Cleaning a dry mount press platten

[kwmullet]

I just scored a Seal Jumbo 160M from a local University surplus dept for US$30.

The platten has a fair amount of caked dry mount residue on it. I'm assuming oven cleaner would be the recommended way to clean it. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

-KwM-

 

[paul ron]

Why not just heat it up and scrape it off with a razor then after it cools down, use thinners or a wax stripper?

Dry mount is a wax based substance, any floor wax stripper will cut it as well as any paint thinner ****but don't use these if the platten is hot****

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I cleaned mine with naphtha. If you're going to do this, obviously do it in a well ventilated area with the press unplugged, and don't plug it in until everything has evaporated.

 

[smieglitz]

Seal used to make a drymount press platen cleaner. I bought some from Calumet years ago. Google Seal (or are they part of Bienfang now) or call Calumet to see if the product still exists.

Joe

 

[richard littlewood]

I had the same problem. I scraped the thick stuff off when it was hot, and got the rest off when it cooled down with wire wool that also brings it up like new.

 

[Donald Miller]

I just scored a Seal Jumbo 160M from a local University surplus dept for US$30.

The platten has a fair amount of caked dry mount residue on it. I'm assuming oven cleaner would be the recommended way to clean it. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

-KwM-

I'd stay away from oven cleaner...most of those cleaners have a pretty sizeable amount of NaOH and the plattens are often aluminum.

 

[ann]

try light impressions, they sell various drymounting supplies

 

[Konical]

Good Afternoon, KWM.

Isopropyl alcohol, steel wool, and lots of elbow grease. Joe is right about the Seal Platen Cleaner. It's now called Bienfang Platen Cleaner and the latest Calumet catalog lists it (p. 112) at a mere $31.90 for a 2 oz. jar, so I assume that it must be absolutely superb stuff!

The topic of platen cleaning has appeared in various previous APUG threads; a Search should give a lot of information.

Konical

 

[Dave Starr]

Here's a link to how I cleaned up the platen on a Seal Commercial 200

Dead Link Removed

 

[Claire Senft]

I would take off what I whatever deposits I could. For me it would not make a great deal of difference since I use a clean and smooth mount board above and below the print and the mount board it is being mounted on.

 

[kwmullet]

Thanks for the stream of input throughout the day.

I just knew that if I posted this question, went to lunch and came back, there's be an answer (or in this case, four or five) by the time I returned home.

Dave -- great maintenance notes on your press. You bet I'll be turning to your page first if I need to tear into this beast.

I don't have the patience to order actual platten cleaner. I wanted to be up and running clean tonight. I dashed off to Lowes (home improvement store) to get Naptha, but they only had a gallon size and I didn't want that stuff hanging around the house, so I got the 8oz size of mostly acetone and a razor blade scraper. Turns out, upon closer inspection, that my platten isn't just bare naked stainless or aluminum, but coated with some black covering. I wanna say teflon, but it's probably something else. The first couple of attempts to use the razor scraper just dug into it. I did make great progress using a crumpled newspaper as my abrasive scrubber along with the acetone. I've now got a very clean platten, and it has dried for about 3-4 hours, so I'm about to dive in and do actual dry mounting at home.

what a deal.

Oh -- yeah, I know that strictly speaking, I didn't have to clean the platten off, but I figured that a clean platten would heat more evenly than a dirty one, and yes, I'm just plain anal about stuff like this.

Off to 'engage' the press!

Thanks for all the help!

-KwM-