The Framers Forum

Hi -
Does anyone know if you can use Foamex board in a hotpress with dry mounting tissue?

oooooo be soooooooooo careful, foamex is a thermosetting plastic it will go floppy when you heat it

the edges of it will get slightly crushed too!

Yes I have often used it in my 260, just allow a couple of inches around the edge that will get crushed.

I have experimented with lots of different stuff !

Anything you are sticking to foamex is unlikely to be of high value. Cold mount or glue it I would say if for indoor. There would be less waste and less need to worry about lumps caused by specks of debris. You could laminate the item first in the press.

Just for the beginners I'll state that Foamex is the fairly rigid/solid signage stuff. Foam board is the perhaps more rigid but softer foam stuff - which will crush at the edges too. I think I drymounted a large foamex sign printed on laminated polyprop and can't recall getting any crushing or major problem - but the result was not brilliant due to some bubbling (which I settled out with a pin and a roller while hot to be absolutley fine - it improved over time too). It didn't make me think I had a commercial product though - fine for my own sign which stands about 10 ft high 15 ft from the road. I thought the dry mount may stand up to the elements better than some other glue or self-adhesive methods.

I can't see it melting but put it on a sacrificial board with some older release and foam perhaps

We had a spare sign for the business which was on foamex (it had the wrong phone number on it) so we decided to overlaminate a car parking sign on the phone number which we did in the hotpress. I dry mounted it and then heat sealed and had no problem with the board although it did go more bendy whilst hot. It workd as far as laminating was concerned as it is outside and has now survived two winters with no detriment or delaminating.

I would be extremely careful though as Steve says. Its not for the faint hearted.