Mounting Tape to Cylinder First:
All of the 3M Cushion-Mount and Cushion-Mount Plus products have different adhesives on each side of the carrier. Due to the different adhesives, these products should be mounted with the non-linered side to the cylinder first. Flexomount double-linered products should have the clear poly liner removed before applying to the cylinder.

Lamination:
Apply tape to cylinder or sleeve by adhering the leading edge first. With the heel of your hand, apply tape to cylinder with a sweeping motion across the cylinder. Slowly turn the cylinder and continue to lay down the tape. Keep the tape bowed to allow air to escape as the tape is applied.

Butt Splice:
Allow tape edges to overlap, cut through both layers of tape and remove the trimmed excess.

Roll Down/Rub Down:
Roll down (pressurize) the mounting tape on the sleeve/cylinder to increase the contact area and adhesion. Use a hand-held rubber roller (wallpaper type roller will work) or 3M PA-1 wiper while paper liner is still in place.

Mount Plate:
Remove the paper liner from the tape, and mount and register the plate. Roll down plate edges with hand-held roller to help minimize the potential for plate edge lifting.

Trim Excess Tape: The total tape area used should exceed the size of the plate by a minimum of 0.5 inches (12.7 mm) around the perimeter of the plate. Using a 0.5 inch margin of tape will help disperse the stress of plate memory and minimize plate lifting. Talcum powder can be applied to exposed tape to detackify the adhesive if necessary.

Edge Seal Plate:
Edge sealers may be used to prevent inks and other solvents from migrating between the tape and plate causing plate lifting during the press operation. This becomes more important during long press runs where plates are cleaned during the press run. 3M Jet-melt low melt adhesives 3792LM or 3M single coated tapes 425, 471 or 850 can be used as edge sealers in some applications.

Wrap Mounted Cylinder:
After the tape and plate have been bonded to the cylinder or sleeve, a thin poly film should be tightly wrapped around the whole system. Wrapping the plate/tape/cylinder system helps reduce stress on the tape/plate bond by holding the plate against the tape to alleviate the stress induced by the plate’s memory to return to its original flat geometry. Wrapping the system enables the plate/tape bond to build to its optimum level without the stress of the plate memory working against the adhesion bond. The cylinder should remain wrapped until it is installed in the press.

Plate Mounting Techniques:
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