Platinum Palladium Printer
The Cunningham Press
Bob, I have no idea what is holding your prints to aluminum, but I discovered a while ago that mechanic's hand cleaner (in my case, the orange stuff from Costco) will cleanly remove an enormous range of adhesives---old masking tape, plastic and paper stick-on labels, spray adhesive---if allowed to sit for a few hours. For really stubborn stuff, like masking tape that was on a studio hot light for a few years, put on a thick layer of cleaner, cover with kitchen wrap or polyethylene, and wait a day or two. But on shiny surfaces, don't rub---there is pumice in there that can scratch paint or alumnum. The lanolin, or whatever is in the stuff, seems to wick slowly through paper and under the edges of plastics if given enough time.
Another trick is to use a hot-air gun to warm up a corner until it can be peeled away, and then play the heat at the junction of the top sheet and support as it is slowly peeled off. Probably not as easy as hot water, though.
thanks Harold I no the orange stuff you are referring too.
I got the bulk of the paper off, and I think another go with hot water and scrubbing brush with the orange stuff would be enough to do the trick. Scratching the aluminum
is not a bad thing btw as the second time I mount the adhesive will like the rough surface.
I was able to recycle about 40 sheets of aluminum which is a huge savings for me and makes mistakes in the printing less painful.
Hot gun and scraper would probably work really well no that the paper is all off, just residue adhesive gunk. There are commercial hot guns that can really push out the heat and melt the crap away.
Gunk off is so damm stinky I refuse to do this,
Went to Canyonlands for the day and hiked out to this point. 8x10 fp4 with 19 inch red dot artar. Gum over platinum/palladium print in platine.
Bob,
Do you have a photo of the swirlies you are taking about? What is their size/scale?
I did mention that face-up is likely to cause problems because of the pigment and gum sitting on the surface. If you keep the water moving to remove the dissolved pigment/gum, you may then introduce something similar to surge marks on the print.
I think I mentioned that washing vertically might be the best solution for this because you won't have to worry as much about damaging the gum layer while it it upside down in a tray. I've not seen anyone do this, but most people aren't printing on aluminium backed paper either.
---Michael
Hi Michael
thanks for your consideration on this issue. the jpeg attached is a full sheet of 11 x14 aluminum so you can see the scale/size
I can reverse process face down this as noted above posts with a non floating plastic inside the tray that basically holds the aluminum in place.
I do not keep the water moving as I use the Stephen Livik method of time and temp with minimum agitation.- he by the way did face down.
I could look into how a vertical system would work maybe interesting.
I think what we are seeing is globs coming off and rings staying I am not sure how face down would be different but I will have to try this as Erik
is doing this all the time face down with not issues.
Bob
I am less convinced its the paper as this would be a severe problem with Arches Platine and other workers would have noticed the same problem.
Bob, there have been a few very recent reports on the Alt-photo-process-list about "measles" or "spotting" on some of the new batches of Platine.
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