opticaly clear self adhesive sheet ?

[Tommy Olsson]

Being from Sweden I don´t know distributors in GB but perhaps this link can get you on the way.

http://www.emblem.de/emblem_inkjet_self … dia_en.php

[Chris Wool]

it used to be available allprint supplies worth a call

clear film still available used for screen print positives but with a double sided film to stick it down with, may not be to clear,

chris

[Chris Dowd]

Drytac do it.

http://www.drytac.co.uk

[David West]

Thanks Tommy, Chris and Chris 🙂
Its so frustrating looking for this stuff on the Internet , so many different names ( especially when your a nooby like me) 🙂

i came across drytacs website before Tom, but skipped by as a lot of there links don’t work, do they still exist? if so the web page is in need of a bit of work as i thought they must be be obsolete with a lot of the page containing dead links, I’ll give them a call in the morning and see if they can help me

many thanks

Dave

[David West]

I will explain what it is i am trying to achieve, I am aware that i have 3 methods to choose from the simplest being the sandwich where the image is sandwiched between 2 sheets of scrylic ( perspex)

This is straight forward and requires no extra bits , only the photo

then another method ( this involves no transparency ) is mounting the photo onto the back of a single sheet using double sided adhesive , i presume cold pressure sensitive?

I like this version but im not sure at all what the adhesive sheets is or weather it would effect my printouts as the rolls i have found state solvent and my printer is pigment based.

the last option ( I am aware of is the transparent version) I presume this involves printing onto a clear vinyl with a adhesive coating on one side, but this would need to be pigment friendly too

ANY help , guidance or advice would be massively appreciated, I am a complete novice at this, but slowly learning certain terminology helps, and the odd tidbit from you guys has been a wealth of information..

I am only a small time business selling via the internet, and do this part time after my real job, I love anything to do with this kind of thing so i invested in a canon w8400 pigment based ( seems like this was the wrong choice) as i think i am rather limited on the media i can print onto

So again many thanks for sharing your expertise

warmest regards and thanks
Dave

[Warren Beard]

are those not printed directly to the acrylic on a flatbed printer?

[David West]

not sure warren, the last one could certainly be?
unfortunately there is no way i could afford one of those, but I’m sure you can get some equivalent film that would do the same job?
( I hope)

[Chris Wool]

now i see. i think you will find that these were done with a expensive uv ink printer direct to the acrylic. as they can spot fill with white is how they get the colours so well.

but i did see some at a gallery in poole that was a sandwich and looked it 🙁

chris

[Chris Dowd]

David,

We did a 2 mtr. x 1 mtr. onto 8mm clear acrylic a couple off weeks ago, using the optically clear mounting film from Drytac. Someone else had previously done it, and just sandwiched a print between 2 pieces of 5mm, subsequently the 5mm warped.

Must say it came out a lot better than I thought using the optically clear.

Give Drytac a call in the morning, they will be able to help.

Chris.

[David West]

yeah , I’m not keen on the sandwich !!!

if the last one is UV, then that’s out of the equation too.. 🙁

so that leaves me with mounting the photo onto the back of the acrylic sheet using some kind of cold press adhesive film, which means i will have to buy the cold press too 🙂 ( my missus is gonna love me 🙂 )

so I’m guessing what i need to look for is :
an optically clear double sided mounting film that is cold pressure sensitive?

thanks for the help….. Again!

Dave

[Chris Wool]

quote :

so I’m guessing what i need to look for is :
an optically clear double sided mounting film that is cold pressure sensitive?

most suppliers that sell photo paper do that difficult to apply by hand but can be done, best with a laminator

chris

[David West]

yeah Chris, i plan on buying myself a small cheap laminator

[Martin Pearson]

David, not trying to put you off but I’m not sure that you really have the right gear to be doing this sort of thing which might make the cost of producing the products much higher than using a different method.
I don’t know anything about the printer itself so don’t know how good the prints will be but the cost of coated media for pigmented printers is higher than media for other printers to start with.
Optically clear mounting films also tend to be quite expensive as well om what I have seen. Are you buying in the acrylic sheet cut to size with the edges already flame polished or are you going to be doing that yourself as well?

[David West]

Hi Martin, I think your propbably right on the equipment, although i should be able to re produce the mounted photo version..

im trying to source the acrylic sheets both polished and un polished to see what the price difference is

[David West]

Ho Humm – heres an update… just in case you wanted to know 😉

I phoned drytac today only to be informed that I have to buy through a distributor for the clear mounting film, first number they gave me ( north east) didn’t exist anymore and the second ( London) wanted £250 for 10 meters, 🙁

needless to say this is a little more than i wanted to pay since i am only looking to do research into making these things, anyone know where i can buy this cheaper ?

I never thought it would be this complicated, but I’m on a mission now 🙂 I sourced the acrylic sheets, with polished edges and holes drilled, I even sourced custom stand off fixings at a great price.. but this illusive optically clear film is still managing to evade me !!!

Heeeeeeelllp!
😉

Dave

[Chris Wool]

these people have been selling that type of stuff for years

http://www.applied-image.com/contact-us.aspx

chris

[Kevin Flowers]

How about these people

http://www.lamount.com/Pressure_Sensiti … Mount_Film

Kev

[Chris Wool]

good find kev.
i can imagine a photo mounted with that to the rear of acrylic to look just fine.
i would leave about 50mm or more clear around the edge as a frame.

quality photo papers also work well back lite.

chris

[David West]

Thanks Chris, Thanks Kev!

Thats fantastic! Thanks for all your help, I think thats just about everything i need now, and i’ll post my results just incase your curious 🙂

[Kevin Flowers]

I,ve seen them done while you wait in the Lakeside Shopping Centre Thurrock, They had a high end A3 epson printer manual mounter & the finished results did look very good.

Kev

[John Austin]

Hi bought optically clear film mount recently Selectaplas where the cheapest, very good stuff.

John