mounting on Sintra?

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ChrisZ

ChrisZ

Grumbler in Training
Joined
Apr 8, 2004
Posts
9
Loc
Pennsylvannia USA
I have a customer who wants me to supply and mount digital photos on Sintra. I never used it nor know where to get it. On the web it is listed as a rigid foam board. Where can I find it? How do I mount photos on it? And lastly, if the customer supplies the sintra, how would I charge for the mounting only? Hope it's ok to ask all this.
 
Sintra is like a plastic version of MDF, for lack of better wording. It is a hot thing lately, like metal and wood mounting of photos. Sorry I can not help you, one person in the DC area (that i know of) does it. From what I know their success rate is about 50%. I can not say if it is them or ...? You might try going to the top of the page and go to search, type in sintra, and see what you get. That will show you all of the other conversations that sintra came up on. Welcome to the TG from

d
 
I have recently been battleing with a 4'x 6' map. this is the third time to replace. (thier fault, not mine)

From what different people have told me was the only way to mount on Sintra was spray mount (3M) and then lay it down but no pressure.

ALL stated flatly "No Dry Mount".

Talk then into Gator. 4'x 8'of Gator is $42 vs $89 for sintra.

baer
 
Sintra is polyvinyl chloride, which means that it
can emit chlorine. This would make it a poor candidate for use with anything that has a high
value, since the chlorine might interact with
the material that is being mounted. Acrylic sheet
or aluminum sheet are better candidates.

Hugh
 
Hugh is correct, Sintra is an extruded PVC and isn't the best choice for anything of value. It was originally designed for sign making and display panels.

I am making an assumption that these digital photos aren't going to be collector items. With that in mind, here is what the Sintra Manual has to say about mounting paper products to Sintra:

1. Use Vac-U-Mount or ProBond spray adhesive by Seal Products.

2. Rather than go through each step in the usual procedure for spraying and mounting, suffice it to say use the adhesive in the usual manner and allow the usual flash time before positioning the piece onto the cleaned Sintra. (It also recommends cleaning with isopropol alchohol).

3. Smooth out to eliminate wrinkles and trapped solvent.

(I wonder who wrote THAT sentence??? I'll bet that he never actually tried&nbsp that technique after either of those solvents touched the mating surface!!)

4. Weight piece for 4 hours to assure maximum bond.

For VacuSeal, the application is the same with a dwell time of 10 minutes in a cold press.

Hope this helps.

Framerguy

Edit: I forgot to say that the MSDS sheets on Sintra and other products made by Alucobond are available by calling 800-626-3365, their customer service number. You can also ask them about the "How To" manual that they have available on using Sintra.
 
Sintra does not do well in heat vacuum presses. The material goes all floppy when put into a heat press. The normal way to mount this is to do it in a roll laminator with PSA ( a cold Pressure Sensitive Adhesive) , like Seal Print Mount Delta. I would recommend that you find someone in your market who does digital images and/or tradeshow booth panels. They all have this type of laminator and can save you a lot of hassles if your customer insists on sintra. Also sintra is used by most sign shops and the better ones all have roll laminators as well.

Alan
 
Sintra is, indeed, heat sensitive. In my vacuum press, wrinkles developed at about 190 degrees.

Sintra and acrylic are non-porous surfaces, so water-based pastes won't work well. Solvent based adhesives have toxicity issues. Cold mounting adhesives such as PMA require strong pressure to activate the bond, and most of us don't have roll-laminators (yet).

My favorite adhesive for mounting posters & such to Sintra is 3M Pro-Spray. It's a strong, water-borne contact adhesive in spray form, with no solvents. 3M has stopped marketing it to framers, but we can still find it at some suppliers. 3M wants to find a new delivery system for this framing-friendly adhesive, but that may take some time.
 
Originally posted by Jim Miller:
3M has stopped marketing it to framers, but we can still find it at some suppliers. 3M wants to find a new delivery system for this framing-friendly adhesive, but that may take some time.
Click to expand...
Does that mean we are not going to be able to get it? The ProSpray system is the only permanent mounting I do now.
 
I wouldn't recommend practising on someones art - it may cost you too much! Send your customer to a pro and offer to quote the frame job. You'll both win!
 
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