Dry Mount Jig

[Renato Tonelli]

Anyone know who makes/sells a Dry Mount Jig like the one that Zone VI used to sell?
Thanks.

[MIke Sherck]

I've never seen the Zone VI product but there was a recent thread on the Falcon print positioner which may help you.

Mike

[ROL]

Dry Mount Jig? If your intent is to position and mount prints you may want to take a look at this (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/pages/Fine%20Art%20Print%20Presentation) (fair warning – no "jigs" were harmed in the making of the video).

[Renato Tonelli]

I've never seen the Zone VI product but there was a recent thread on the Falcon print positioner which may help you.

Mike

I have one but... where did I put it or who was it that borrowed it? :confused:

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

The Zone VI product consisted of a board (I believe they used "laminated" (plywood) birch. The bottom of the board had a raised border on which a ruler was painted. The ruler was zeroed (is that a word) in the center. So, zero was in the center, and then on each side of zero the ruler was marked as a regular ruler would be.

Then, with it came a long t-square that was also marked the exact same way as the board, e.g. if you placed the t-square on the board the zero on the t-square would line up with the zero on the board, and so on and so forth.

To use, you placed the mount board on the board and lined it up by making sure that each lower corner was on the same measurement on each side. Then you placed the print on the mount board and did the same with it but using the t-square.

One could very easily be made for a lot less than what they originally cost so long as you had an accurate machinists ruler to make the markings on both the board and the t-square.

[cowanw]

Here`s a ruler for starts
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32572&cat=1,43513,43529

[Doremus Scudder]

Renato,

I made my own, using a T-square and a metal ruler. Mount the ruler reading from right to left (i.e., backwards) on the left hand side of the T-bar with the T-bar at the top and the long measuring surface hanging down. Important is that the "0" position of the ruler be the right side of the T-square's ruler bar with the T-square oriented as described above. I had to trim my metal rule to do this.

Next, take a permanent marker (Sharpie fine) and label the ruler at half it's value (if you're using the metric system, no problem at all, if you work in inches, it's not that much harder, simply label the half-inches and change the numbers at the full inches). Do the same with the scale on the T-square, leaving the original markings legible (you'll use both).

To use, position the print flush with the right side of your mounting board and, using the T-square with the T-bar squared on the left side, measure the distance from the left of the board to the print. Now, move the T-square to the top of the mount board and align the same measurement at half-scale using the backwards-mounted ruler. This centers the print horizontally.

Now, without moving the T-square, position the print flush with the bottom of the board and with the edge of the T-square. Note the distance from the top of the board to the print top edge.

Move the print up to that the same distance on the half-scale of the T-square. This centers the print vertically. If you want more space on the bottom than the top (as I prefer), simply move the print up the desired amount. Voilà.

Weight the print, check measurements and mount (I dry mount, so at this point I tack the dry-mounting tissue and transfer the print to the dry-mount press).

It is much more difficult to describe than to do.

I find my homemade tool much more accurate and easier to use than the Zone VI jig, which did not have small enough increments for my taste. I'm well within 1/32 inch when I position.

Best,

Doremus Scudder

[Renato Tonelli]

Kevin, Doremus, et. al - thank you for the helpful pointers.

I've decided to make my own with a little help from my friends (a carpenter with a shop).

[aduncanson]

Next, take a permanent marker (Sharpie fine) and label the ruler at half it's value (if you're using the metric system, no problem at all, if you work in inches, it's not that much harder, simply label the half-inches and change the numbers at the full inches). Do the same with the scale on the T-square, leaving the original markings legible (you'll use both).



I bought an inexpensive plastic triangular drafting scale with 6 different scales so that I can measure the difference between the width of the mount board and the width of the print with one scale, say the 2:1 scale and then transfer that number using the 1:1 scale to center the print on the board, (Sticklers for details: Sorry I never had patience with the proper designations or intended uses of the various scales.)

[KenM]

I've used Barnbaum's technique for a long time....

First of all, save your mat board cutoffs. They're useful not only for mounting smaller prints, but the 'long edge' cut-offs can be used to make dry-mount rulers. I've probably got about 10 of these things that I've made, and can whip one up in a few minutes as required.

Let's say you're mounting an 11x14 on a 16x20 mount board. I'm going to use the full size of the print (pre-trimmed), rather than the smaller values you'll get when you trim the print just to keep the math simple.

If you mount the 11x14 centered left-to-right, you'll have a 2.5" border on the left and right side. Mounting the print slightly above center (say 0.5"), you'll have a top border of 2.5", and 3.5" on the bottom. These numbers are just for demonstration purposes...

Cut a trip of mat board 16" wide, by 2.5" thick. This will set the top spacing on your mounted print.

Since there's a 2.5" border on the left and right, you now need to create tick marks as follows on both side of the strip:

- 2.5" from the left side, create a tick mark on the bottom of the strip, and label it '0'.
- using 1/16 or 1/8 increments (depends on how accurate you want to be) add 5 tick marks to the left of the 0, and 5 to the right. Moving outwards from the '0', label them 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Repeat the markings on the other side the tool. You should end up with something that looks like '5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5' with (for example) 1/16" between each tick mark on the left and right side of the tool.

You're positioning tool is now complete.

To use it, lay the mount board on a table so that the top edge butts up against an edge taller than the mount board. Then, place the positioning tool on the mount board and also butt it against the top edge. Align the tool left/right on the mount board (the edges should line up).

You can then place the trimmed print on the mount board - butt it up against the positioning tool, and using the tick marks, align the left/right edge against the tick marks. Tack the print to the mount board, dry mount it, and you're done.

You can create a tool to position your print in any way you see fit...

[Drew Wiley]

I don't trust art store trianges of draftsmans' tee-squares unless I've carefully double
checked them (I have acquired some expensive ones which are truly square), and I
certainly wouldn't trust a strip of matboard. Matcutter don't always cut without a slight bow effect - again, unless you've carefully aligned them and perfected your
technique - and worse, factory trimmed board is not generally square itself. Usually
at least one side is out of square; so you need to establish a reference edge and
square everything else according to that. And don't trust squares in hardware stores
or home centers either, especially drywall squares. Real quality control is a rare commodity nowadays.

[KenM]

Real quality control is a rare commodity nowadays.

Which is why I choose to make my own mounting jigs. They're as accurate as you want (or need) them to be.

[Bruce Barlow]

I use standard top margins on standard board sizes. So, I have "templates" out of mat board in that width, with a center mark, and marks along the edge corresponding to my usual print sizes.

Align the template with the top and sides of the board, position the print, aligning it with marks on the template, put my lens bag full of lead scraps packaged in triple plastic bags on the print to hold it and voila - a positioned print ready for tacking, marking corners, however I'm mounting it. Fast and foolproof.

I do all this on a Zone VI knockoff jig I made from a piece of plywood, glued centering ruler, T-square-with-centering ruler, and ruler glued up the side. But I only use it when I have an odd-size mat board, with a small number of prints that make it too cumbersome to make a new template. Works fine when I need it, which these days is seldom.