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Laminating Aluminium Composite problem
Hi folks… new to this, and have run into a problem using an aluminium composite to mount my inkjet prints. I am using a manual laminator and can successfully laminate adhesives and surface laminates without issue but when I try to apply these to the ali composite I get a rippled surface appearance from the composite. Is that normal or is it just a cheap grade of composite that’s the problem, or something else?. Any help would be appreciated.
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15 Replies
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Paul,
Do you have a picture?
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sorry don’t have a picture as I have pulled the laminate off now 😕 .. it is like a regular fluted sort of a texture / ripple, if that makes sense. A bit like correx.
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No it’s not normal, even cheaper grades of ACM are pretty good as far as the surface finish goes.
So whats your procedure from start to finish & where is the problem occurring?Just a quick point you will get more answers to questions if you take the time to introduce yourself & tell folk a little about you & your business.
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Thanks guys… I run a fine art print business, producing work mainly for photographers and digital artists. I have recently started offering mounting and laminating to my services, mainly using acrylic and aluminium composite materials. I generally laminate the print first to protect the image from further processing. Then I will laminate the adhesive to the reverse of the print and then apply that to the aluminium composite. The print looks perfect prior to mounting onto the composite, when it then develops this ripple effect. I have also tried just mounting a print straight to the material without any over laminate and it still shows the same effect. I have altered the pressure on the rollers and still the same.
I use Zenith ‘Deep Water’ laminate for the prints and Sealion adhesives, all cold, pressure senitive materials as I just have a manual laminator. I am planning to have a crack at it with solid aluminium sheet to see if that makes a difference as I have no problems when mounting to acrylic sheet. -
Try applying your print mount film to the composite board & then applying the printed image to that, might make a difference.
Aluminium panel is likely to give you more problems rather than less if it is mill finished & probably the same results if powder coated/spray painted plus it is going to up the cost quite a bit. Have you tried foamex board, that should be ok for you to mount prints to & no real need to worry about expansion & contraction of the board with them being internal. -
I have thought about foamex, never tried it before though. Is it a very flat smooth material?
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Okay this might sound odd, but do you stop at all when using the manual laminator, or do you continuously feed the material through without stopping?
I have known an issue when using pressure sensitive material, that a ripple is caused when you stop/start the laminator.
Also is the ripple effect evenly spaced? – if so check laminator rollers for damage & flat spots.
Just some thoughts 🙂
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thanks Colin.. yeah I have checked the rollers are fine and it leaves no marks when I just laminate a print it’s only when it goes on the composite. I do put it through continuously, no stopping and it is a regular, closely spaced ripple, approx 6mm apart. My guess was that it was too much pressure somehow causing the aluminium to pick up a pattern from the core but I have tried it with bairly any pressure and get the same result.
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Have you tried applying the mounting film to the composite then mounted the printed graphic as I suggested?
What do you do with them once you have mounted the print to a board? Do you put some sort of frame around them or some sort of hanging arrangement on the back?
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Try 2 prints, first one way on the board, check for your regular pattern and then remove the print. Turn the board 90 degrees and apply the second print and see if the pattern is still there.
If the pattern stays the same way then you know it’s not the board your mounting too but something to do with the process, like the rollers or the adhesive layer.
If the pattern turns by the 90 degrees then you have a good indication that it’s the board.
Steve
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Martin.. thanks I had already tried various different ways with the mounting. I get the pattern as soon as it goes to the composite. The panels have a sub-frame bonded to the back for hanging.
Good suggestion Steve, I haven’t tried that. I’ll give it go and see what happens. I was secretly hoping you would all say yeah.. it’s the cheap ali composite that’s the problem.. but alas not 😀 -
Are you mounting the prints with the sub-frame in place? Is the ripple all the way across the board, or just one side/centre etc?
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If your mounting with the frame on then you will get ripples where the frame is, you need to mount the print then the frame.
Steve
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that would be a neat trick if I could get a composite sheet with a sub frame mounted to the back of it through a lamiantor… no, the sub frame is put on last 😉
The ripple is all the way across the sheet around 1/4 inch intervals, like a fluted apprearance. Just to clarify it is not visible when prints are laminated to anything else, just the aluminium composite.
I think I will just have to look for a replacement material. It’s difficult to justify the time on a single problem when it might be easier just to move on and find a different material / solution. I may try the foamex instead. Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated. -
quote Stephen Morriss:Try 2 prints, first one way on the board, check for your regular pattern and then remove the print. Turn the board 90 degrees and apply the second print and see if the pattern is still there.If the pattern stays the same way then you know it’s not the board your mounting too but something to do with the process, like the rollers or the adhesive layer.
If the pattern turns by the 90 degrees then you have a good indication that it’s the board.
Steve
^^^^ this is what I would try ^^^^^
its good to try and rule things out by a process of elimination or in this case a process of lamination
I’ll get my coat shall I 😀
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