Acrylic face mounting questions

[shauntho]

I'm trying to face mount super glossy photographic prints to acrylic (plexiglass) and experiencing the following problems....

DUST!!! damn dust! how on earth do you stop dust getting between the print and the adhesive film? slightest bit of dust destroys the whole mount. I can fluke it sometimes but need consistency... I know i should have a separate dust free room but that's just not an option for me. Any other ideas or solutions?

After cutting the acrylic (with a table saw), the cut edge is rough-ish. How do I get the polished clean finish on the acrylic edge?

After backing with Di-bond aluminum composite I'm not getting that super flush edge that I've seen others achieve, no matter how carefully I measure and cut the acrylic and di-bond. Any tricks or suggestions here?

What type of glue does everyone use for the wooden slats for the back of the mount? The mounts I'm making are huge (3:1 panoramic prints between 50" and 90" long!) so to hold the weight the timber slats need to be absolutely rock-solid!! Do you use just two wooden slats or make a box frame for support and to prevent any warping of the mount?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated!!!

[CanvasChris]

Your worst enemy here is static. It will find the hair in the corner of the room, take one look at it 10 yards away and woosh... just as the film goes down the hair jumps in.

I've tried all sorts of tricks to overcome this and have a fair bit of success but you need to be really clean...The only way of getting rid of static is a Ion Gun that blows the ions across the acrylic when mounting, forcing the bits off and not attracting... they aint cheap... I did find a cheap one at £750... yes that was cheap.

Once saw cut, Acrylic needs diamond polishing on a wheel polisher to buff out the saw marks but not totally smooth... not something for the normal workshop environment, very messy. Then if you want a glass like edge it needs flame polishing... again not a cheap bit of kit... uses special gas which eludes me ATM.

As for backing with DiBond.. Why? Or you can oversize the DiBond and trim back could be an option. Guessing it's for the subframe to bond to? if so have you tried an opaque film instead? Lion do one for just this job.

As for glueing the subframe... I use Lions HD Tape... sticks like the proverbial and works even better if run through the Hotpress rollers to firm it down... it'll never come off.

Alternatively.... buy your acrylic in cut to size with the edges already polished... acrylic is expensive and this negates the expense of holding stock... my supplier has a 5 day turnaround and are very competitive.

[shauntho]

Thanks a million for your help Chris, you've given me a lot to think about!!