mounting to steel advice

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Steph

Steph

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I have a good customer/friend who is a photographer preparing for a show in 4 months. He has been experimenting with a new way to present his photos and we need some advice. He prints on Enhanced matte and is mounting his photo's to steel. The edges on the steel are purposely left jagged for a more industrial look, also it is not polished in anyway. He started experimenting with small ones around 6x9" using pma. After they are mounted they are texturized with modge podge. That of course is causing bubbling from the moisture, I would think.

Any advice for a different technique/adhesive he could use to attach these photos to the steel. Would a more aggresive pma from Neschen be advisable...or a roll on adhesive? Curious as to pros and cons about this presentation. There will be larger ones done if the kinks can be worked out.

Thanks
 
Well, on This site Dan Smith Say's
Dan Smithphoto.net hero, Apr 06, 2003; 12:16 p.m.

I mount many on Stainless Steel & it works well. The cooling phase is the most critical, at least that is my experience. If you scuff the surface before mounting that will help a lot in the dry mount material adhering without air bubbles. I use a fine sanding disk or a curcular wire brush to rough the surface while still keeping it smooth(if that makes sense). If you use Seal colormount, which bonds as it heats rather than as it cools, you will get more consistent results. Follow up with a really good, heavy, flat weight for about 20-30 minutes to allow the mounting to cool with pressure to help with preventing future air bubbles from areas that didn't get enough pressure when mounting. I use double sheets of the Seal Colormount to allow enough thickness to make a good mounting surface for adhesion to both the print & metal. Good luck.
 
I've drymounted large maps to sheet metal. Like the post before, two key items are: the metal must have a "tooth" to it for the drymount tissue to grab and the cooling.

I've sanded the metal and even masked off the metal area to be mounted and sprayed with automotive primer paint. Let dry and then drymount. Both work really well.

For the cooling part, I use three release boards on top of the metal when I drymount. I then just leave the piece in the press and open the lid for a few minutes (enough time to have the metal cool off enough so I can handle it without getting burned)

Hope this helps.
 
Because of the rough edges we are hesitant to have this steel go thru either his mechanical press or my roller press, so as to not cause damage to either press. That's why we are hoping for an adhesive that is agressive enough after weighting and a proper curing time. I did speak with Necshen and have a few samples coming.

All thoughts are appreciated, thanks.
 
Acrylic gel painted on the metal should work nicely, if you let it dry under weight at least overnight. Excess adhesive could be removed carefully after the mount is done. The acrylic would stick well to both surfaces, it's readily available, and it's chemically OK; reversible by a conservator.
 
Alluminum

So Now of course i have a customer who wants something similar done, and was wondering if anyone had suggestions on suppliers for aluminum sheeting, and if there is a preferred gauge?
 
this is directed to uncle eli(or anyone wanting to jump in)----
" Follow up with a really good, heavy, flat weight for about 20-30 minutes to allow the mounting to cool with pressure to help with preventing future air bubbles from areas that didn't get enough pressure when mounting."

wouldnt shutting off the heat a couple min early in the cycle(eveything in there stays pretty hot for a good 5min after turned off if you dont open it up) and then using the press for another 10-15 min do this even better??? that way the outside air would get a chance to cool everything inside pretty evenly, and it would be under full vacuum(I'd hope that's alot stronger than just putting it under the weight of some matboard, etc?) for the entire time.
 
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