Photo Mounting and Presentation
All the work to make an image is for naught if you can't display it properly!
One of the first things I decided to do once I had made a few prints is to sort out my Dry Mount Press. I have had a Seal 150 Dry Mount press for 30 years and after digging it out I discovered it is a little long in the tooth, specifically the temperature controls.
I selected the AIFuzzy-906-GQ5R1 K Type PID controller. Inexpensive, standard and easily replaceable in the event of a failure. Connection Diagram shown. Spec Sheet
The PID controller will drive a Solid State Relay (SSR) and temperature sensing is done using a K type thermocouple probe attached to the platen of the press. Temperature control will be much more accurate.
I first fabricated a 1/4" Aluminum plate to replace the original control panel. A small bracket was then fabricated and attached. This bracket will hold the panel that I made using my CNC mill. On the right is a test part. I discovered I needed a wider plate as I did not want to mount any components in the cover plate installed where the original controls were located. The only items located under the cover plate are the K Type thermocouple and the wires feeding the heater.
I then mounted the controller and SSR to the faceplate which was machined from 4 inch wide 1/4" Aluminum bar . The SSR will not be driven very hard so the faceplate will function well as a heat sink. Markings were applied using Cermark spray and laser'd to make permanent.
The face plate assembly is mounted to the cover plate. Master power Switch at the bottom, Red Indicator is power and the Green indicator is heater On. When the press is open the heater is shut off. I added a mounting plate and stuck a nice digital timer to make timing convenient. Here is a video link of it when I first tried the heater control
I purchased a Kitchen Workstation from Amazon. Materials, tools and what not will be stored in the drawer and lower cabinet. The whole thing can be moved around in the darkroom as needed. Cabinet cost $80 delivered and will need a little bit of bracing added to the back side. The carcass parallelograms quite a bit when you try to roll it around. An easy fix and I had no illusions about the structural design and going in figured I would have to brace it a bit. 1/2" plywood triangles installed with Gorilla Glue did the trick! Weights kept everything in place until the glue set up.
I purchased the Hanger 9 Covering iron because it had a digital readout and temp setting function. The wire stands included with most hand held devices like this are too light and slide around. I epoxied the wire stand to a disk of 3/16 acrylic and put some non skid rubber on the bottom. I figured the tacky epoxy job was appropriate for the application...
AND IT WORKS!! The print on the left is fiber based and the print on the right is an Inkjet printed on my Epson P900. I will use the DRYTAC Trimount Acrylic Solvent mounting tissue as I will be mounting a mix of Fiber and Resin based photographic prints as well as alternative process images done in Kallitype on art papers. Information on the Trimount tissue can be found here. As release paper seems to be astronomically expensive I did some searching on some photographic sites and found that certain kitchen parchment papers will work without issue as long as the "non-stick" component is silicone. Turns out I have an industrial sized roll that works fine as it has a silicone release coating.
Slide Mounts
9/14/2025
I have a Pentax 110 camera and have shot a lot of transparency film with it. I also have the Kodak Pocket Carousel projector that holds the small 110 format slides. The slides measure 1.190" square. Many of these slides when processed were sent in 2" mounts. I decided I can make my own mini slide mounts. Hey, I have a laser engraver and free time...
I designed the mounts using TurboCad and then imported the DXF into LightBurn, the software i use to control the laser. The frames on the left are to cut and engrave the cardboard stock fronts, the right is for the rear half. The dry mount tissue that will hold the two halves together which is sized close to the frames is cut separately. The final design will cut six complete slide mounts on one 5X7 sheet of card stock. Shown on the right is a test cut to verify the tiny tabs are strong enough to hold the parts until popped out. I did this by leaving a 0.008" uncut part of the trace on two opposing corners.
I purchased a package of 3x5 thick card stock for testing and I can get three complete frames (front and back) out of one sheet. I have gotten good enough (and kept copious notes) that the feed/speed setting on the first try was spot on. One of the advantages of the laser is I can engrave printing on a variety of materials. It takes roughly 56 seconds to engrave and then cut the parts for 3 slide mounts.
I was concerned that the dry mount tissue (Seal MT5 in this case) would go up in flames when hit with the laser beam, but not so. RH image shows the fit between the tissue and the frame, with the tissue being slightly smaller in all dimensions compared to the cardboard frame. The beauty of the laser is the precision of the cutting.
I purchased a small crafter's handheld heat press to bind all the pieces together. It was about $20 and works perfectly for this use. The foot of the press is coated with the Silver Stone type of non-stick coating and includes a heat resistant base to park the press on during use. The press will auto time out and shut off after 15 minutes, a nice safety feature.
I plan to make these mounts available to people who have 110 film they want to mount.