Vac U Mount and Gatorboard

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sanity88

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Dec 1, 2004
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I'v got two large "signs" we framed coming back due to lifting or bubbling. We did not dry mount these due to the printing method but instead sprayed with Vac U Mount and put in cold vacuum press. This always works on foam board but apears to have failed on GatorBoard. Has anyone else experienced this? What should we use???
 
What type of material were the signs printed on? How thick was the gator board?

This will help us to solve the problem.
 
The gator board is 1/4. The paper was a rolled computer paper with a sheen that made us believe it would get messed up in the dry mount
 
You did not mention what kind of Gator? White or Natural?

White Gator is inappropriate for spray mounting unless the surface is well sanded (and then wiped very clean with alcohol) to allow for the glue to penetrate. White Gator has a sizing/primer on it that is ready for screen printing or paint, but not glue. Even YES paste will crawl when applied.

Natural Gator is meant to be used with adhesives such as YES or Vacuumount.

The appliaction of the Vacuumount is also important. Did you treat the item being mounted as a Resin Coated Photograph? Did you spray well and give it a 6 minute open time? Did you scrape the surface with a Gator Scraper and then use a d-roller to remove surface dust? Did you wipe the surface down with alcohol prior to mounting?

I sounds like you had two very slick surfaces that would not allow the solvent to fully evaporate and you did not give it enough open time and then it self-dissolved. Or, you did not apply enough adhesive. Or, you did not adequately shake the adhesive and get enough solids in the spray mixture. Or, your surface was dusty and the glue could not penetrate the surface.
 
Hmmmmm...Thanks Rob... It was white as you assumed. Whats a gator scraper and where do you get one? Our customer asked for gator board but would masonite accept the adhesive as well.
 
Hi Sanity-

Here are the resources for the tools I mentioned. Yes, they are expensive (not the gator scraper) but well worth it, especially if you want problem free mounts on gator (or fome board or anything you don't want "chud" under.

Gator Scraper:

http://www.drytac.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=17&idproduct=420

Dust Removal System;

http://www.drytac.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=16&idproduct=418

Masonite has it's own world of problems. First, you should only use tempered masonite, which requires the use of a wet glue (like YES paste). Spray glue will not work for long term use because the oils in the tempering will dissolve the glue. (remember, like dissolves like) Then, it is very heavy and subject to warping. It is difficult to cut (usually we undersize it slightly and then trim the art to the masonite after mounting). And, when you do cut it, the dust is NASTY and causes problems of its own.

You are way better off with natural gator, or perhaps Rhino Board (from Bienfang) which is less expensive and shares many of the positive properties of gator and has many more positive properties of its own. It is WHITE, cuts like buttah, and is relatively warp resistant without counter mounting.
 
A little white rhino sound good...
northern.jpg
 
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