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Dry Mounting on Aluminum

ShiroKuro

New member
Anyone have any experience mounting large prints onto aluminum ?
Is it cost prohibitive ?
Is it possible to do it yourself ?
Trying to come up with an alternative to foam core ..... and wondering how some of you handle your large prints when it comes to displaying them.
Any ideas would really be appreciated.

Thanks
 
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Oxide Blu

Guest
You can mount photos on almost anything with photo spray adhesive. 3M is popular stateside, I have bought smaller cans of neutral pH photo adhesive at a local hardware store in Japan, should be in photo supply stores in larger cities.
 
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DougDolde

Guest
How big a print are you talking about anyway? I don't like foam core either and have been using 8 ply Rising Conservation board. I have used Gatorboard in the past but it isn't archival.
 

ShiroKuro

New member
Doug ,
The prints we are thinking about mounting are something like 3' x 5 ' maybe a bit larger but not much ....

Thanks Oxide ... Can you get the print nicely mounted this way .... I was thinking I would need to have this done Professionally ..... but am looking for a really nice way to do this myself .
 
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DougDolde

Guest
That is big for sure. I'd probably not do it myself. Calypso Imaging has a presentation service and will mount on many substrates. I think photo adhesive would be a very poor choice personally. They need to be dry mounted.
 
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Oxide Blu

Guest
Spray adhesive is very much doable. But something that big can be challenging if you are dealing with critical placement. It would take a couple of people to put a photo down.

Dry mounting is possible but is not without its drawbacks. Dry mounting has ugly edges, raises the photo a whole layer above the mounting surface. Not a problem if something will cover or hide the edges.
 
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DougDolde

Guest
Oxide Blu your advice is amateurish at best. Spray mount is not a professional solution. Think hobby and crafts, not professional photographic presentation.

Dry mount tissue is thin and of constant thickness. Certainly no thicker than a layer of spray mount and much more constant.

See Wilhelm's article: http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_11_of_20_HiRes_v1a.pdf
 
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jlm

Workshop Member
without a special film applier, it is almost impossible to keep out bubbles when mounting large prints. go to a pro or figure out a wet mount method so you can squeege out or roller out any trapped air
 
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