Dry Mount Press

Pitotshock · Aug 2, 2021

Got my latest find up and running yesterday. I found a Seal Masterpiece 350 online for about $75 USD, gave it a good cleaning and fired it up last night. Everything is working as it should and did a 8x10 mount last night just to try it out. The date mark on the casting indicates Nov 1972 as the date, so she has a few years under her belt! In the background you can see my old Seal COMPress 101 that can do an 11x14 onto a 16x20 board, which is really a great size, but this thing makes it look absolutely tiny. With a platen size of 26x34 and a slightly bigger throat size, big poster sizes here we come!

I like the look of a dry mounted print and especially with a good boarder size. I'm not so vain to think that anything I create will be of any cultural value, so I'm not concerned with things like conservation beyond my lifetime. I do it because I like it and maybe someone else can enjoy it too.

Stephen Prunier · Aug 4, 2021

Great score! I purchased the same model, I believe, locally off CL for a little more $, but after a cleaning, it was a steal.

ic-racer · Aug 4, 2021

Wow yours is massive. I have the smaller version. The person from which I bought it helped me get it into my car, but when home I had to disassemble it to individual pieces and carry the individual pieces into my darkroom because it was so heavy.
This is mine after I gave it a complete restoration, including new foam pad.

mshchem · Aug 4, 2021

Nice. My lovely wife the curator tells me dry mounting is a sin. Then call me a sinner!

Arthurwg · Aug 4, 2021

ic-racer said:
Wow yours is massive. I have the smaller version. The person from which I bought it helped me get it into my car, but when home I had to disassemble it to individual pieces and carry the individual pieces into my darkroom because it was so heavy.
This is mine after I gave it a complete restoration, including new foam pad.
View attachment 282035

Where did you find a new foam pad?

gone · Aug 4, 2021

What a beauty. Amazing that the little one (comparatively) can do 11x14, it really loses it's scale next to the big one. I'm w/ you, dry mount all the way. It pains me to look through glass in order to see a framed photograph. Dry mount is funny, as it's time tested, "permanent" and archival, but not considered archival to a museum due to their idea of wanting a photograph unmounted. Yet many museums will knowingly buy or collect non archival art and just keep it in the dark.

Pitotshock · Aug 5, 2021

Considering what the cost of this sized press is worth today at $5K+ USD, I couldn't pass up on this 'steal' which is probably near the value of the scrap aluminum in the machine... The rubber pad is in 'not bad' condition with the right amount of squish still in it, but I can see getting a new one at some point in the future. There's a couple of dents in the pad surface that might leave some marks in prints, but I tend to use a few mat boards with the print at the same time so it should add some support. I picked it up in my Toyota Camry, it was like the trunk was made for it. Made sure to measure it before I headed out.

My wife just shakes her head at me, can't understand why I would want or get excited at all these old machines, but I'm kind of addicted to finding these old professional pieces of equipment at pennies on the dollar, but are still completely useable workhorses. I'm not a collector of stuff, things have to have a use and function.

ic-racer

ic-racer said:
I have the smaller version.

Is that the Jumbo 150 or the commercial 200? Sure looks purdy, all polished up and painted.

CMoore · Aug 6, 2021

Pitotshock said:
Got my latest find up and running yesterday. I found a Seal Masterpiece 350 online for about $75 USD, gave it a good cleaning and fired it up last night. Everything is working as it should and did a 8x10 mount last night just to try it out. The date mark on the casting indicates Nov 1972 as the date, so she has a few years under her belt! In the background you can see my old Seal COMPress 101 that can do an 11x14 onto a 16x20 board, which is really a great size, but this thing makes it look absolutely tiny. With a platen size of 26x34 and a slightly bigger throat size, big poster sizes here we come!

I like the look of a dry mounted print and especially with a good boarder size. I'm not so vain to think that anything I create will be of any cultural value, so I'm not concerned with things like conservation beyond my lifetime. I do it because I like it and maybe someone else can enjoy it too. View attachment 281825

How does a dry mounted print look different from one that is not.?
Thank You

MattKing · Aug 6, 2021

CMoore said:
How does a dry mounted print look different from one that is not.?
Thank You

A lot flatter.

RalphLambrecht · Aug 6, 2021

mshchem said:
Nice. My lovely wife the curator tells me dry mounting is a sin. Then call me a sinner!

most galleries don't ike prints dry-mounted because, having lose prints leaves several mounting options for the buyer and prints areeasie to sore that way. but, I agree with you, dry mounting is a beautiful way to present a print!

CMoore · Aug 6, 2021

MattKing said:
A lot flatter.

I have only, ever, dry mounted one print. Had to do it for class, an 8x10.
Most of the teachers were not real big on drymounting
I suppose i have never seen a comparison of two that were hanging on a wall.

ic-racer · Aug 6, 2021

Arthurwg said:
Where did you find a new foam pad?

I got it from B&H.

ic-racer · Aug 6, 2021

Pitotshock said:
Considering what the cost of this sized press is worth today at $5K+ USD, I couldn't pass up on this 'steal' which is probably near the value of the scrap aluminum in the machine... The rubber pad is in 'not bad' condition with the right amount of squish still in it, but I can see getting a new one at some point in the future. There's a couple of dents in the pad surface that might leave some marks in prints, but I tend to use a few mat boards with the print at the same time so it should add some support. I picked it up in my Toyota Camry, it was like the trunk was made for it. Made sure to measure it before I headed out.

My wife just shakes her head at me, can't understand why I would want or get excited at all these old machines, but I'm kind of addicted to finding these old professional pieces of equipment at pennies on the dollar, but are still completely useable workhorses. I'm not a collector of stuff, things have to have a use and function.

ic-racer Is that the Jumbo 150 or the commercial 200? Sure looks purdy, all polished up and painted.

It is the Commercial 200. It is 20x24.

Arthurwg · Aug 7, 2021

I have a Seal 500T dry mount press I bought (not cheap) from a framer going out of business. Amazingly heavy. Brought it home in my Prius, which was not easy. I use it for flattening fiber prints. Had to find and buy a new thermostat. A new pad would be wonderful.

Arthurwg · Aug 7, 2021

Wow! B&H wants $270.00 for a new pad for the 500T. Not cheap either.

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