On Tue, 12 Feb 2002 12:37:58 -0500, Audra Oliver <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>What are the comparative advantages of a traditional drymount press vs the cold mount press "Positionable mounting adhesive
applicator" now on the market?
>
>Has anyone had experience with these two techniques?
Yeah, I have with both...mostly for mounting photographs, although we use alot of PMA (close to 100 rolls a year probably) in our
exhibits branch for mounting labels. We also have a large Seal drymount press that only sees sporadic use. I will say that the best
drymount presses I've ever used were Seal vaccu presses, for mounting cibachromes to foamcore etc, but these are very
expensive.
The disadvantages of drymounting are many--I'm sure you are aware of these in regards to "archival-ness"...but it's a good
mounting method for permanent use, and works well with porous materials like fiber base prints, whereas cold mount PMA is
about the worst choice for anything porous.
We've had quite a few problems over the years with PMA (and yet we still use it, huh??, don't get me started...) in regrds to
mounting label output on anything remotely porous. PMA works great with *small* plastic based materials like RC photos, C-prints
and Cibas....but it is terrible with paper based materials, because it can eventually bubble up and lift off in spots or all across the
piece...you can burnish it back down & smooth it out, but it will happen again...it also can't hold down anything larger than
maybe a 20x24 or so for long periods of time....we have had mixed results using it on small mural sized prints, like in the 30x40
range. It seems to me that the weight of the print "draws" it down...it will sag on display almost....I've gone through exhibits &
smoothed out prints hanging on the walls, only to find them bubbled back up a month later....
Several years ago, we had a Scotch/3M rep come by and he told us that PMA was an "office product" not meant for exhibit
usage....and not desgined for anything but plastic based materials. They had some more "aggressive" products they were
selling...at this time we looked at a large cold/heat mount press & laminator...a GBC I believe, that would do just about anything,
including first-surface mounting and mounting cold or hot to up to 1.5 inch thick 4x8 sheets of substrate....it cost just under
$20k...and we came very close to getting it. We didn't, but I wish we had.....
>If you could have either system, which would you purchase?
>
>If your choice is heat-molting, which press would you prefer?
>
Depends on the size of the materials and what they are made of...I'd say to maybe contact a Scotch rep or a vendor & get some
advice from them...Scotch makes a ton of mounting materials and output materials as well....we used to silkscreen most of our
labels in house, and use cibas or other materials for the photos....but now we mostly do digital output onto a type of vinyl that has
a very solid adhesive built-in....or we use Lambda type output and mount this like a photo. There are some people here who still
like the PMA, but every time I've seen it used for a label that wasn't completely plastic, it has just caused trouble later on...of
course, if it's only up for a week or so, there may be no problems.....
Hope this helps, and let me end with this:
Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my agency.
Kent Thompson, Photographer
North Carolina Museum of History
Email: [log in to unmask]
Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my agency.
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