The PERFECT table covering

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tnframer408

tnframer408

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Posts
1,506
Loc
Knoxville TN
Some time ago we talked about coverings for the worktable. Quite by accident, we've discovered the perfect covering. We had two old teflon coated boards out of our drymountpress, those big 40 X 60 blue things. They had been in use for about four years and had lost their "teflonness" So we replaced them. I was going to throw them out Wife, who is so much smarter at these recycling things that I said, "whynot use them on the worktables?" We tried it and SHAZZAM!!! They are fantastic.

First, you can use an exacto on them and they won'tbe hurt too badly. But the best part, what's left of the teflon coating will repel putty, gold applications from Liberon coatings and other stuff. Just wipe them down daily with some Mineral Spirits or other solvent and they're clean and ready for the nex tday. Now I wouldn't buy new ones to use 'cause at about $20 per pop they're pricey. But if you're tossing out your old boards, you'd be best served using them as worktable coverings.
 
Try polyflute, aka Coroplast.

A 4mm white sheet 48"x96" costs $5 to $8, and last months as a table covering. It makes a wonderful cutting surface; it's non-porous & cleans easily. And it's cheap enought to use without concern for cost. And if you're really frugal, turn it over & use the other side as well.

The only downside is it's so pretty we tend to put down a piece of paper (wastefully) when we do anything dirty.
 
As usual, Jim. youdaman!!!!

Plus, my supplier of all things fluted, coroplasted, plexid and extruded, is about one mile from my house.

And sorry; Ididn't mean "teflon" in my post. I knew it was "silicone coated" Just didn't remember the term.

At those prices, a new piece of that material is almost less money than a piece of 40 x 60 flawboard.
 
At the moment, polyflute may be the best kept secret in framing industry. If you buy it right, it costs less than foam center board, and has several uses in the frame shop, such as:

Table coverings

Incoming work folders

Finished work separators

Finished work packaging

storage boxes, custom made

Frame filler (non-porous, bug-resistant,sturdy)

Preservation-grade reinforcement for 4-ply alphacellulose mount boards.

So why can't we buy it from our framing suppliers? Because they don't know about it yet, and they won't know we want it until we tell them.

Ask your framing suppliers to stock polyflute in 4mm, 6mm, and 10mm white sheets. And when they do, be sure to buy it.
 
Since our framing supply companies do not currently carry it, where do we find it? Yellow pages, "coroplast"??? How did you find a wholesaler around your neighborhood?

Thanks!
 
Sherry, sign-makers use a lot of this stuff, especially those fast-sign shops that are popping up all over the place. If they realize you're not going into competition with them, maybe one of them will tell you where they get it, or sell you some directly. I'd be surprized if Phoenix doesn't have several vendors for corrugated plastic.

Oddly-enough, the anti-oxidants and UV inhibitors that make some flavors of polyflute/Coroplast more suitable for outdoor sign use are best left out of the stuff that framers use. The fewer the additives, the better for c/p framing.

I get mine from Vicki Schober in Milwaukee, but it's 4'x8' sheets, so you wouldn't want to have it shipped unless you're buying at least a case or two, and maybe sharing with other area framers.
 
Also check in your yellow pages under "Plastic Suppliers". That's how I found mine here in the Houston area. They charged me $18 for delivery of 20 sheets sized at 6'x8'. With the delivery charge it ran me close to $6 per sheet.

Roxanne Langley
Langley House Gallery
Spring, TX
 
Jim, How can you be sure that there aren't any nasties in the coroplast gotten from you local plastics supplier? Do each of the products come with an ingredients list? I know we had this discussion some time back with Orton, and the coloring agent (Titanium Oxide if memory serves) was OK, but what shoiuld we be asking for to avoid additives or treatments that might be harmfull. I currently buy my polyflute from an archival materials supplier and would love to have a source that was more geographically convenient if the product was as safe to use as the pure polypropylene.
Thanks.

Addendum: I can get the polyflute from two suppliers in white, but they have been treated for accepting printing. Should this be a concern if used for framing?

[ 02-13-2003, 11:13 AM: Message edited by: wpfay ]
 
The commercial grade fluted polypropylene board
contains two principle additives, UV absorbers and
anti-oxidents. The absorbers are large molecules
and unlikely to come out. The anti-oxidants could
be a problem and leaving them out of board that
is meant to be used for storage folders or frame
backings does make sense. The archival forms of
these boards have no additives. The manufacturers
won't even add colorants which would help when the
board is used to make storage boxes. So, for the
most sensitive usages, the archival grade is
available, but for the host of other things that
Jim suggested, the commercial grade sounds fine.


Hugh
 
Paul Storch an object conservator on the Hitchikers once posted a very long explanation on poly flute this is a quote from just one part of it:
" Polyfluted sheets 1.3cm (1/2') and 4 mm (5/32') thick are available
commercially in a wide range of colours. Coloured stock is safe to use and
may be helpful for coding or for identification, but white seems to be the
favourite among museum workers. The thicker products are not as readily
available in different colours as are the thinner sheets, but rather are
most commonly found in a translucent, natural resin colour or ion white."
 
If you are on Hitchikers go to the archives and type in polyflute. Paul Storch put in a bunch of information from CCI:

Canadian Conservation Institute's (CCI) Technical
Bulletin #14, 1994, written by Carl Schlichting, 'Working with Polyethylene
Foam and Fluted Plastic Sheet'. If you are going to use this material in
framing, I would suggest ordering the bulletin from CCI. Their address is
1030 Innes Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0C8.
Note: 'Fluted' means the same as 'corrugated' in this context.
 
I purchase some of this stuff from one of my distributors. (Montana Moulding) In you guessed it Montana. They distribute framing supplies and sign making supplies.
 
Ain Plastics sells the stuff, and they have distributors all over the country.

PS: They also cut any of the plastics and acrylics that they sell to any size that you want for free, and there is no minimum, if you pick up.

[ 02-13-2003, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: fttom ]
 
I buy the "archival" Coroplast from Small Corp. (in 32x40 sheets as I recall -- not in the shop right now). Which reminds me, it's time to buy again.

For most jobs I use white 4mm polyflute, the same material sign makers use. However, I would not use colors. According to CCI & Mr. Storch, the coloring agents could be a problem.

My understanding is that the anti-oxidants & UV-inhibitors won't offgas enough to matter except in high-heat situations, such as a fire.
 
Treated Coroplast (made for screen printing) is Corona treated. If I recall correctly from my days in the signage business, this chemical treatment would probably not be archival.

As a distributor, I've been following this discussion for a long time, only because as Ron said, it's been used in the sign business forever and I was very familiar with the material. John Ranes discussed Coroplast with many of our customers last year at our Spring Break. To date, almost one year later not one customer has requested that we stock this material.

If the demand was there, I'm sure more framing distributors would carry it. Keep in mind that a distributor my size (and we are not even close to being the biggest) sells about one truck load of foam core every 4-6 weeks. This much also has to be purchased to stay price competitive. Most sign shops buy from sign distributors that carry a lot of Coroplast and that in turn allows them to offer great prices.

And...I hate to say this but when I was in the sign and POP business, there are many plastics distributors that will sell in low volume direct, even to your average Joe walking in off the street, so many of the suggestions on contacting local plastics distributors are right on the money.
 
Thanks Jim and Hugh, That's the information I needed. I too buy from Small Corp, but was hoping to find out that I could use the product available locally for all applications. So it goes.
I can get the signage grade product from 2 plastics distributors that have local distribution. I can also get the Archival, but I have to order a skid (250 sheets), and I'm not quite to that volume :eek: yet.
 
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