major screwup with drymount press!

boy did I screw up! I grabbed the colorseal paper instead of the release paper to flatten a print. The entire paper is now stuck to the platten along with the print and the kraft paper!

Boy do I feel stupid!

so... is there a solution? will acetone remove it?

If you had the Ultimate Disaster then you could always get yourself a wallpaper-removal tool and take out the felt and all.... and install new felt. It's probably not a bad idea to install new felt from time to time anyway.

Acetone probably isn't the best place to start, a little temperature and water may well do it. How about a heat gun and wallpaper tool.... before getting into the heavy duty solvents...

You can try heating it back up, open the press while hot, and see if it will peel back off (careful you don't burn yourself). That could remove a a good portion of the mess.

It will need to be heated to the sealing temperature to soften the adhesive then peel it off the platen. Then take the press outside and stand it up on its side end and clean with solvent being careful it drips off and not into any part of it. An old towel wedged under it should help. Don't scrape it with anything like metal, a plastic scraper that won't melt in the solvent or wood will do.

I don't fancy answering this one

You need to keep the ress hot and try getting a piece of card between the colorseal paper and the surface of the press and slowly ease the material away. It'll be a tedious job. I can dismantle my press easily which would make the final cleaning easier.

It's going to be an awkward task, good luck

Ian

I managed to remove the platen from the press, making it easier to clean. But that means no heat. I also found something in the old Seal catalog called "Seal UNSEAL Adhesive releasing Solvent". Ever heard of that? There's no way of pealing it off. It melted.

Un-freakin' believable!

My press is cast iron, so I'd take the relevant part outside & burn the stuff off with a butane gas torch, but may well not be feasible for yours.

Acetone might work, try a bit on a corner.

Ian

You definitely need heat. Pop the platen in the oven for a while. You won't be able to do much with the solvent until the print is out of the way.

A heat gun (glorified hair dryer), as Keith suggested, sounds like the way to go. I think a good metal scraper will work with light pressure, starting at one corner applying short strokes. Finish cleaning the remaining residue with a synthetic scrub pad and solvent, or liquid polish. Good luck.

One cautionary note, acetone can make a real gummy mess of some plastics and adhesives. Definitely try heat first. Just remember that the final product should be a smooth platten, so you want to be patient and try to get as much off as contiguously as possible without resorting to scraping

Getting the platten very cold may also work, let the difference in thermal expansion coefficients work for you. You might get some liquid nitrogen or dry ice on there.

Of course, do not attempt to combine acetone and heat. Be safe!

Methanol works fantastic for cleaning glass, but I do not know if that would help with something melted on glass. I just miss my drum of methanol...wish it was less expensive. : )

UnSeal is essentially lighter fluid. It sort of works. Acetone would be the best solvent but it is dangerous for many reasons. I once had an employee do the same in a 4'x8' Seal Magnapex. Now that was a mess. Without resorting to solvents heat the press well above the activation temp. A good starting point wold be around 230 degrees F. Using a plastic ice scraper with rounded edges (round the edges with sandpaper) you should be able to gently scrape most of the adhesive off.
Now allow the press to cool down.
Then use some solvent on a soft cloth followed by wiping with a cloth shop towel to remove the rest.

Then go the pharmacy and get some lanolin cream and a facial buffing pad. Reheat the press to about 120 degrees F. Apply lanolin to the platen and using the buff pad in a circular motion you can clean the rest of the surface for a smooth platen.

Warning: Acetone will dissolve most rubber and plastics. Be certain not to get it on any parts of your press like the rubber pressure pad in the bottom. Where protective gloves, splash goggles and have adequate ventilation. Where a respirator, not a dust mask. If you can smell it, then the mask is not working. Work outside if you can but still use the respirator.

thank you for all your responses. I did manage to get the paper/adhesive & print off with boiling water and a smooth cotton rag - very tedious - (I removed the platen first). I also have some Seal Platen Cleaner (smells like hand lotion), but until the weather warms up so I can go outside, I will have to wait on the solvent. I also hate to buy a whole can of it. I do have some various wood strippers with toluene (I think that's what it's called). I think it's Formby's. Would that work or should I just try to find some acetone? I can't really heat it up unless I re-attach it to the press or as one poster said put it in the oven.

Thanks again...

Well you WON'T do it gain

I always use two pieces of card, top & bottom and do all my mounting/ sealing between them so if there's a problem the press is protected.

Ian

Ian Grant said:

Well you WON'T do it gain

I always use two pieces of card, top & bottom and do all my mounting/ sealing between them so if there's a problem the press is protected.

Ian

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You got that right!

At least now I know how it comes apart so in the future I can clean it without turning upside down to look at it. The nice thing about so many pro photographers going digital... I picked up another one for free - he just wanted to get rid of everything and didn't want to bother with ebay. So now I have a backup until I can get the other one fixed.

If you use the product with toluene, VENTILATION! It's really nasty. Also be sure to not heat it. Toluene has a pretty low flash point. It's also a carcinogen, I think. It doesn't take much of it mixed in a solution to be a hazard.

This entire thread made me a lot more careful tonight as I dry-mounted 3 photographs. Instead of commercially dedicated photo release paper, I used the parchment paper bakers use that is a helluvalot less costly, and does the job equally well. BUT....it looks, if I'm not careful, way too much like Buffer Mount tissue, and would be waaaay too easy to be substiuted for a sheet of parchment paper atop the assemblage to be put in the press, and I'd end up doing what you've done, Dorothy. So...thanks for the unintended heads up.

BTW, I looked at your website...nice work, indeed. You mention music schooling? Yes? What was your training?

jovo said:

This entire thread made me a lot more careful tonight as I dry-mounted 3 photographs. Instead of commercially dedicated photo release paper, I used the parchment paper bakers use that is a helluvalot less costly, and does the job equally well. BUT....it looks, if I'm not careful, way too much like Buffer Mount tissue, and would be waaaay too easy to be substiuted for a sheet of parchment paper atop the assemblage to be put in the press, and I'd end up doing what you've done, Dorothy. So...thanks for the unintended heads up.

BTW, I looked at your website...nice work, indeed. You mention music schooling? Yes? What was your training?

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Hi John,

I know what you mean about look-a-like papers. The Color Mount (w/adhesive) is shiny and the release paper is matt. I'll never make that mistake again! I don't normally dry mount, but I was doing some small (4x6) prints on fiber paper and the paper is rather curly. The dry mounting really helped in this situation.

It was Church Music ha ha! I always wanted to be a choir director in High School but it never worked out for me. Should've gone to Rochester to study photography - who knew!

Thanks for visiting my website.

Dorothy