The Framers Forum

I have a glossy, thin (.033") printed PETG sheets that I need to mount to a 3mm-3/16" substrate. The laminator is running fine and the technician is skilled but we are getting a relatively uniform wavy pattern across the surface of the print. We typically mount to rigid plastics, in this case we have mounted to 3mm Sintra and a 3/16" foam core and gotten the same problems, we even tried using an optically clear adhesive which I know is very even in its adhesive thickness. Are these substrates just too uneven to mount shiny, thin plastic too? Its not necessarily unattractive but certainly wasn't expected. See photos, one is mounted and the other is not.

Ultra glossy materials want to go on ultra smooth substrates - Aluminium, DiBond or acrylic. Foam based materials won't work. As your print material is .8mm thick, it will pick up undulations in the sintra and create the waves/dimples shown (signs101).

My vote would be a quality 3mm ACM, with optically clear mounting film.

Thanks Richard. Its true, Dibond has none of the problems in my test. I am going to try Ultraboard today and see what kind of results I get.