"Waves" with dry-mounted prints?

[Josh Z.]

After dry-mounting my prints at a local shop, the print doesn't seem to be perfectly flat. I get tiny little ripples in the surface that are a bit distracting. The prints are printed at WCI on Fuji Crystal Archive Glossy.

Does this sound like a problem in how the prints are being mounted, or what they are being mounted too?

Thanks.

[John Kasaian]

I am certainly not an expert on this, but I like to run my prints through the press first to get all the moisture out---this is with fiber papers---before dry mounting. In fact if I've no intention of dry mounting I'll still run my prints through the press just to flatten them out.
I don't know if this would solve your problem, but so far (knock on wood) that's a problem I haven't encountered.

[vinny]

I have dry mounted a fair amount of fca glossy paper and there can be issues associated with the surface of the matt board. If the matt board isn't perfecty smooth, the print will take on the surface of the material it's being mounted to. The final product will look different than the print as it came out of the lightjet. I haven't found any way around this so far. If you're results are actually waves in the print due to improper mounting, that's another story. Placing the print in the press as you would for a fiber print isn't necessary and i don't think it would help in any way.

[Ash]

I need to get me a press...

[Bob Salomon]

Was a suitable weight placed on the print while it cooled down if it was not mounted in a pressure press or a vacuum press?

[tjvitale]

I know of two causes for the ripples. One has been mentioned: excess moisture generated by the heating of the print and/or mountboard. In low humidity environments preheating is often not necessary, but in high humidity areas there is a lot of water in the matboard that is made mobile by heating. Preheating both (with no mounting tissue in place) is the usual solution and is fool proof, unless the press is too hot.

The second source is that the original attachment was not uniform. Over time the unbonded areas lift due to all the high and low humidity cycles.

The former is the most likely cause, but I see the latter problem all too often. It happens when the technician performing the mount is trying to use the minimum heat to do the job. Bad results from a well intentioned motive.

Tim Vitale
Paper, Photographs &
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[bob carnie]

what are the prints being mounted too??

After dry-mounting my prints at a local shop, the print doesn't seem to be perfectly flat. I get tiny little ripples in the surface that are a bit distracting. The prints are printed at WCI on Fuji Crystal Archive Glossy.

Does this sound like a problem in how the prints are being mounted, or what they are being mounted too?

Thanks.