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MDF mounting


Chippy

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I looked up the price of MDF mounting a few weeks back and found out that it's pretty expensive, especially if I want to sell prints mounted this way.

 

So.......I had a go myself!! It's relatively easy to do with a few basic tools and a bit of patience. The 1st attempt was a smaller A3+ print which i ended up selling to the first person I showed it too!

 

Here's a few pics of the 2nd attempt, a huge 36" x 24" one.

 

1.jpg

 

3.jpg

 

5.jpg

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crackin job m8 looks tres professional

 

by easy can you explain further

 

oh and stunning photo too!

Andrew

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Good job with the mounting Chippy, how about a mini instruction on how you did it? I have a few photos I am intending to mount one way or another and get on the wall. So it would help me enormously.

 

Steve...:)

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. - Ansel Adams

 

Focal Planet

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crackin job m8 looks tres professional

 

by easy can you explain further

 

oh and stunning photo too!

 

 

OK, here goes.

 

Firstly, to do anything bigger than A4 you really need to get hold of a rubber roller - costs about £10. You'll also need:-

 

Tools:-

 

Hand Saw

Electric Sander & 120 paper

Screwdriver

Scalpel

 

Materials:-

 

18mm MDF sheet (a £6.50 sheet from B&Q is big enough to do an A3+ and a 36 x 24")

 

Douple sided tape (I bought some specific stuff for MDF mounting, but it's £100 for 600mm x 50m, although that enough to do loads of 36 x 24's at about £3-£4 each and it's archival so wont damage the print over time) For A3 size and smaller you could use the standard stuff but get a wide a roll as possible.

 

Satin or Matt Spray Paint - any colour but I like black - I used one made by plasticote which can be used on wood.

 

Picture mounting eyes and screws & wire or cord. At B&Q they do a pack of various different fixings with wire, cord, eyes, hooks etc for £4.50. It was cheaper to buy that than one bag of eyes and the cord separately.

 

Greaseproof paper - Handy for covering the mounted print when trimming and sticking it down to protect it.

 

thick Black Marker

 

 

We'll assume that you'll be doing an Landscape format A4 sized one:-

 

Part One - Preparation.

 

First thing you'll need to do is measure out the MDF for cutting. DON'T measure it and mark it up as exactly the same size as the print. It'll be a swine to aline later. Mark it out 5mm or so short either end (width and length). The idea is to be able to trim a slight amount off when finished.

 

Cut off the measured piece using a saw. I preferred to use a panel saw rather than a jigsaw to ensure a straighter edge. I might actually get the local building supplier to cut 20 or so to size on their machine in future, so that I can go straight to the painting and mounting stage when i need to do one. Lay your print over the MDF to ensure that you have a bit of excess print around the edges. No point in going any further if you've mistakenly measured and cut the MDF too large!! :wallbash:

 

Next job is to sand down all the edges to get a smooth finish and to remove the saw marks. Ensure that the edges are all done FIRST. To finish, finally sand around the edge of the mounting surface side. this will ensure that any "step" is removed from the edge of the mount side/thickness side. Next clean all around the edge and the mounting side with a damp cloth to remove any traces of dust. Also ensure that your work surface is spotlessly clean so nothing adheres to the tape later on.

 

Part Two - Painting

 

I find it easier to sit the MDF on something, like a cardboard box or plant pot, smaller than the MDF so the edge isn't in contact with anything. You can they spray the edge with paint and rotate the MDF as you go. Dont spray to heavily. It dries very quickly so do a light coat, leave it for 10 mins, then another coat, and so on to build the coats up. Don't worry about the overspray on the surfaces, when you have finished painting let it fully dry (takes about 40 mins with the plasticote). You can then lightly sand the mounting face again to remove any lumpy bits of overspray and provide a good key for the tape. Again, make sure any dust is cleaned off.

 

Part three - Taping Up

 

I do this in one action which covers the whole face, but i did try it with 2" wide tape - method is the same for both, with the exception that with the proper 100mm wide tape it's done at once instead of in strips of tape.

 

For strips of tape, you'll need to place the tape running vertically along the shortest side (assuming your looking at it in landscape orientation) - this will make it easier to mount the print later. When you place you first piece, you need to leave a slight - a few mm, of overhang at the top, bottom and side. This will ensure that there's tape right up to the edges.

 

IMPORTANT - as you lay the tape down, use the rubber roller to lay it - for strips you may be able to use your finger, which will ensure that no air bubbles get under it. It'll be too late to get them out afterwards and they'll show through the finished job.

 

Then lay your next piece (doesn't matter if they lay right next to each other - better to leave a gap of 5mm or so to prevent any overlap). Again, ensure that you leave an over hang either end of the tape, but not too much as you dont want it flopping down and adhering to the newly painted edge. When you lay the final strip, again, ensure that as well as the ends, there's also an overlap along the edge.

 

 

Part four - Mounting the print

 

Here's the sh*t or bust moment. Get it wrong and the whole lot is destined for the bin! :headhurt:

 

Before removing any backing from the tape, lay the print down and align it. Ensure that there's a slight overhang around all the edges, then lay something heavy and soft on one half of the print to prevent it moving. Be very careful not to move the print or the MDF. Then gently lift back the unsecured end of the print on itself. Remove the backing on the first strip of tape at the edge and the place the print back down onto it - ideally rollering it down. Then take off the heavy weight and lift back the print in the opposite direction and remove the next backing and roller the print onto that, and so forth until it's all stuck down. You should now have the whole print stuck down, totally smooth with no bubbles and a slight overhang around all the edges.

 

From now on, you need to be very careful with it - the print face can easily get scratched or damaged.

 

 

Part five - finishing off

 

You now need to very carefully flip the whole thing over, print side down onto a cutting surface. I cover the surface in greaseproof paper beforehand to protect the printed face.

 

The next job is to trim the excess tape/print around the edge. I prefer to use a brand new scalpel type knife, as it is much thinner than a stanley type blade. Use the blade at a 45 degree angle, rather than straight down, run the blade around the edge and gently trim all the excess off - be careful not to accidentally cut into the MDF.

 

Finally, mark up the places for the mounting eyes, ensuring they're both the same either end, and screw them in. Add your cord or wire - on small, A3 or less, you can use cord. On mine I used wire as it's very heavy and cord will stretch over time.

 

You should now be finished. Just be very careful with the edges of it - the edges are easy to damage. Much better to leave it where it is, face down until you're ready to hang it.

 

When you hang it, use a screw and wall plug instead of a nailed in hook, as the finished job will be to heavy.

 

My 36" x 24" took me about 90 minutes from start to finish.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

You can now go and make a brew and sit back and admire your handy work!!! :clap2:

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Great description Chippy, makes an excellent economic and clean looking job. I remember when MDF first came out it was jumped on, then lost favour. The quality of MDF has improved in recent years.

 

A tip to improve the final job, when removing dust, use a 'Tack Cloth', B & Q about £1.50. I would not have believed the way they work. For years I have worked with wood model making, spray rubdown, dampened cloth (few drops of white spirit) 30 years or more. Needed to do some quality varnishing on the boat recently. Man who sells varnish, highest quality flexible nut oil based, (£8 per 500mm!!!) said, "OK you have bout the best, do you use 'track cloth'?" I replies in the negative, old fashioned dampened rag!

 

He sent a proper 'tack cloth' with the varnish. Did all the work, final rubdown to a fine surface ready to start varnishing. Normally, it would need a rubdown between coats, with the tack cloth start, there was no need to rubdown between coat because of dust spots, still got the od run as the coats built up, light rub then 'tack cloth' but six coats later, I have a superb deep shining refurbished wood mast. But for the 'tack cloth', the depth of colour, and patinae in the old pine mast would not been half as good or as easy to achieve, gets a gentle 'touchy-feely' every time I get on board :lol:

 

I am confident that the 'tack cloth' will ensue professional dust free results when working MDF. Modern MDF face surface is sealed (and/or perhaps lightly calendar the way they do glossy art paper?) subsequently very smooth, one would suggest that this is a much better surface to stick your tape to rather than the lightly sanded surface suggested, keeps the dust to the a minimum.

 

I have a few prints I will be giving the 'Chippy' treatment to, thanks for that mate :sun:

 

CJS2 :ph34r:

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Thanks fo that Chippy, nice understandable explanation. The whole process is similar to mounting printing plates ready for the press, which is something I used to do a lot of. I will add a couple of tips here which I think may help the whole process. starting from laying the tape onto the board.

 

You can when laying the tape onto the board overlap the edges by say half an inch which will make the overlapped eges sit proud of the rest of the tape. Using your scalpel cut through this overlapped edge and remove the end piece of the overlapped tape you just cut away from the main piece. You can now carefully lift the edge of this second layed tape and remove the end piece of the first, roller down the second piece once more and your tape will now be covering the board fully with no bumps or crevices at all.

 

If you get air bubbles when laying the tape, simply poke it with your scalpel and carefully manipulate the air towards the small hole you just made to get rid of it.

 

Assuming your working in landscape view and your tape is layed top to bottom, starting at the top, peel back an inch of the tapes backing paper then fold that back on itself towards the bottom and lightly crease it so it wont spring back on the now exposed "sticky" part of the tape, you do this along the whole top edge.

 

Now holding your print betweem thumb and forefingerat either end of the print you can position your print over the board to have the overlap described by Chippyand lightly "dab" the top edge onto the exposed sticky tape.

 

I used to use rollers for printing plates too but I think using a soft cloth or piece of tissue paper might be more friendly to the print, especially if your heavy handed.

 

Work from the centre of the top of the board outwards to expel any air that may be in there, small strokes...take your time and stick the first half an inch down.

 

Now gently raise the bottom of the print and peel back 2-3 inches of backing tape and fold back as before, accross the whole length again. Lower your print and gently work at either rollering it down of burnishing it with a cloth/tissue. Cotinue like this till your done laying your print. IF you do get any air bubbles under your print then the point of a fresh scalpel blade or a pin carefully used to puncture it will not be seen afterwards.

 

And a final thing, DEFINATELY a new blade to trim your print as even a slightly blunted one will at some point tear your print.

 

Hope you dont mind me adding these bits Chippy and I hope they help someone.

 

Steve...:)

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. - Ansel Adams

 

Focal Planet

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