I swear I read something on the net about cleaning the scudge/muck/yeck off your used dry mount press, but I can't remember if it was here or where or what the home grown simple no hassle answer was. Anyone know?

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), December 09, 1998

Answers

Sean,

For cleaning the upper, metal-surfaced heating-platten, I use either a damp sponge to wipe off any dust, grit, or other stuff large enough to be embossed into the print surface itself during pressing. Old adhesive residue (scudge/muck/yeck) can be removed with an alcohol-soaked rag (or other appropriate solvent). The upper, metal surface of most dry-mount presses is pretty hard to damage.

The bottom, sponge-rubber piece can be easily damaged. I believe Seal and Bogen/Technal sell replacement sheets of this rubber material if you need to replace a seriously scarred or gouged surface. If cleaning, try to avoid any solvents that are incompatible with rubber, and try not to scrub too vigorously.

From unfortunate past experience, I can tell you that the smallest and most insignificant foreign object, be it a small piece of tape or a nearly invisible grain of sand, can and will emboss itself onto the print surface during pressing. Nothing can be more aggravating than producing a perfect print only to ruin it during the final, dry-mounting process.

To avoid this, most dry-mount press users sandwich their artwork between two, or more, four-ply sheets of non-textured museum board, larger than the artwork itself. This not only protects the artwork, as well as your heating platten and foam rubber, but it distributes the heat and pressure more evenly, promoting better adhesion. And if your press is already damaged, this will allow you to use it without damaging the artwork.

Good luck, Sergio.

-- Sergio Ortega (s.ortega@worldnet.att.net), December 09, 1998.

Take Sergio's advice about the sandwich. I know this reply is 4 months late so you've probably already cleaned things up. But if you haven't; I would use a new razor blade to peel off the excess then get the denatured alcohol and a rag or wad (golfball size) of cotton and let it soak for awhile on each area of goo. I would not advise sanding the aluminum as the abrasive particles will become embedded however steel wool or bronze wool could be used to tidy the job up to the leval of shine you may de

-- Larry Welker (lwelker@turbont.net), April 20, 1999.