The Framers Forum

i have a large panoramic picture to frame,76" x16" roughly,the problem is that i dont have a hot press and because of the size it will need stuck to something,was thinking a reasonably heavy piece of mdf for the backing (would be about the only material that would be available here that i could use),any advice on what to use to stick it down with would be great

personally - I would maybe think to "contract the job out" - what kind of paper is it???

PVA glue (Unibond?) would do the job. The tricky part is to avoid getting glue on the face. MDF is fine (assuming it's not an item of any intrinsic value). 9mm should be OK. What you really need is two boards. One to stick to and one to put on top to apply pressure. You'll also need some foam blanket as used in presses. Paint/roll the glue on the board and carefully settle the print in place. If there is a spare pair of hands available, all the better. Put a sheet of release paper on top, then the foam blanket, then the second board. Pile as much weight as you can on the top. Empty the bookshelves. The foam blanket will even out the pressure and with a bit of luck it will come out nice and flat and stuck well.

havent looked that closely at the paper yet steve,pretty much just unrolled it to measure it,did seem a fairly heavy paper if i remember right,the biggest problem with contracting it out is transporting it off and back to the island in one piece,having seen what the carriers do around here i wouldnt recomend it

was going to use the glass as a weight and have plenty of boxes of paper available so the bookshelves can stay as they are,but the pva sounds like it might be the way to go

Find a professional mounting company that can mount it on something like dibond. Steve Goodall, who replied to your question, should be able to give you advice on who to contact.

Self adhesive foamboard would be better than MDF. MDF is acidic and the surface is bumpy and is a very poor choice!

self adhesive foamboard would be nice,but i dont think i can get it long enough,the pic is a good 10" longer than any of the jumbo card i can find,and even if i could find foamboard big enough it would cost a fortune to get it here,part of the joys of island living i'm afraid

Dougie,
Sorry I didn't see that you were on an island and I don't know anything about the logistics of getting supplies to you, but I would recommend that you contact Steve Goodall to find out if there is someone who can help you get this thing mounted in the best way possible considering your circumstances. "Dibond" is a great product, but requires special equipment and adhesive and Steve may be able to help.

My supplier is 7 hours drive away from me, but not across a big bunch of water. I can buy 8ft x 4ft sheets of self adhesive foamboard as well as 60" x 40".

If this is a panoramic photo and has some value to the customer, please don't use MDF!
Even if it was cheap and easily replaceable, you couldn't pay me enough money to stick it to MDF. It would go onto foamboard which is my lowest level of mounting prints!

I would be happy to post you a piece of our double sided mount film (free). It is normally applied through a Jetmounter - but you could hand apply it to the MDF - then proceed as if it was any kind of coated board. This film has a central carrier/barrier layer - so any fears of the MDF getting "nasty" with the artwork are negated.

Email me a postal address to stevegoodall@hotpress.co.uk

UPDATE - the 1040mm x 5M free sample of DSM film is now on its the way to the Orkney Isles as we speak - cost me a few bob - but worth it to help out a fellow forum member...

Doug now has enough for the job & plenty to practice with beforehand - AND THAT IS THE KEY - always have a "dummy run" on new projects - never leap in on the customers work - without perfecting your technique first...

We will keep you posted!!!

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AND THAT IS THE KEY - always have a "dummy run" on new projects - never leap in on the customers work - without perfecting your technique first...