The Framers Forum

Hi all,
my heart always sinks when a customer brings in large laminated maps, well anything over size really ....
The map is a whopping 150 x 95cm, supplied rolled up, laminated both sides, you know the sort of thing.
The customer wants it mounted and framed (no glass), I dont have a cold roller so thats not an option, just wondering what
you've done previously ? I have a large roll of double sided adhesive I thought I might lay down onto some cut to size 5mm MDF and then run a roller over it, just a thought but open to suggestions ?
Thank you in advance,
Adam/Bagpuss

I feel your pain Adam. These things are usually a "can't you just...." job. People don't want to spend on them. It's the next step up
from a notice board.

If I absolutely had to do it I'd go with the tape strip method, but use HD carpet tape. I stays sticky for years. And if it does throw a bump
for whatever reason you can always bang it down again.

I have had those, and to tell you the truth, at that size they will not lay flat, you will end up tearing you hair out, it has two different thickness of laminate so, when it was laminated, when cooled down each thickness cooled down at a different rate, so in effect each layer is a different size, so will not lay flat.

See if you can find a local printing company that can stick it onto dibond for you, it's a far better surface than mdf for big stuff but it will add to the cost, which might in turn scare the customer away? No bad thing sometimes:)

Sorry if this sounds dumb as I'm not familiar with Dibond but why would you need a printers to do it?


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Thanks for the advice people, as I'm often told, 99% of the things I worry about never actually happen, it turned out fine after all that. Not ideal but under the circumstances and i had warned the customer that it wouldn't go down totally flat, I cut a sheet of 5mm foamcore to size and laid lengths of carpet tape down and then gradually unravelled the already laminated map down whilst peeling back the tape a length at a time.
I was surprised how well it went down actually. Here's a photo I took, I backed it with a sheet of MDF and braced it across the back, no glass as the customer is putting red dots on it to show where he's been on his travels, my map wouldn't look quite so impressive ....
Thanks Again,
Adam/Bagpuss

I've had to frame laminated maps before and they are a PITA. I had this same conversation about one with Prosperro fairly recently. This map did not turn out particularly good, but strangely enough the customer thought it was acceptable.

I had warned him beforehand that I would only do it at his own risk and explained the problems to him.

Nice bit of work there, I'd never had thought about using carpet tape but in this instance it's quite a good idea. Don't suppose you got a snap of the bracing on the back? (just curious )