Materials

[Jgentry]

Hi guys. I've been in art printing for some time, mostly canvas and watercolor reproductions. Now I've taken the plunge into vinyl printing and some signage, so I'm looking for some advice on what to use and when.

I was asked to mount (3) 30"x40" images to foam core which was provided by the customer. The foam core was included in a mail order display frame that the customer had ordered prior to me talking to him. I printed on coated paper with my aqueous printer and let the inks dry overnight. I sprayed adhesive to the the foam core and then mounted and trimmed the prints on the foam core. I sent the mounted print and foam core through my cold laminator, using Brightline calendered laminate from Grimco to finish the job.

The laminate had some air bubles that I poked and worked out with a soft squeegee. The quality of the lamination job left a little to be desired, but after working it by hand things improved.

My question is what method would you have used for this job to give the best results? Print on vinyl? What type of backer board?

Thanks!

_________
P.S. The machines at my disposal are ipf9100 60" printer; Epson GS6000; 64" laminator; 54" cutter; Soon a Fletcher 3100.

 

[Jgentry]

Maybe to clarify, I initially tried to print this job in vinyl, but it was a nightmare getting it mounted to foam core, so I went back to printing on coated paper, using spray adhesive to mount the paper to the foam core and laminating that. What other options could I have tried?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Can you run the material through the laminator before mounting to the foam core? That would provide the best laminated finish.

 

[Jgentry]

Sure I can. I didn't know that it would do a better job. From now on I'll go that way. Are there any tips for working with foam core? Can you adhere vinyl to it?

Can you run the material through the laminator before mounting to the foam core? That would provide the best laminated finish.

 

[WrapperX]

Can you run the material through the laminator before mounting to the foam core? That would provide the best laminated finish.

+1 Laminate ALL print jobs before applying to all substrates. You'll get more pressure from your rollers with only the print between your rollers then if you would with something thick.

Spray mount works fine - make sure it's a super spray - something permanent vs an Art Print Mount Spray - these are usually a lower tack.

The bad side to mounting to foam core is that it's a one shot deal. No room for error. When mounting to foam core I usually use a piece that is at least a few inches oversized and then trim/post cut my printed image. This way there's no worry about scewing.

Good luck with this new adventure.

 

[WrapperX]

Yes - I print to vinyl and apply to FC all the time. Vinyl, Poster, Polypropolyne, pretty much anything that has an adhesive can be mounted to anything. For poster or Polypropolyne we use a spray mount or a print mounting sheet "laminated" to the back of the print.

 

[jc1cell]

how about trying to mount it to the foamcore with the laminator. I've done it in the past with great success. First laminate, then mount, then trim down.

jc

 

[Gino]

Skip the foam core and talk them into Gatorboard for a much more professional look...... and easier to work with on your end.

Try not to let customers dictate to you what they want you to use. It always makes your job harder.

 

[WrapperX]

Gatorboard is nice to use if you aren't framing or any other sort of edge covering. If they'r gonna edge cap it or print mounting - like you would an art piece FC is just fine cause more then likely all they want the FC for is to thicken up the piece for framing. Gatorboard is too expensive to just use as a frame spacer.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

+1 for GatorBoard, GatorFoam, or PVC. Straight foamcore is not fun to deal with.

 

[Mike F]

Ugh, mounting... only tip I can give you is go slow, and laminate beforehand. If you happen to get any spray on the print, you're screwed, but if it's laminated, you can take a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol and it comes off with a little elbow grease. Also, if you think it would be easier, you can ask for adhesive foamcore. I've always had trouble with it, but when I get it right, it comes out looking much nicer than stuff I do with spray mount. Not nearly as messy either. When using spray, I usually start on one end, spray about an inch or so in from the edge, then put that end down and use a felt squeegee on it, then lift up, spray a little more, squeegee, and keep going till I reach the other end of the print. Never tried just spraying the whole thing and then trying to lay it down, but I have a feeling doing that would be a helluva headache.

You could also try jc's suggestion of mounting it to the foamcore using the laminator, but that'll only work if the customer wants a border of foamcore around the print. Otherwise, once you trim to the edges of the print, it'll slide right off. The only other way to do it through your laminator would be encapsulation, but if they don't want a border of foamcore, they probably don't want a border of laminate either.

 

[toomeycustoms]

Another option is to use PS Mounting Adhesive. We usually will coat the foamcore/gator with the mounting adhesive, and then mount the print. We then thermal laminate after if required. I've had too many failures with the spray mounts. They look fine when they leave the shop, but fail within a few months.

If you are using your canon and printing on canon paper, you shouldn't have to wait overnight. We mount prints off our Canon Ipf8000's right after they come off the machine with no problems.

 

[Jgentry]

Thanks for all the advice/suggestions guys.

OK, so the foam core/board that I was provided by the customer had a paper face, not a vinyl face. I'm sorry I didn't say that earlier. Can you mount vinyl to a paper faced foam core?

I used 3M super77 and it seemed to work pretty good.

I think the thing that made it difficult is the customer wanted a 30x40" print and the foam core they gave me was 30x40". It seems it would have been easier if my substraight was larger and I could have trimmed it down as suggested by WrapperX.

Anyway, I'm thinking as soon as I have the Fletcher cutter I can start doing things the right way by cutting the substraight down slightly larger than intended and trimming the finished product to size.