wet mounting fluids

[alexn]

Hi all,

I am wondering what fluids wet mounters are using to mount their films to flat beds or drums, and when mounting to a flat bed, do you find it necessary to use a backing piece of glass or mylar? or do you prefer just to wet mount to the bed and leave it at that?

I was looking at the commercial fluids from Aztec etc, but was wondering if anyone had come up with anything cheaper/free at home?

Water with sugar diluted in it should be optically clear enough, provide enough viscousity to hold the film flat and would be easy to clean off... Other things I considered are Isopropyl alcohol, vodka? baby oil (would be hard to clean off)

Anyone tried things at home and had success? I figure isopropyl is not particularly good for the scanner bed being a fairly aggressive solvent...

Would love to hear what other people think..

[vinny]

Water and sugar, really? Sounds like a mess. And archival for sure. Hell, why not 7up?
Just get the Kami fluid and be done with it. You don't use that much so a bottle goes a long way.
Lighter fluid will work and it's been talked about a LOT here in the past.

Folks use mylar. It comes with the kits. You could lay AN glass down as well.

[Preston]

Lighter fluid will work and it's been talked about a LOT here in the past.


Lighter fluid? Seriously? I would be very concerned about the possibility of a fire. KAMI fluid will be much safer and would give better results, I believe.

--P

[Marc B.]

I understand that 'Kami Fluid' is expensive or hard to come by in Australia. I get that!
Kami is first choice, lighter fluid second choice. Anything water based...last choice, as in...don't.
Water may/will soften the emulsion, opening-up conditions for possible irreparable damage to your negatives.

Lighter fluid? Seriously? I would be very concerned about the possibility of a fire.
Kami is just as flammable as lighter fluid, maybe more so...it's 90% Naphtha.
Lighter fluids are basically a simple mixture of Naphtha and Kerosene.
Kami MSDS:
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/pdf/msds/kami_scanner_fluids/Kami%20Scanner%20Mounting%20Fluid.pdf

Marc

[h2oman]

I use Ronsonal lighter fluid, and make sure I'm smoking a cigarette while using it. ;-)

But seriously, I'm using an inexpensive (Canon) flatbed scanner. I cut a piece of non-glare plexiglass (I had it around as a glass substitute for framing) to just the size of the scanner bed. I put the non-etched side down on the glass of the scanner, and I put a two-layer strip of tape all the way aroud the outside edges to keep it just a little off the glass. On the top side I cut and taped on a piece of black paper with holes cut in it just like the holes in the plastic film holder that came with the scanner.

When ready to scan I put the black paper side down over a piece of white paper so I can see clearly where the edges of the 4x5 hole are. I squirt some ffluid on, place the film, more fluid and a sheet of mylar over that. I've found taping the edges of the mylar to be unnecessary.

You'll want to chase out any air bubles between the film and the mounting glass and the film and the mylar sheet. I find that if I use a liberal amount of fluid and place the film by bowing it, putting the middle down first and then working toward the ends I get fewer bubbles. Same with the mylar sheet. Good luck!

[Preston]

Kami is just as flammable as lighter fluid, maybe more so...it's 90% Naphtha.

I wasn't aware of this, Marc. I appreciate the clarification.

I don't do any wet mountaing, but for the sake of the OP's question, is there a non-fammable fluid that would do the job?

--P

[Tony Evans]

As posted some time ago, I use Scan Science's Lumina, non-inflammable & non-toxic.

[photobymike]

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?20002-KAMI-wet-mount-scanner-kits

see above thread

[alexn]

Thanks for the advice people :)

I will give lighter fluid a fly (I have some handy) if the results are good then I will buy some Kami fluid. I think wet mounting is the only real option for me as my scanner does not have holders for 120 roll film longer than 6x9, and no after market company makes holders for it any more.. I only have the glass bed that is usually used for 8x10's. I figure I can probably wet mount 3 or 4 6x17 slides in that area easily enough. I have just taped slides to the glass however newton rings become annoying. In some images they are really bad where as in others you hardly see them at all. Usually images with big bright skies and lots of bright areas get rings badly, whilst images from inside dense rainforests do not seem to suffer. Wet mounting should remove the issue all together.

[Daniel Stone]

use Kami

[Ian David]

Hi Alex
If you want to have a play around with some of the Lumina wet-mounting fluid mentioned above, I can bring a bottle next time we catch up for a beer. I have a few bottles that I suspect I may never get through. I also have some mylar strips etc too.
Ian

[MisterPrinter]

Hi Alex
If you want to have a play around with some of the Lumina wet-mounting fluid mentioned above, I can bring a bottle next time we catch up for a beer. I have a few bottles that I suspect I may never get through. I also have some mylar strips etc too.
Ian

What is the evaporation rate like with Lumina ? I use Kami, but I'm finding it evaporates so fast that I struggle to get a few negatives mounted together. By the time the scanner gets to the last ones they are dry, even though I try to seal every gap with Kami tape.

[welly]

Thanks for the advice people :)

I will give lighter fluid a fly (I have some handy) if the results are good then I will buy some Kami fluid. I think wet mounting is the only real option for me as my scanner does not have holders for 120 roll film longer than 6x9, and no after market company makes holders for it any more.. I only have the glass bed that is usually used for 8x10's. I figure I can probably wet mount 3 or 4 6x17 slides in that area easily enough. I have just taped slides to the glass however newton rings become annoying. In some images they are really bad where as in others you hardly see them at all. Usually images with big bright skies and lots of bright areas get rings badly, whilst images from inside dense rainforests do not seem to suffer. Wet mounting should remove the issue all together.

If you order some, give me a shout as I'd like some too and we could possibly save a few bob on shipping costs, assuming you're ordering from the US?

[Tony Evans]

What is the evaporation rate like with Lumina ? I use Kami, but I'm finding it evaporates so fast that I struggle to get a few negatives mounted together. By the time the scanner gets to the last ones they are dry, even though I try to seal every gap with Kami tape.

Lumina is slower to evaporate, but it dries clean. I hang negs up to dry after use.

[Ian David]

What is the evaporation rate like with Lumina ? I use Kami, but I'm finding it evaporates so fast that I struggle to get a few negatives mounted together. By the time the scanner gets to the last ones they are dry, even though I try to seal every gap with Kami tape.

I have never used Kami, but as Tony Evans has said, the Lumina seems to evaporate pretty slowly. I haven't used it for a while, but I never had a problem with the evaporation rate.