bonding large prints to aluminum

[john milich]

i'm looking for a suitable adhesive...print sizes 16 x20 minimum, up tp 44 x 60, more or less.  I do have a large vacuum laminating
press (cold).  my choice would be something I could roller on the aluminum and that would set in 30 minutes or so under vacuum

thx

[Justan]

Check out Raphael’s Miracle Muck. http://raphaelstoday.com/miraclemuck.aspx I haven't used it with aluminum but have used a fair amount of it to bond canvas and photo rag to gatorboard and related. It applies with a roller and is heat re-activated if needed at some point.

The trick to applying this with a roller is to use a thin but uniform coat. Too much Muck and the paper will float and inevitably not be flat.

I don’t know if it would benefit from using a vacuum press but a call to the vendor would let you know.

[Ken]

BreathingColor claims that their Glamour II can be used as an adhesive.

[Wayne Fox]

We use polymount dry mount film for gator, it might work for aluminum if you are heat mounting (although cold mount is prob best for aluminum )

  basically a thin layer of plastic which melts when you heat it then sticks when it's cooled.  Theory much like a hot glue gun,

Pretty easy to work with, you do have to heat it for quite some time to get a good stick (I think we go 6 min's at 180 with gator, longer if it's canvas in our Bienfang vacuum press).

Miracle Muck and Glamour II I think are just adhesives, not sure they're designed to be "heat" activated.  think the poly would be faster and less messy.

[Justan]

^ "Miracle Muck....can be used cold and wet, or on flat surfaces, applied and allowed to dry, then activated with heat."

From http://raphaelstoday.com/miraclemuck.aspx

Glamour 2 is offensively overpriced for an adhesive.

[john milich]

muck on the way, not sure about the heat part yet

thx for he feedback

[Darrel]

Aluminum is a non-porous surface which Miracle Muck and Glamour cannot create any bond strength to.  It is unfortunate that people are comparing gator to aluminum/dibond type surface.