What materials & procedure constitute ‘best-practice’ when cradling large pieces of Aluminum Composite Material (Dibond etc) to prevent warping? What materials should be used for the cradle itself, and for adhering the cradle to the ACM panel?
Just to share one aspect of this, you might take a look at Appendix II:Specifications (p. 32) of the following Fabrication Guide by 3A Composites, the manufacturer of Dibond, which shares their research on appropriate adhesives to use, as well as other information on Fastening guidelines:
Fabrication Manual – Dibond, 3A Composites
Hope that helps at least on that one aspect.
Sarah Sands
And here are the recommended adhesives that adhere well to Dibond panels: 1-Part Silicones, Adhesives and Sealants:Dow 995: 1-part silicone structural adhesive
Pecora 864, 890, 895: 1-part silicone sealant
Tremco Spectrem 1, Spectrem 2, Proglaze SG: 1-part silicone sealant
Schnee Morehead SM5731, 1-part silicone sealant
GE SCS2800, SCS9000, SCS2000, SCS2900, GE7000, 1-part silicone sealant
Kristin deGhetaldi
A piece of four ply mat board glued to Dibond can warp it. Since Dibond, D-lite, Pro-lite, etc. are not hygroscopic, one can safely adhere a strong polyester fabric to the back of the composite panel and pull that around a wooden or metal stretcher/strainer, for stapling. This also enhances disassembly, later.
I encourage you to download our “Rigid Supports” document from our Resources section but I will include the relevant section here: Provide additional auxiliary support to large format panels and panels that are less than ¾” thick by attaching a brace or cradle by gluing strips of wood around the outside edge of the back of the panel using the following steps:
Obtain 1” by 2” wooden boards (oak or maple are preferred) and cut them down to match the outer dimensions of the support (overall size will depend on what type of join is used for the corners). Butt and mitered tend to be the most common type of joins (consider using a 90 degree-corner clamp when making mitered corners), however lap joins are generally considered to be more structurally sound. Make sure that the wooden boards are perfectly aligned and flush with the outer edges by laying them on the reverse of the panel before gluing to the reverse (it can helpful to mark the position with a pencil). Use an appropriate adhesive (please refer to the Dibond Manual located in our reference section) to adhere the wooden boards in place while the glue is drying, clamp/weight the boards to avoid creating any air bubbles. For large-scale supports artists may choose to construct horizontal and/or vertical crossbars although crossbars should NOT be glued directly to the reverse of the panel, only fixed to the outer boards of the cradle using glue and/or hardware.
Unless one is attempting to add stability to the 4-ply matt board, I cannot think of any reason to adhere such a support to an ACM panel…plus unless the correct adhesive used it will likely lead to warping. The main issue with all ACM panels is that (while they are structurally sound) they can readily bend at the corners if dropped. It is for this reason that framing and/or bracing AMC panels is highly recommended but this may not be feasibly or even desirable for those wishing to work on a larger scale.
This is less of an issue for ACM but with wooden panels it is not especially recommended. Cross-grain construction is always a risk when dealing with rigid supports as you might be asking for warping that may transfer through to the face of the panel. Again less of an issue for ACM but it depends on the thickness and construction of the panel as well.
