I Got Out Of A Bind After Mounting On Gilman Bros Foamboard

Create a Post
A

ahohen

Inactive Account
Joined
May 24, 2002
Posts
127
Location
Raceland, Louisiana
I use to stock Gilman Bros 1/8" foamboards, but they were always badly warped. This time, when i needed to restock foamboards i ordered the 3/16" as a few of you have suggested a while back. The sheets were not perfectly flat, but good enough... much better than the 1/8" thick. I started using the 3/16 about a month ago... no problems, then, something bad happened. A customer brought in a 24 x 30 aerial photo and asks me to be very careful because it is a pretty expensive photo ($300.00). I helped him choose the matbards, frame, glass, etc. and suggested it be mounted on a foamboard to keep it flat... he agreed. Right after he left, i mounted it on a Gilman Bros 3/16" foam board. When i removed it from mounting equipment, i was extremely disappointed... there was one huge bubble almost in the center of the photo. Oh cr*p :mad: !, what do i do? If this should ever happen to you, try this, it worked for me: The photo is mounted on a thin layer of paper which is mounted to the "foam" in the foamboard. Peel the layer of paper away from the foam carefully and slowly (I was able to remove it without creating any creases). Now, remount it to another sheet of foamboard, BUT, if you stock Gilman Bros foamboard, mount it to a matboard instead, to be on the safe side. Since this happened, I HAVE mounted photos, posters, etc. to Gilman Bros. foamboards with not problems yet,(maybe that was one bad sheet), but i dread doing so. The next time i restock foamboards it will NOT be Gilman Bros foamboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The other thing you could do that was mentioned on here a while back...Use a needle entering the backside of the foamcore. Puncture the foam and dont go thru the image, this will create a place for the air to escape from, then place it back in the press. It should skueeze the air out the bottom of the piece instead of poking a hole in the photograph.

I would not blame the foam core company, most foam boards are warped. You may also try preat heating the board to get any extra moisture out of the board.


PL
 
It is also a good idea, especially for more expensive items, to dry both the item itself and the mounting board to remove any moisture contained therein. We have a Hotpress and leave the itme on top and the foamboard inside for about 10 minutes before mounting when the press is heated in order to remove any moisture.
 
What Tim and Patrick said.

Slight foam board warping is not all that unusual for us and we are not nearly in such a consistently humid environment as you. To flatten out the warp, we usually just place it in the heat press convex side against the platen. That usually straightens it out fairly well so we can at least work with it. The warp is usually more pronounce with 1/8” than 3/16”.

We have found a occasional “bubble” on some of our boards from Bienfang-Seal-Hunt. It is very rare, though. It seems to be just a hiccough in the manufacturing process which occurs from time to time.

If you’ve had good luck in the past with Gilman, give ‘em another chance. It is probably a one time aberration.
 
I too have had problems with Gilman foam core. It seems that the skin of the foam core becomes unattached from the foam. and you can actually peal the Whole skin off the foam. I have this happen using several different mounting methods from 3M spray photo adhesive, dry mounting with Fusion 4000 and 3M super 77. I will never stock another sheet of Gilman for any purpose!!!!!!
 
Create a Post
Back
Top