[sdiy] front panels

[Glen]

At 02:44 AM 7/28/03 , Peter Grenader wrote:

>Don't glue.  Unless it's laminated under pressure, it will never hold
>through time.  Print out what you want, then take it to a Service Bureau
>that does this type of heat/pressure laminating and they'll slap it on for
>you plus they can laminate a lexan coat over it and it will look like a
>million bucks for that many years.

I'm not sure what sort of "Service Bureau" it is that you are referring to,
but if it is basically the same as a photographic dry press, then the glue
isn't truly archival. The results from a dry press are relatively long
lasting, and typically much better than you can do yourself (assuming you
don't have a dry press, and are resorting to glues in either liquid or
spray forms), but dry mounting is definitely not permanent. 

In case you aren't familiar with the phrase, "dry press" refers to a large
heated press that is used to mount photographs to "mounting board"--usually
before inserting the photographs into frames. Good photographic framing
shops will have one. The adhesive comes in sheet form and is activated by
heat and pressure. 3M happens to be a popular maker of such adhesive sheets.

I suppose a true Uber-DIY would use a clothes iron and some of these 3M
adhesive sheets, to mount their own ink-jet-printed front panel decals, and
save the fee that would be spent at the Service Bureau.  :)


later,
Glen Berry