you have a sheet of vacumfoam over the top of your silicon release

Reversible dry mounting is possible with artcare restore, which is foam board but has a low temperature/short dwell time and unless you can get it via a distributor as opposed to direct from Nielsen, it's a minimum order of 25 sheets. I think there is a reversible tissue though.

Still wouldn't class it as 'conservation' though.

stcstc wrote:it should leave pit marks if you have a sheet of vacumfoam over the top of your silicon release

Very true but then you can't see how your work is pressing, the last thing you want is creases or air pockets especially with big pieces in my big machine.

the trick is if you run it through the cold press first before putting in the heat press, no creases!!

i do it with all my stuff
laminated prints canvases etc

all heat lam on them but jetmount it before going in heat press

Again very true but no good for tissue and also my jet mounter is only 26" and the press is 42" x 60".

You guys are amking me redundant - GREAT TIPS - STEVE & ALISTAIR

You guys really know your stuff & it shows

steve, never

you always seem to come up with new things, and always happy to help and share

Steve Goodall wrote:You guys are amking me redundant

Well you did take your time getting on this one, we had to share are limited knowledge .

But now you are here.....................

So just to recap, excluding the issue of conservation, Dibond or equivalent will stop the orange peel effect???

I had assumed that this was the structure of the board that caused this and recently purchased some white liner board from Lion but this was no better than ordinary mountboard.

diabond has an ultra smooth aluminium surface

it should be good yes, but will cost more than any of the normal products like mountboard

and its heavier

I was waiting to hear from the maestro!
Is there a board other than daibond that will give a perfectly flat finish i.e no orange peel?

Dibond is flat but of course non porus. Drymounting a picture is not a problem as the sponge blanket can go over the top to provide a porus layer. The big problem arises when using a gloss laminate. Placing sponge over this will create orange peel/matt finish. Covering with a layer of silicon sheet prevents a full vacuum forming and the process does not work.

The only solution I have found is to use a sheet of foamcore as the top layer between laminate and glass. The dwell time has to be increased (x2) as the board acts as an insulator and you also have to heat up the dibond. It is vital that the foamcore is perfect else any imperfections will be transferred to the laminate. It can be reused but needs carefull checking.

Whilst on the subject of dibond, I have been cutting 2mm sheets on my xcalibur. This works well but does deform the edge. Depending on the picture this may not show but my latest trial with a yellow sunflower on a black background had to be scrapped as the problem was visible. I am currently working on a sliding table for my router to allow the edges to be milled so they are square and not deformed. I have experimented with cold rolling but not happy with the quality of the edge finish. Hot vacuum produces a very tight bond that will not roll back if accidently snagged.

Hopefully the pile of scrap dibond used to get this far will have been worth it. I have several customers lined up who are hooked on this new way of "framing".

i have a sign supplier who has a computer controlled saw

i just get them to cut pieces to size for me, now means there are very fine saw marks

but then i have a benchtop linnisher which will take out the marks from the saw

i use a polishing compound and a softish mop on the linnisher and works a treat