It's funny how this topic came up. I was just throwing a fit today trying to mount a 88" x 48" print to 12mm MaxMetal. Needless to say I ruined the print, which is the first one I've ever ruined with the Big Squeegee. My problem with it stems more from trying to do it on my own (because for some reason I always seem to think I can and that doing it by myself is a practical practice) and from only mounting a few 4' x 8' panels each year, I really don't get much practice. Today it showed as I did the first side with transfer tape and besides a few air bubbles, it came out perfectly aligned with no stretching. On the second side I decided to do it with no transfer tape because the transfer tape made the first print bulky, stiff and likewise harder to handle. On previous occasions I have had success with this with my business partner pulling the backing paper away slowly from the other end. Today it kind of backfired for some reason and I was awestruck with disbelief like "Did that just happen?" About halfway through the application I got massive wrinkles on one end, possibly because I was trying to push it from alongside the table at that point. We weren't using an air release media so when I pulled it back up to reapply it, it was too late. The wrinkles wouldn't come out no matter what we tried to do. Argh!
Sooo...this brings me to a couple questions...
When mounting large prints with the Big Squeegee do you apply application tape first to keep the media rigid or do you choose to apply it without tape?
I'm also wondering how many of you prefer to use air release media for these large applications and how many of you don't use air release.
I'm sure if I transfer tape the next print I apply it will undoubtedly go much smoother and maybe I will love the Big Squeegee again. Until then, this is how I'm feeling about our relationship. Lol.
[video=youtube;OOdTzw2grnw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOdTzw2grnw[/video]
