Mounting help please

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dennis oneel

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Feb 5, 2005
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Healdsburg, CA
I have a 46X70 map to mount and frame. It is encapsulated in laminate. There will be no glazing on the package. My vacu. press is not big enough besides I am concerned about heat on the laminate. Thought about 3M 77 but am not sure how it will react. Any suggestions?
 
There are no doubt other threads on this subject. I would take such a thing to my local sign shop and have them mount it. They have the kind of equipment that will make short work of this. If you are framing it, carry it yourself. If you are not framing it, give the customer the sign shop's address....
 
I agree with Ellen. If you can, take it to a place with a wide roller press, and make sure they use a pressure sensitive adhesive. Heat could de-laminate it, which would probably be the end of that project.

If you need to mount it your self, I suggest a good contact cement, such as Lascaux 360. I would use a mount board of 1/2" high-density foam center board, such as GatorFoam or MightyCore. coat both surfaces, join them carefully (no repositioning likely), and apply pressure by rolling with a heavy brayer.
 
I agree with Jim and Ellen. BUT, if this the the Rand McNally map that is rolled up and available for purchase at office supply stores and bookstores, I have heat mounted these successfully before (knowing I had an inexpensive replacement map a block away). Just go easy on the heat (lower temp. adhesive). This is risky as you never know what kind of laminate is on these, but the job I did required very quick turnaround and multiple maps and I verified I could get a replacement map in about 10 minutes if needed after my test run.

Whatever goes in the press, may not come out.....scary Halloween thought for the season. Always have a replacement backup plan, and do a minimal cost test run first.
 
I have used 3M Spray 77 quite successfully on large laminated maps ...two this past week.

A few things to be aware of is to make sure you coat the laminate everywhere and quickly do the application. Put some type of release paper down and use a Swipe and Wipe working from the center out to the edges. I would then weight the piece too.

The less delay in putting the sprayed piece down the better as the adhesion is less permanent with every second that goes by. This is a two person job.
 
Susan Young, please be carefull with ANY heat on anything laminated. I had a map that looked like a Rand McNally, and when I tried to tack it to the mount (so it would not slip as I put it in the press) it melted. Good thing I only tacked one small spot!

When in doubt of the lamination process use pressure adheasive, not heat.
 
Many years ago when I first started framing I put a laminated map into a heat press. This was a very valubale lesson to learn. It cost me almost $80 to replace the melted map....which fortunately for me was replaceable.
 
Dave said:
I have used 3M Spray 77 quite successfully on large laminated maps ...
Click to expand...

Maybe my perception of "succesfully" is different than yours. If it is likely to begin releasing in a year or two, I do not call it a successful mount. Most of the 3M#77 spray mounts I have seen did not remain intact for more than five years. Admittedly, I have not seen all of them.
 
Ditto on the no heat.

Uh-oh moments like that (or, in my case....."oh####!" moments) are not fun.
 
Dave said:
I have used 3M Spray 77 quite successfully on large laminated maps ...two this past week. The less delay in putting the sprayed piece down the better as the adhesion is less permanent with every second that goes by. This is a two person job.
Click to expand...

I have also done this as well, first using sandpaper on the underneath laminated side to give the 77 a bit of coarse surface to attach itself to. I also spray BOTH surfaces, and weight it when done and leave alone. And definately a 2 person job!

So far - so good......
 
Susan L. Young said:
I agree with Jim and Ellen. BUT, if this the the Rand McNally map that is rolled up and available for purchase at office supply stores and bookstores, I have heat mounted these successfully before (knowing I had an inexpensive replacement map a block away). Just go easy on the heat (lower temp. adhesive). This is risky as you never know what kind of laminate is on these, but the job I did required very quick turnaround and multiple maps and I verified I could get a replacement map in about 10 minutes if needed after my test run.

Whatever goes in the press, may not come out.....scary Halloween thought for the season. Always have a replacement backup plan, and do a minimal cost test run first.
Click to expand...

...Like I said...above. THIS IS RISKY. I am not advocating heat mounting at whim. Use of the heat press is to be done with caution at all times, and ALWAYS with a contingency plan in place ready to execute. There are times that I opt to save labor and try something if it is essentially risk free (no problem having an identical replacement on hand, as in the case I described). A $20 map that is in the same packaging as the one that came in is a cheap backup plan rather than driving in Atlanta traffic and spending labor time and paying a sign shop. Time is money, too.

Thanks for the reiteration, other Susan, to make sure everyone knows of the risks of heat mounting. I, too, have fried things with that stinkin' tacking iron of mine, when the press would have been oh so much more gentle.

Also, photography has gotten increasingly 'scary' in that we framers can't always look and tell what the heck is on the surface of the photo....I have pretty much eliminated heat mounting on most photography (again, unless an inexpensive replacement is available).

This may be a good opportunity for a spin off....photography mounting favorite techniques without heat? Anyone?
 
Since we are on the topic

A customer brought in a map that her son had mounted with spray adhesive - it was coming off the board - the back of the paper is tacky but will not hold.

She wants me to mount it so it stays - a surprise gift for the son when he comes home.

this map does not have laminate - so I was thinking of speed mount.

any other suggestions?
 
Is the laminate both sides? If so then pressure sensitive adhesive and application by an experienced user on a big roller press is the best option over anything that creates the possibility of the paper seperating when skwished along the edges of a brayer (or worse one of those plastic swipey things).

Be gentle when you roll it!
 
JBergelin said:
A customer brought in a map that her son had mounted with spray adhesive - it was coming off the board - the back of the paper is tacky but will not hold.

She wants me to mount it so it stays - a surprise gift for the son when he comes home.
Click to expand...

This is a common problem with spray mounts. No matter how carefully the original mounting was done, over time the adhesive "dies" chemically. That is, it loses its ability to stick.

Re-mounting with another adhesive may work, or may not. Unless you can remove the "dead" old spray adhesive, my guess is it would probably fail again in a short time.
 
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